The Last Man

Mary Shelley

Language: English

Library - Science Fiction and Fantasy Librivox Novel Project Gutenberg Science Fiction _isfdb

Publisher: A. and W. Galignani

Published: Jan 2, 1826

Page Count: 1035

Description:

2020. THE LAST MAN. +Henry Colburn; London, 1826. 3 vols. Published as "by the author of Frankenstein." 
*  Carey and Lea; Philadelphia, 1833, as by Mary Shelley. Love and death in the future, in an obvious projection of the Shelley-Byron friendship. The whole novel might be subsumed as a fanciful statement that when Byron and Shelley were gone, there was nothing left. 

#  Naples, 1818. 
*  The narrator of the prologue and his friends are exploring the grotto traditionally associated with the Cumaean sibyl when they find a batch of decaying manuscripts, some of which are in English. They are presumably records of the sibyl's revelations. The narrative that follows has been taken from the English-language papers. 
*  England, France, Italy, Greece, from about 2080 to about 2100 A.D. 
*  There has been little change in the world since the early nineteenth century, except that the last British king abdicated in 2073, the country now being ruled by a protector selected by Parliament. The only significant scientific advance is in aeronautics, for advanced winged balloons are used for rapid long-distance flights. 

#  The characters are: (a) Lionel Verney, a good-hearted, impulsive young man. I take him to be a male symbol for Mary Shelley. (b) Perdita Verney, his intelligent, amiable sister. (c) Earl Adrian, the son of the late king. A generous, idealistic young man plagued with ill health and nervous disorders, he corresponds to Percy Shelley. (d) Princess Idris, Adrian's sister, and a somewhat shadowy figure, (e) Lord Raymond, a powerful nobleman who corresponds to Lord Byron. He is highly intelligent, efficient, generous-hearted and ambitious, but a little ruthless and certainly sexually irresponsible. (f) Princess Evadne, daughter of the King of Greece, who probably corresponds to Clare Claremont. She carries the torch for Lord Raymond, and is perpetually trying to seduce him. 
*  The first half and more of the novel is concerned with political matters and romances among the named characters. Lionel Verney is the narrator. It would be pointless to trace the ins and outs of these relationships in detail. A general statement should be sufficient. 
*  Lionel Verney marries Princess Idris, and Lord Raymond marries Perdita Verney. Time passes, and both families have children. Lord Raymond becomes protector and is finally seduced by Princess Evadne. When his marriage collapses, he resigns the British office of Lord Protector and betakes himself to Greece, where he leads the patriots against the Turks. The^others follow, and at about this point Mary Shelley removes some of the distractions. Lord Raymond, though victorious, dies in Constantinople. Evadne, who had been disguised as a man, is killed. Perdita commits suicide, and Idris dies of tuberculosis. 
*  The more interesting latter part of the novel now begins. The plague breaks out in Constantinople and sweeps through the shattered city. It is not the usual sort of plague, but a particularly virulent disease that is highly contagious, rapid in its course, and nearly always fatal. It covers the world, and mankind seems doomed. Adrian, who has now become Lord Protector, sets up quarantine arrangements in England, but this only delays the introduction of the plague. 
*  As time passes, the population decreases rapidly. War, too, takes its toll. There are uprisings, riots, and a brief abortive invasion of Great Britain from America and Ireland. 
*  At about the time when the population of the British Isles has shrunk to some fifteen hundred men and women, the survivors decide to leave England and settle in a warmer clime. 
*  The last quarter of the novel describes this exodus, its antecedents, and its results. 
*  As the Britons move across France, their numbers are slightly increased by a French contingent, but religious mania and factionalism cause many deaths. The plague keeps gnawing as the survivors head south— Geneva, Milan, and Venice. 
*  By now only three people survive: Lionel, Adrian, and Clara, Lionel's daughter. They sail down the Adriatic, but their boat capsizes, and only Lionel reaches shore. As the last man he makes his way to Rome, acquires a small boat, and sails south, hoping to reach the Indian Ocean. (The author does not explain how he will take his boat across Sinai.) 

#  The plague episodes, unfortunately, form only a small part of the novel and are by no means as well realized as in, for example, Defoe's Journal of the Plague Year or Charles Brockden Brown's Arthur Mervyn, both of which Mary Shelley mentions. The rest of the novel is so weak and so padded that after one finishes it, one is at a loss to remember anything significant. 
*  Of interest, however, for its a clef elements and as a clear early statement of the last man motif.