Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

The Last Man is a post-apocalyptic science fiction novel by Mary Shelley, which was first published in 1826. The book tells of a future world that has been ravaged by a plague. The novel was harshly reviewed at the time, and was virtually unknown until a scholarly revival beginning in the 1960s. It is notable in part for its semi-biographical portraits of Romantic figures in Shelley's circle particularly Shelley's late husband Percy Bysshe Shelley and Lord Byron

The Last Man

ikkychan

Just finished reading "The Last Man" by Mary Shelley. Not my cup of tea, sadly. I hope "Frankenstein" is not written like this as I'm still looking forward to read her most famous novel. The story sets in the distant future, 2070's, where Lionel Verney recounts his life in modern British (Republic?) Empire, alongside moral prince Adrian and charismatic Lord Raymond. The first half of the novel filled with romantic-era drama, primarily focusing on the ever-baffling, complicated love sextuple between Lionel, Idris (Adrian's sister), Raymond, Evadne (Adrian's fiancé), Perdita (Lionel's sister, and Adrian himself. As exciting as the intricate romantic scruples itself, I couldn't sit and wait until the story began shifting to a whole new genre and everyone has to adapt with it or die. Entering volume III of the story, this is where the fun set in motion. The haunting threat of deadly plague looming in the future, starting off its terrible world tour, inviting every human being as its audience without singling anyone, whether you're a 'free American' or 'stricken Asian'. Lionel, desperately trying to save everyone he loves from the horrible fate of dying of unexplainable disease, couldn't help but sensing the inevitable doom everyone around him would eventually fall victim for. Even so, throughout the novel, we witness how Lionel never gives up hope, even in the face of terrible loss as he becomes the silent watcher of the passing of his dear friends and children. First thing first, it's really hard for me to convince myself that the story---or "ancient written prophecies of the future" as the novel would have it---is indeed about the future, as the environment, the manner of society and technology itself were clear depiction of bygones era. Like the fact that they still use horses and carriage as primary source of cross-country transportation and completely skipped a lot of actual thing that existed in the future such as mobile phones, airplane and the fricking internet. However, i couldn't undermined Shelley's genuine talent in inventing the future as it was written in 1826, where even the idea of an electric light bulb was still not invented yet. She has deep understanding of the world's politic and demagogues tactic as she shown how the religious fanatics would take advantage in the time of desperate needs and society confusion to rise and gain power, not for the good of society, Lord no, but merely for the satisfying act of lording above other people. How pestilential of them, don't you think? And to rise in her defense, i would say it must be far more easier for writers now to imagine what the distant future would be like, what kind of technology could be invented and applied to in a more modern era as we have seen the possibility resulting from globalization and with all these different information flying around us any time of the day, the probability of time machine is not that alien, compared with one who talk about it during the early 1800's. The depiction of lethal plague is quite believable (as i am living in one similar era myself lol) and it shows how rational and resourceful Shelley is in describing the effect of plague, as it came in waves and affecting not a small part of region only, but she brought it to another level as it spread all across the globe and engulfing the entire human population, creating an international catastrophe which resulting in mass extinction. But what i particularly don't like about this is how the plague comes from the East---in this book, Constantinople to be exact, 'the land of the heathens and barbarians' as it says---just goes to show how acceptable it is for us to perceive that anything negative, anything wrong always comes from foreign land, from outsiders, and we looove to blame the outsiders for anything bad happen to us. And there's the matter with the language as well. At the end of the day i'm just your regular second language-learner, men, and as this novel was written in the age of Romanticism literature, page after page was filled with highly emotional lines and melodramatic statements and a lot of thoughts and opinions i feel so exhausted just trying to keep up with the plot. The thing that i notice is, while the story is about an apocalypse, it might not be so accurate as to say the novel is about the ending of the world as to all intents and purposes, it focused more into the ending of humanity. Even when his close acquaintances and families are dying one by one, in the middle of terrible fate reeking with stench of death, Lionel observes that life still goes one around him. Flowers are blooming, deer prowl around, the birds' chirping the bloody morning away. I read from an article that the novel is essentially Mary's contemplation of the death of her own friends and families, as she lost not only her friends Lord Byron in a war (depicted in Raymond's perishment in war between Greece and Turkey), but also her husband Percy Shelley (the level-headed and ever-calming Adrian, who died in the sea like Percy himself) and her children (reflected in the death of innocent Evelyn who died of sickness, just like Mary's child who died of malaria). The book served as a loving tributes to the people Mary loved as well as meditation of her feeling as she was left behind by the people close to her, and she herself is likeness of the 'last man'.

The Last Man

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