Gourt Home::Gourt :: The Last Man
The Last Man is an early 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 Last Man was written in the period following her husband Percy Bysshe Shelley's death.
Set in the twenty-first century, it was influential on the development of English science fiction, particularly on H.G. Wells (see The Time Machine, The Island of Dr Moreau, and The Invisible Man), Olaf Stapledon and, less obviously, Arthur C. Clarke, particularly Childhood's End.
The central character, Verney, son of a nobleman who gambled himself into poverty, prides himself on his ruggedness and manliness, but eventually is restored to the gentry and educates himself. A plague gradually kills off all people. Verney finds himself immune after being attacked by an infected "negro", and he copes with a civilization that gradually dies out visibily around him.
Also referencing a concept created by Friedrich Nietzsche in Thus Spoke Zarathustra regarding the "Last Man." Nineteen Eighty-Four's working title was "The last man in Europe."
External links
"The Last Man"