THE LAST MAN - Mary Shelley

CLASSICS WEEK


Prior to this the only thing I've read by Mary Shelley was Frankenstein and so I thought I might broaden my reading horizons by checking out some of her other works.  Given the premise here and how sci-fi it seems, I thought this might be a good place to start.

The Last Man narrates the story of, well, the last man on earth. Set in Shelley's future (now almost our past), a plague has wiped out all of humanity save for one man.

The book doesn't start with the last man, but rather it spends a great deal of time spent of reflection and philosophy.  This is slow going.  Seriously slooooooowwwwwww going. I can't imagine any modern reader getting through this purely for the sake of reading enjoyment.  English majors and literature students may have to suffer through, and I can imagine the kinds of papers one might have to write, examining the general philosophy of the day and how Shelley's book challenges that thinking. 

Frankly, I struggled to get through this. This was slow and dry (as I expected) but I really couldn't see how or when it was going to get to the story.

It does pick up some. Our narrator, Lionel (a rather wretched young man), travels through Europe trying to bring about a better humanity, but humanity slowly is dying out - because of humanity and its bringing about the plague.

There is still a great deal of meditation and philosophy (on man's role in the hierarchy of nature) and the writing style is 1800's 'romance' which makes this difficult for this modern reader, but at least the story becomes more apparent.

I'm still amazed when I read classic works like this and the descriptions of the plague are still so apropos to today and what we experienced during the Covid pandemic.  Here Shelley writes:

When once disease was introduced into the rural districts, its effects appeared more horrible, more exigent, and more difficult to cure, than in towns. There was a companionship in suffering there, and, the neighbours keeping constant watch on each other, and inspired by the active benevolence of Adrian, succour was afforded, and the path of destruction smoothed. But in the country, among the scattered farm-houses, in lone cottages, in fields, and barns, tragedies were acted harrowing to the soul, unseen, unheard, unnoticed. Medical aid was less easily procured, food was more difficult to obtain, and human beings, unwithheld by shame, for they were unbeheld of their fellows, ventured on deeds of greater wickedness, or gave way more readily to their abject fears.

I really wouldn't recommend this, but if early 1800's literature is appealing to you, perhaps this is something to put on your Kindle or pick up in a used book store somewhere.

Looking for a good book? Mary Shelley is not famous for her novel, The Last Man, and for good reason.

2 stars

* * * * * *

The Last Man

author: Mary Shelley

publisher: Oxford University Press

ISBN: 9780192838650

paperback, 479 pages

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