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. Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin Shelley (30 August 1797 – 1 February 1851) was an English romantic/gothic novelist and the author of Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus. ... For other uses, see Country (disambiguation). ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Some notable science fiction novels, in alphabetical order by title: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke 334 by Thomas M. Disch An Age by Brian Aldiss The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton The Atrocity Exhibition by J.G. Ballard... A publisher is a person or entity which engages in the act of publishing. ... Henry Colburn (d. ... The oldest surviving photograph, Nicéphore Niépce, circa 1826 1826 (MDCCCXXVI) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Tuesday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ... A hardcover (or hardback or hardbound) book is bound with rigid protective covers (typically of cardboard covered with cloth or heavy paper) and a stitched spine. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ... “ISBN” redirects here. ... The Last Man may refer to post-apocalyptic science fiction novel by Mary Shelley a 2000 film starring Jeri Ryan a 2007 film by James Arnett, based on Shelleys novel. ... Apocalyptic science fiction is a sub-genre of science fiction that is concerned with the end of the world or civilization, through nuclear war, plague, or some other general disaster. ... Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ... Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin Shelley (30 August 1797 – 1 February 1851) was an English romantic/gothic novelist and the author of Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus. ... The oldest surviving photograph, Nicéphore Niépce, circa 1826 1826 (MDCCCXXVI) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Tuesday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ... -1...

Set in the year 2097, 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. For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ... Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ... H. G. Wells at the door of his house at Sandgate Herbert George Wells (September 21, 1866 - August 13, 1946) was an English writer best known for his science fiction novels such as The War of the Worlds and The Time Machine. ... The Time Machine is a novel by H. G. Wells, first published in 1895, later made into two films of the same title. ... The Island of Doctor Moreau is an 1896 science fiction novel written by H. G. Wells, addressing ideas of society and community, human nature and identity, religion, Darwinism, and eugenics. ... See Invisible Man for the novel by Ralph Ellison. ... William Olaf Stapledon (May 10, 1886 – September 6, 1950) was a British philosopher and author of several influential works of science fiction. ... Sir Arthur Charles Clarke, CBE (born 16 December 1917) is a British science-fiction author and inventor, most famous for his novel 2001: A Space Odyssey, and for collaborating with director Stanley Kubrick on the film of the same name. ... Childhoods End is a science fiction novel by Sir Arthur C. Clarke. ...

Plot summary

The author of the novel constructs a vision of the future painted on leaves by the Cumaean Sibyl, that foresee the first-person writings of a man living at the end of the 21st century, which proves to be the end of humanity. Michelangelos rendering of the Cumaean Sibyl The Cumaean Sibyl was the priestess presiding over the Apollonian oracle at Cumae, a Greek colony located near Naples, Italy. ... The 21st century is the present century of the Anno Domini (common) era, in accordance with the Gregorian calendar. ...

The central character, Lionel 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. Much of the novel deals with his relationships with family and friends of his class, and the terrible wars that go on around them, including one in which a woman friend of Verney's masquerades as a man in order to fight. A plague gradually kills off all people. Verney finds himself immune after being attacked by an infected "negro," and copes with a civilization that is gradually dying out around him. Look up pestilence in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... For an island of the Philippines, see Negros. ...

Verney refuses to detail the gruesome nature of the plague, instead referring readers to specific passages of Daniel Defoe's A Journal of the Plague Year to get an understanding of what he saw. Daniel Defoe (1659/1661 [?] â€“ April 24 [?], 1731)[1] was an English writer, journalist, and spy, who gained enduring fame for his novel Robinson Crusoe. ... A Journal of the Plague Year is a novel by Daniel Defoe. ...

Film, TV or theatrical adaptations

• The Last Man (2007) The first feature film inspired by Mary Shelley's 21st century pandemic.

External links

• University of Virginia Electronic Text Center e-book
• J. K. Schuetz, "Mary Shelly's The Last Man: Monstrous Worlds, Domestic Communities, and Masculine Romantic Ideology"