The Last Man (Magill’s Guide to Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature)
At a glance:
- Author: Mary Shelley
- First Published: 1826
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Science fiction—future history
- Time of Work: 2060-2100
- Setting: Primarily England; also various countries in Europe
- Genres: Long fiction, Science fiction, Apocalyptic and catastrophe fiction
- Subjects: Europe or Europeans, Future, Twenty-first century, England or English people, Plague
- Locales: Europe, England
The Plot
The story is discovered, in 1818, in fragments buried in an ancient cave, rumored to be the cave of the Sybils. The writings contain the recollections of a “past” history occurring well into the future. The writings have been left for future generations as a record of the devastating plague of the late twenty-first century. The narrator is Lionel Verney, age thirty- seven, who is, to his knowledge, the last surviving human on Earth. He has left this record in the year 2100, before setting out to sea.
Lionel describes his childhood, as the son of a charming,...
[The entire page is 1032 words long]
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