Synopsis
Jack London’s plague novel, in which the world’s population has been reduced to a few scattered bands of primitive scavengers, has influenced subsequent science-fiction apocalypses and dystopias — from George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty Four to the movies Road Warrior and Idiocracy.
Outside the ruins of San Francisco, a former UC Berkeley professor of literature recounts the chilling sequence of events which led to his current lowly state — a gruesome pandemic which killed nearly every living soul on the planet, in a matter of days. Modern civilization tottered and fell, and a new race of barbarians — the western world's brutalized workers — assumed power everywhere.
Over the space of a few decades, all learning has been lost. Unlike the professor on Gilligan's Island, the narrator is the least useful member of a thriving tribe, whose younger generation (who boast names like Hoo-Hoo and Har-Lip) are mostly descended from a the tribe's brutish founder. He was known only by the title of his former occupation, so the tribe's name is: Chauffeur.
A bleak, at times darkly humorous glimpse into the future by an author best known for red-blooded adventure yarns set in the Klondike Gold Rush.
Outside the ruins of San Francisco, a former UC Berkeley professor of literature recounts the chilling sequence of events which led to his current lowly state — a gruesome pandemic which killed nearly every living soul on the planet, in a matter of days. Modern civilization tottered and fell, and a new race of barbarians — the western world's brutalized workers — assumed power everywhere.
Over the space of a few decades, all learning has been lost. Unlike the professor on Gilligan's Island, the narrator is the least useful member of a thriving tribe, whose younger generation (who boast names like Hoo-Hoo and Har-Lip) are mostly descended from a the tribe's brutish founder. He was known only by the title of his former occupation, so the tribe's name is: Chauffeur.
A bleak, at times darkly humorous glimpse into the future by an author best known for red-blooded adventure yarns set in the Klondike Gold Rush.
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
About the Author
Jack London, world-famous adventurer and author of The Call of the Wild, wrote several key works of Radium-Age science fiction (1904-33), including The Iron Heel (1908) and The Star Rover (1914). The Scarlet Plague (1912) is set in London's hometown of San Francisco, California.
Matthew Battles is the author of Library: An Unquiet History, The Urge of the Letter (forthcoming), and a science fiction story collection, The Sovereignties of Invention. He is the co-founder and literary editor of HiLobrow.com.
Matthew Battles is the author of Library: An Unquiet History, The Urge of the Letter (forthcoming), and a science fiction story collection, The Sovereignties of Invention. He is the co-founder and literary editor of HiLobrow.com.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
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Paperback: 7½" x 5". Cover Art: Michael Lewy (illustrator). 2012 Edition. © 1912: A stand-alone novel by Jack London. 1st printing of 2012 edition with an introduction by Matthew Battles. 1st in the 'Radium Age Science Fiction' series of books:- Synopsis: Outside the ruins of San Francisco, a former UC Berkeley professor recounts the chilling sequence of events - a gruesome pandemic which killed nearly every living soul on the planet, in a matter of days - which led to his current lowly state. Modern civilization has fallen, and a new race of barbarians, descended from the world's brutalized workers, has assumed power. Over the space of a few decades, all learning has been lost. The catastrophe happens in 2013; 2012 marks the centennial of the novel's first publication:- Review(s): "London's style is typically lush but his viewpoint is skeptical and dystopian. The story reminds us of the dangers we still court with our careless ways" - The Times, 1912 / "I knew Jack London was all about romanticizing nature and the frontier and primitive peoples and, you know, the wild. But this showed me a whole new realm of London's ambivalence about civilization. 'The Scarlet Plague' is not just among the first modern post-apocalyptic fictions - starting right about now, a global contagion wipes out all 8 billion earthlings - but maybe the most Edenic and winsome one ever" - Kurt Andersen, 2012:- (original cost $12.95). Seller Inventory # 22.140.00001