The Last Man (Wordsworth Classics) - Softcover

Shelley, Mary

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1840224037 ISBN 13: 9781840224030

Publisher: Wordsworth Editions, 2004

Synopsis

With an Introduction and Notes by Dr Pamela Bickley, The Godolphin and Latymer School, formerly of Royal Holloway, University of London.

The Last Man is Mary Shelley's apocalyptic fantasy of the end of human civilisation. Set in the late twenty-first century, the novel unfolds a sombre and pessimistic vision of mankind confronting inevitable destruction. Interwoven with her futuristic theme, Mary Shelley incorporates idealised portraits of Shelley and Byron, yet rejects Romanticism and its faith in art and nature.

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (1797-1851) was the only daughter of Mary Wollstonecraft, author of Vindication of the Rights of Woman, and the radical philosopher William Godwin. Her mother died ten days after her birth and the young child was educated through contact with her father's intellectual circle and her own reading. She met Percy Bysshe Shelley in 1812; they eloped in July 1814. In the summer of 1816 she began her first and most famous novel, Frankenstein. Three of her children died in early infancy and in 1822 her husband was drowned. Mary returned to England with her surviving son and wrote novels, short stories and accounts of her travels; she was the first editor of P.B.Shelley's poetry and verse.

About this title

Review:

" "The Last Man" created an entirely new genre, compounded of the domestic romance, the Gothic extravaganza, and the sociological novel. . . . [Mary Shelley''s] most interesting, if not her most consummate work." -- Muriel Spark. " A fascinating . . . novel-romance on a timely subject." -- "Studies in English Literature," " An absorbing roman a clef, [it] develops one of the major themes of romantic art, that of spiritual isolation, and . . . treats it in a unique way." -- "The Year''s Work in English Studies,"
"A fascinating . . . novel-romance on a timely subject."--"Studies in English Literature"

"An absorbing roman a clef, [it] develops one of the major themes of romantic art, that of spiritual isolation, and . . . treats it in a unique way."--"The Year''s Work in English Studies"

""The Last Man" created an entirely new genre, compounded of the domestic romance, the Gothic extravaganza, and the sociological novel. . . . [Mary Shelley's] most interesting, if not her most consummate work."--Muriel Spark--Muriel Spark

The Last Man created an entirely new genre, compounded of the domestic romance, the Gothic extravaganza, and the sociological novel. . . . [Mary Shelley's] most interesting, if not her most consummate work. Muriel Spark--Muriel Spark"

"The Last Man created an entirely new genre, compounded of the domestic romance, the Gothic extravaganza, and the sociological novel. . . . [Mary Shelley's] most interesting, if not her most consummate work."--Muriel Spark--Muriel Spark

From the Publisher:

The Broadview Editions series is an effort to represent the ever-changing canon of literature in English by bringing together texts long regarded as classics with valuable, lesser-known literature. Newly type-set and produced on high-quality paper in trade paperback format, the Broadview Editions series is a delight to handle as well as to read.

Each volume includes a full introduction, chronology, bibliography, and explanatory notes along with a variety of documents from the period, giving readers a rich sense of the world from which the work emerged.

About this edition

• Publisher: Wordsworth Editions
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 1840224037
• ISBN 13: 9781840224030
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 432