The Last ManOxford University Press, UK, 16.07.1998 - 479 Seiten `The last man! I may well describe that solitary being's feelings, feeling myself as the last relic of a beloved race, my companions extinct before me.' Mary Shelley, Journal (May 1824). Best remembered as the author of Frankenstein, Mary Shelley wrote The Last Man eight years later, on returning to England from Italy after her husband's death. It is the twenty-first century, and England is a republic governed by a ruling elite, one of whom, Adrian, Earl of Windsor, has introduced a Cumbrian boy to the circle. This outsider, Lionel Verney, narrates the story, a tale of complicated, tragic love, and of the gradual extermination of the human race by plague. The Last Man also functions as an intriguing roman --agrave--; clef, for the saintly Adrian is a monument to Percy Bysshe Shelley, and his friend Lord Raymond is a portrait of Byron. The novel offers a vision of the future that expresses a reaction against Romanticism, as Shelley demonstrates the failure of the imagination and of art to redeem her doomed characters. - ;'The last man! I may well describe that solitary being's feelings, feeling myself as the last relic of a beloved race, my companions extinct before me.' Mary Shelley, Journal (May 1824). Best remembered as the author of Frankenstein, Mary Shelley wrote The Last Man eight years later, on returning to England from Italy after her husband's death. It is the twenty-first century, and England is a republic governed by a ruling elite, one of whom, Adrian, Earl of Windsor, has introduced a Cumbrian boy to the circle. This outsider, Lionel Verney, narrates the story, a tale of complicated, tragic love, and of the gradual extermination of the human race by plague. The Last Man also functions as an intriguing roman --agrave--; clef, for the saintly Adrian is a monument to Percy Bysshe Shelley, and his friend Lord Raymond is a portrait of Byron. The novel offers a vision of the future that expresses a reaction against Romanticism, as Shelley demonstrates the failure of the imagination and of art to redeem her doomed characters. - |
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abode Adrian appeared arrived Athens beauty became behold beloved brow Castle child Claire Clairmont Clara clouds companion Constantinople cottage countenance cried dark Datchet dead dear death delight deserted despair disease earth encreased endeavoured England entered Evadne eyes father fear feeling felt gave gentle Greece Greek grief hand happiness heard heart hope hour human Idris imagination inhabitants labour leave limbs Lionel live London looked Lord Protector Lord Raymond lost Mary Shelley Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley melancholy mind misery mother nature never night numbers pain passed passion Percy Bysshe Shelley Percy Shelley Perdita pestilence plague present Protector replied repose Rodosto Ryland scene seemed shewed sister smile sorrow soul spirit spoke stood strange sweet tears tender thou thought Thrace town trees Verney voice watched waves wild William Godwin wind Windsor Windsor Castle wonder words youth