{"product_id":"the-last-man-9780143137900","title":"The Last Man","description":"\u003cb\u003eMary Shelley's landmark novel that invented the human extinction genre and initiated climate fiction, imagining a world where newly-forged communities and reverence for nature rises from the ashes of a pandemic-ravaged society, now for the first time in Penguin Classics, with a foreword by Rebecca Solnit \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eA Penguin Classic \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWritten while Mary Shelley was in a self-imposed lockdown after the loss of her husband and children, and in the wake of intersecting crises including the climate-changing Mount Tambora eruption and a raging cholera outbreak, \u003ci\u003eThe Last Man\u003c\/i\u003e (1826) is the first end-of-mankind novel, an early work of climate fiction, and a prophetic depiction of environmental change. Set in the late twenty-first century, the book tells of a deadly pandemic that leaves a lone survivor, and follows his journey through a post-apocalyptic world that's devoid of humanity and reclaimed by nature. But rather than give in to despair, Shelley uses the now-ubiquitous end-times plot to imagine a new world where freshly-formed communities and alternative ways of being stand in for self-important politicians serving corrupt institutions, and where nature reigns mightily over humanity--a timely message for our current era of climate collapse and political upheaval. Brimming with political intrigue and love triangles around characters based on Percy Shelley and scandal-dogged poet Lord Byron, the novel also broaches partisan dysfunction, imperial warfare, refugee crises, and economic collapse--and brings the legacy of her radically progressive parents, William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft, to bear on present-day questions about making a better world less centered around \"man.\" Shelley's second major novel after \u003ci\u003eFrankenstein\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Last Man\u003c\/i\u003e casts a half-skeptical eye on romantic ideals of utopian perfection and natural plenitude while looking ahead to a greener future in which our species develops new relationships with non-human life and the planet.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eMary Shelley\u003c\/b\u003e was born in London in 1797, daughter of William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft, famous radical writers of the day. She is the author of \u003ci\u003eFrankenstein \u003c\/i\u003e(1818), \u003ci\u003eThe Last Man\u003c\/i\u003e (1826), and other works. \u003cb\u003eJohn Havard\u003c\/b\u003e (introduction) teaches at the State University of New York, Binghamton, where his work focuses on 18th-century and Romantic literature and political culture. His essays about literature and politics have appeared in \u003ci\u003eThe New Rambler\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Los Angeles Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003ePublic Books\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003cb\u003eRebecca Solnit\u003c\/b\u003e (foreword) is the author of more than 20 books, including \u003ci\u003eOrwell's Roses\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eRecollections of My Nonexistence\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eA Field Guide to Getting Lost\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eMen Explain Things to Me\u003c\/i\u003e. She is a regular contributor to \u003ci\u003eThe Guardian\u003c\/i\u003e and other publications.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Penguin Classics","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50592897532178,"sku":"9780143137900","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_d786eb3c-ebb6-4935-b15f-df8fe0c728b3.jpg?v=1765972039","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/the-last-man-9780143137900","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}