Shelley's classic tale of the future begins with the appearance of a manuscript from the year 2079 written by one Lionel Verney. Verney will become the last man to inhabit the earth. We follow Verney's manuscript from his early roots as a poverty-stricken orphan to a military campaign into plague-stricken Turkey, a campaign which touches off the worldwide plague that wipes out the human population of the Earth.
I recently got an email from one of my favorite bookshelf book stores, AbeBooks.com (recently purchased by Amazon, but that's beside the point.) The email listed Mary Shelley's "The Last Man" (1826) as the origin of the modern Post Apocalyptic novel. The origin of the ancient genre, of course was the story of Noah and the Ark.
I recently got an email from one of my favorite bookshelf book stores, AbeBooks.com (recently purchased by Amazon, but that's beside the point.) The email listed Mary Shelley's "The Last Man" (1826) as the origin of the modern Post Apocalyptic novel. The origin of the ancient genre, of course was the story of Noah and the Ark.