The Last Man

This edition features an introduction and annotations by Dr. Pamela Bickley from the Godolphin and Latymer School, who previously was part of Royal Holloway, University of London. "The Last Man" is a work by Mary Shelley that imagines the downfall of human civilization in an apocalyptic scenario. The narrative is set in the latter part of the twenty-first century and presents a bleak and fatalistic view of humanity facing unavoidable calamity. Within this futuristic context, Shelley includes idealized depictions of notable figures like Shelley and Byron but ultimately dismisses the Romantic belief in the power of art and nature. Born in 1797, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley was the daughter of Mary Wollstonecraft, known for "Vindication of the Rights of Woman," and William Godwin, a noted radical thinker. Following her mother's death just days after her birth, Mary was raised within her father's intellectual network and her self-directed education. She encountered Percy Bysshe Shelley in 1812, and they ran away together in 1814. During the summer of 1816, she started writing her seminal novel "Frankenstein." Tragically, three of her children died young, and in 1822, her husband drowned. Returning to England, Mary focused on writing novels, short stories, and travel accounts, and was the inaugural editor of P.B. Shelley's poetry and prose.