Sci Fi History: The Last Man by Mary Shelley (1826)

After Frankenstein, Mary Shelley decided to tackle a happier topic. In The Last Man, the world is wiped out by a plague leaving one solitary figure to live out his last days alone. Isolation was a theme in Romantic works. Additionally, Shelley questions her own political ideals that emerged in the Romantic movement. She lost friends to political naiveté and their attempts to create a modern Camelot. Also, Shelley only had one child survive to adulthood. The book allowed her to express her feeling of loss and loneliness. Meanwhile, the plague represents the French Revolution which questioned man’s special nature. Essentially, the idea of progress wiped out humanity leading to isolation. However, her own isolation was the result of Romantic ideals gone awry and the high child mortality rate of the early nineteenth century.