{"product_id":"the-last-man-mary-shelley-paperback","title":"The Last Man -- Mary Shelley, Paperback","description":"\u003cstrong\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 \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eA Penguin Classic\u003c\/strong\u003e \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.\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/strong\u003e Mary Shelley\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/strong\u003e Penguin Classics\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePublished:\u003c\/strong\u003e 4\/9\/2024\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 512\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/strong\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWeight:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.75 lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize:\u003c\/strong\u003e 7.5\" H x 5\" L x 1\" W\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eISBN:\u003c\/strong\u003e 9780143137900\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Kotton Kandy Skies","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51737652560171,"sku":"9780143137900","price":19.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0962\/2978\/5899\/files\/9780143137900_dd49abf8-1af4-4d70-be27-2fdd677f05ea.jpg?v=1774777032","url":"https:\/\/2trc11-eq.myshopify.com\/products\/the-last-man-mary-shelley-paperback","provider":"Kotton Kandy Skies","version":"1.0","type":"link"}