Mary Shelley, The Last Man

Graham Allen (University College Cork)
Download PDF Add to Bookshelf Report an Error
The Last Man

is without doubt Mary Shelley’s most ambitious novel. Traditionally under the shadow of

Frankenstein

, it has begun in recent years to attract the critical attention it so obviously deserves. The novel, however, exemplifies basic problems which stand in the way of a fuller, more mature critical reception of Mary Shelley’s writings and her unique contribution to literary Romanticism. Two interrelated problems stand out: firstly, the novel, written after the deaths of P. B. Shelley and Lord Byron, seems to encourage precisely the kind of biographically-oriented reading which has traditionally led to the marginalization of Mary Shelley’s work; secondly, as a novel

The Last Man

does not seem to fit in to any recognizable form of literary fiction.

The first problem is the

2636 words

Citation: Allen, Graham. "The Last Man". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 02 February 2004 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=402, accessed 19 March 2024.]

402 The Last Man 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

Save this article

If you need to create a new bookshelf to save this article in, please make sure that you are logged in, then go to your 'Account' here

Leave Feedback

The Literary Encyclopedia is a living community of scholars. We welcome comments which will help us improve.