Audiobook · read by volunteers
Last Man
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (1797–1851)
Read by Gesine, Lizzie Driver, J. M. Smallheer, Colin McRoberts, Måns Broo, Philippa Willitts, Eddie Winter, Nicholas James Bridgewater, Christine Blachford, Xe Sands · 31 chapters · 18 h 00
About the book
Lionel Verney grows up poor, the son of a ruined nobleman, and his life changes when he becomes a friend of the son of the last king of England. Then a plague appears in the East and starts to move across the world. Mary Shelley's novel, set in the late twenty-first century, follows Lionel as the epidemic spreads, kingdoms collapse and the survivors drift in search of a refuge. It is a story of friendship, politics and loss, and it asks what is left of human society when nearly everyone is gone. Eighteen hours long and written with epic seriousness, this early work of post-apocalyptic fiction is read by a team of volunteers across thirty-one sections, from introduction to final volume. Grand, sombre and strangely moving, it is a novel that deserves to be better known.
Introduction
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley was born in London in 1797 and died in 1851. She is celebrated as the author of Frankenstein, which she wrote as a teenager and published in 1818. Her mother was the philosopher Mary Wollstonecraft, and her husband was the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, who drowned in 1822. The Last Man, published in 1826, was written in the years after his death and reflects her sense of loneliness and loss.
The novel was not much admired in its day, and it fell out of print for a long time. In the twentieth century, readers rediscovered it as an early example of science fiction that deals with the end of the world. It is set in the future, but it also draws on the author's circle of friends, and several characters have been seen as reflections of the Romantic poets she knew. The book explores big questions about nature, politics and human fragility.
This LibriVox recording lasts about eighteen hours and is divided into 31 parts, including an introduction. It was read by a team of volunteers. It is a demanding but moving listen, and it suits those who enjoy classic novels on a large canvas, or who are curious about the origins of the apocalyptic tale in English literature.
Shelley fills the book with reflections on friendship, on the cost of power and on the loneliness of a survivor. It is a slow and thoughtful novel rather than a thriller, and its impact grows over time. A team of readers helps a long book to remain fresh.
Public domain
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley died in 1851: the work is in the public domain in Switzerland, more than 70 years after the author’s death.
The LibriVox volunteers dedicated this recording to the public domain.
Sources : LibriVox page · Files at the Internet Archive · Original text