The Lost Man is Mary Shelley's apocalyptic fantasy of the end ofhuman civilization. Set in the late tweny-first century, the novelunfolds a sombre and pessimistic vision of mankindconfrontinginevitable destruction. Interwoven with her futuristic theme,Mary Shelley incorporates idealised portraits of Shelley andByron, yet rejects Romanticism and its faith in art and nature.

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (1797-1851) was the only daughterof Mary Wollstonecraft, author of Vindication of the Rights o[Woman, and the radical philosopher William Godwin. Hermother died ten days after her birth and the young child waseducated through contact with her father's intellectual circleand her own reading. She met Percy Bysshe Shelley in 1812;they eloped in luIy 1814. In the summer of 1816 she began herfirst and most famous novel, Frankenstein. Three of her childrendied in early infancy and in 1822 her husband was drowned.Mary returned to England with her surviving son arnovels, short stories and accounts of her travels; she was thefirst editor of P. B. Shelley's poetry and verse.

General Introduction

Introduction

Select Bib!iograpby

Author's Introduction

THE LAST MAN

Notes on the text