Key information
Eight years after writing Frankenstein at just 20 years old, Mary Shelley published another notable work in 1826 titled The Last Man. The novel transported readers to the end of the twenty-first century, where a massive war was followed by an overwhelming pandemic that pushed humanity to the brink of extinction, drawing thematic comparisons to the apocalyptic world of The Last of Us.
The plot features countries locked in incessant warfare until an escalating disease begins near Constantinople. The illness spreads from battlefields into institutions and jumps across countries, eventually devastating global populations much like the fictional pandemic in The Last of Us.
Beyond the pandemic itself, the narrative explores human greed, institutional failure, and crumbling societies leaving cities increasingly empty. Faced with isolation, the protagonist eventually boards a ship to search for other survivors out of a fear of being the final man on Earth.
Readers can access the novel for free through initiatives such as Project Gutenberg. Written after the author lost her husband and son, the personal story reflects profound feelings of solitude, showcasing how concepts resembling modern survival tales were explored two centuries ago.
