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 Mandoes not seem to fit in to any recognizable form of literary fiction.
The first problem is the
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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 03 April 2025.]
