Misplaced Pages

#797202

109-482: The Last Man is an apocalyptic , dystopian science fiction novel by Mary Shelley , first published in 1826. The narrative concerns Europe in the late 21st century, ravaged by the rise of a bubonic plague pandemic that rapidly sweeps across the entire globe, ultimately resulting in the near-extinction of humanity. It also includes discussion of the British state as a republic , for which Shelley sat in meetings of

218-459: A biography of her husband, so she memorialised him, amongst others, in The Last Man . The utopian Adrian, Earl of Windsor, who leads his followers in search of a natural paradise and dies when his boat sinks in a storm, is a fictional portrait of Percy Bysshe Shelley , although other minor characters such as Merrival bear traces of Percy as well. Lord Raymond, who leaves England to fight for

327-452: A future threat. In the video game Chrono Trigger (1995), the giant alien creature Lavos collides with the earth in prehistoric times, subsequently hibernating beneath the earth. As millions of years pass, the monster feeds on the energy of the earth, eventually surfacing in 1999 to wreak complete destruction of the human race, atmosphere, and general life on the planet in the form of a rain of destruction fired from its outer shell, known as

436-463: A group of friends who discover an alien invasion during a pub crawl in their hometown. In the 2018 horror film A Quiet Place , the 2021 sequel A Quiet Place Part II , and a 2024 movie A Quiet Place: Day One society has collapsed in the wake of lethal attacks by extraterrestrial creatures who, having no eyesight, hunt humans and other creatures with their highly sensitive hearing; the scattered survivors live most of their lives in near-silence as

545-521: A horned fish and Shesha appeared as a rope, with which Vaivasvata Manu fastened the boat to the horn of the fish. Variants of this story also appear in Buddhist and Jain scriptures. The 1st centuries CE saw the recording of the Book of Revelation (from which the word apocalypse originated, meaning ' {{{1}}} ' ), which is filled with prophecies of destruction, as well as luminous visions. In

654-802: A mayor, aldermen and councillors. Outside of municipal boroughs, there was no effective local government until the 1840s. In response to poor sanitary conditions and outbreaks of cholera , the Public Health Act 1848 ( 11 & 12 Vict. c. 63) and the Local Government Act 1858 allowed for the formation of local boards of health in populous areas. Local boards were responsible inter alia for water supply, drainage, sewerage, paving and cleansing. Eleven local boards were initially formed at Brampton, Cleator Moor, Cockermouth, Egremont, Holme Cultram, Keswick, Maryport, Millom, Penrith, Whitehaven, Wigton and Workington. Further reform under

763-519: A more popular book next time. Nonetheless, she later spoke of The Last Man as one of her favourite works. In the 20th century it received new critical attention, perhaps because the notion of lastness had become more relevant. The novel received a further surge in attention in the 2020s. Rebecca Barr of the University of Cambridge wrote that the novel was "an astonishing work" that "resonates with contemporary feelings of climate grief as well as

872-706: A multinational effort is put in place to construct an ark for the preservation of Humanity, built around the International Space Station . Brian Aldiss ' novel Hothouse (1961) occurs in a distant future where the Sun is much hotter and stronger, and the human population has been reduced to a fifth of what it had been. J. G. Ballard 's novel The Drowned World (1962) occurs after a rise in solar radiation that causes worldwide flooding and accelerated mutation of plants and animals. Jerry Pournelle and Larry Niven 's novel, Lucifer's Hammer (1977),

981-640: A national County flowers of the United Kingdom campaign by the charity Plantlife . In 2012, a flag based on the arms of the former Cumberland County Council was registered as the flag of Cumberland with the Flag Institute . In 2013, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government , Eric Pickles , formally recognised and acknowledged the continued existence of England's 39 historic counties, including Cumberland. In 2021, it

1090-466: A new Heaven and a new Earth, and its intended Christian audience is often enchanted and inspired, rather than terrified by visions of Judgment Day. These Christians believed themselves chosen for God's salvation, and so such apocalyptic sensibilities inspired optimism and nostalgia for the end times. The Norse poem Völuspá from the Poetic Edda details the creation, coming doom, and rebirth of

1199-423: A new diocese , largely identical with the area of the earldom. However, on the death of King Henry I of England in 1135, the area was regained by King David I of Scotland . He was able to consolidate his power and made Carlisle one of his chief seats of government, while England descended into a lengthy civil war . The Cumbric language is believed to have become extinct in the 12th century. The area returned to

SECTION 10

#1732780338798

1308-514: A non-technological future world or a world where only scattered elements of society and technology remain. Numerous ancient societies, including the Babylonian and Judaic, produced apocalyptic literature and mythology which dealt with the end of the world and human society, such as the Epic of Gilgamesh , written c. 2000–1500 BCE. Recognizable modern apocalyptic novels had existed since at least

1417-404: A one-way trip to Mars . When the Sun begins to go nova, everything is on schedule, but most of the spaceships turn out to be defective, and fail en route to Mars. In Neal Stephenson 's novel Seveneves , The Moon is destroyed by an unknown agent, forming a massive debris cloud. This cloud threatens to produce a White Sky , which then causes a massive bombardment of Moon fragments. Due to this,

1526-466: A plague or virus, whether natural or man-made; religious, such as the Rapture or Great Tribulation ; or imaginative, such as zombie apocalypse or alien invasion . The story may involve attempts to prevent an apocalypse event, deal with the impact and consequences of the event itself, or may be post-apocalyptic and set after the event. The time frame may be immediately after the catastrophe, focusing on

1635-581: A population of 50,000 people or more to become a " county borough ", independent of county council control. In 1914, Carlisle successfully applied for this status, ceasing to form part of the administrative county , although remaining within Cumberland for the purposes such as Lieutenancy and shrievalty . The Local Government Act 1929 imposed the duty on county councils of reviewing the districts within their administrative county so as to form more efficient units of local government. In general, this meant

1744-603: A profound and prophetic challenge to Western humanism." Specifically, Mary Shelley, in making references to the failure of the French Revolution and the Godwinian , Wollstonecraftian , and Burkean responses to it, "attacks Enlightenment faith in the inevitability of progress through collective efforts". Hugh Luke argues, "By ending her story with the picture of the Earth's solitary inhabitant, she has brought nearly

1853-576: A result. In Philip Wylie and Edwin Balmer's novel When Worlds Collide (1933), Earth is destroyed by the rogue planet Bronson Alpha. A selected few escape on a spaceship. In the sequel, After Worlds Collide (1934), the survivors start a new life on the planet's companion Bronson Beta, which has taken over the orbit formerly occupied by Earth. In J. T. McIntosh 's novel One in Three Hundred (1954), scientists have discovered how to pinpoint

1962-478: A school visit to a cave. In the obscure 2013 Australian film These Final Hours , a massive asteroid hits the Atlantic Ocean dooming all life. The film follows James, who decides to head to the 'party-to-end-all-parties' and there spend the last 12 hours before the global firestorm reaches Western Australia. Cumberland Cumberland ( / ˈ k ʌ m b ər l ə n d / KUM -bər-lənd )

2071-410: A sea-level rise that kills most of the population (though this may be redemptive, like Noah's Flood , rather than a disaster). In Greg Bear 's The Forge of God (1987), Earth is destroyed in an alien attack. Just prior to this, a different group of aliens is able to save samples of the biosphere and a small number of people, resettling them on Mars. Some of these form the crew of a ship to hunt down

2180-406: A series of reforms reshaped the local government of the county, creating a system of districts with directly elected councils. The first changes concerned the administration of the poor law , which was carried at parish level. The Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 provided for the grouping of parishes into poor law unions , each with a central workhouse and an elected board of guardians . Cumberland

2289-401: A spacecraft that will go to an unknown destination away from the destroyed Earth. The later books deal with the few survivors waking up from a 500-year hibernation and succumbing to both strange mutations and the will of a strange alien computer/spaceship that they land on. Eventually they return to Earth to find a couple colonies of survivors struggling on a harsh planet completely different from

SECTION 20

#1732780338798

2398-415: A subject of significant critical debate, but the novel certainly demonstrates a deep understanding of the history of medicine, specifically the development of the smallpox vaccine and the various nineteenth-century theories about the nature of contagion. Eileen Hunt Botting of the University of Notre Dame has stated that the novel "saw that the disaster of a pandemic would be driven by politics," and that

2507-552: A technological past "protruding into a more primitive... landscape", a theme known as the "ruined Earth", have been described as "among the most potent of [science fiction]'s icons". Ancient Mesopotamian texts containing the oldest surviving apocalyptic literature , including the Eridu Genesis and the Epic of Gilgamesh , both of which date to around 2000-1500 BCE. Both describe angry gods sending floods to punish humanity, and

2616-709: Is a historic county in North West England . The historic county is bordered by Northumberland to the north-east, County Durham to the east, Westmorland to the south-east, Lancashire to the south, and the Scottish counties of Dumfriesshire and Roxburghshire to the north. The area includes the city of Carlisle , part of the Lake District and North Pennines , and the Solway Firth coastline. Cumberland had an administrative function from

2725-481: Is a humorous take on alien invasion stories. Multiple Earths are repeatedly "demolished" by the bureaucratic Vogons to make way for a hyperspace bypass, to the chagrin of the protagonist Arthur Dent . In Gene Wolfe 's The Urth of the New Sun (1987), aliens (or highly evolved humans) introduce a white hole into the sun to counteract the dimming effect of a black hole , and the resulting global warming causes

2834-470: Is about a cataclysmic comet hitting Earth and various groups of people struggling to survive the aftermath in southern California. Hollywood—which previously had explored the idea of the Earth and its population being potentially endangered by a collision with another heavenly body with the When Worlds Collide (1951), a film treatment of the aforementioned 1933 novel – revisited the theme in

2943-493: Is easier to imagine the end of the world than it is to imagine the end of capitalism ". Lord Byron 's 1816 poem "Darkness" , included in The Prisoner of Chillon collection, on the apocalyptic end of the world and one man's survival, was one of the earliest English-language works in this genre. The sun was blotted out, leading to darkness and cold which kills off mankind through famine and ice-age conditions. The poem

3052-431: Is essentially a retelling of the Book of Revelation , combined with themes of the story of Adam and Eve . Unlike most apocalyptic tales, de Grainville's novel approaches the end of the world not as a cautionary tale, or a tale of survival, but as both an inevitable, as well as necessary, step for the spiritual resurrection of mankind. Edgar Allan Poe 's short story " The Conversation of Eiros and Charmion " (1839) follows

3161-474: Is heavily damaged, and humanity nearly wiped out, by the direct collision of the real asteroid 99942 Apophis with the Earth in the year 2029. Marly Youmans ' epic poem Thaliad (2012) tells the story of a group of children after an unspecified apocalypse from the sky, perhaps connected with solar flares or meteor impact, resulting in people and animals having been burned and the skies having filled with ash. The children survive only because they were together on

3270-475: Is in love) as a first step towards becoming king, with the help of the Countess. However, he ultimately chooses his love for Perdita over his ambition, and the two marry. Under Lionel's care, Adrian recovers but remains physically weak. On learning of the love between Idris and Lionel, the Countess schemes to drug Idris, bring her to Austria , and force her to make a politically motivated marriage. Idris discovers

3379-410: Is inevitably left as the last man alive. Shelley's novel is predated by Jean-Baptiste Cousin de Grainville 's French epic prose poem Le Dernier Homme (English: The Last Man [1805]), and this work is sometimes considered the first modern work to depict the end of the world. Published after his death in 1805, de Grainville's work follows the character of Omegarus, the titular "last man," in what

The Last Man - Misplaced Pages Continue

3488-467: Is largely effective at maintaining order, although the plague rages on summer after summer. Ships arrive in Ireland carrying survivors from America, who lawlessly plunder Ireland and Scotland before invading England. Adrian raises a military force against them and ultimately manages to resolve the situation peacefully. The few remaining survivors decide to abandon England, looking for an easier climate. On

3597-471: Is motivated by passion and ambition rather than principle. He is based on Lord Byron . Perdita : Lionel's sister, and Raymond's wife. Growing up an orphan, Perdita was independent, distrustful, and proud, but she is softened by love for Raymond, to whom she is fiercely loyal. Idris : Adrian's sister, and Lionel's wife. She is loving, maternal, and self-sacrificing. Countess of Windsor : Mother of Adrian and Idris, an Austrian princess and former Queen of

3706-539: Is reminiscent of H. G. Wells ' War of the Worlds (1897). Charles R. Pellegrino and George Zebrowski 's novel The Killing Star (1995) describes a devastating attack on a late-21st-century Earth by an alien civilization. Using missiles traveling at relativistic speed , they are determined to destroy the human race in a preemptive strike, as they are considered, after watching several episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation which shows human domination in space,

3815-634: Is unfounded: all people are united in their susceptibility to the fatal disease." The Last Man followed several other last-man themed works including a French narrative ( Le Dernier Homme ) [1805)]), Byron's poem " Darkness " (1816), and Thomas Campbell 's poem "The Last Man" (1824). (Campbell claimed Byron had taken his own poem from Campbell's idea.) Two editions of The Last Man were published by Henry Colburn in London on 23 January 1826, and one edition in Paris in 1826 by Galignani . A pirated edition

3924-755: The Cheviot Hills , then followed a tributary of the River Irthing and crossed Denton Fell to the River Tees . From Tees Head the boundary crosses the Pennines to descend Crowdundale Beck, from where it followed the rivers Eden and Eamont to the centre of Ullswater . The line follows Glencoin Beck to the top of Helvellyn ridge at Wrynose Pass and along the River Duddon (near Millom ) to

4033-484: The Cumaean Sibyl . She says she has edited these writings into the narrative of a man living at the end of the 21st century, commencing in 2073 and concluding in 2100. Lionel's father was a friend of the king before he was cast away because of his gambling. Lionel's father left to take his life, but before he did so he left a letter for the king to take care of his family after his death. After Lionel's father died

4142-800: The Genesis flood narrative is found in the 71st Chapter of the Quran ; however, unlike the Biblical story, the Quranic account explicitly claims that the deluge was only sent to the tribe of the Prophet Nūḥ ( نُوح ) ( ' Noah ' in Arabic ), and therefore, the deluge did not engulf the entire world. In the Hindu Dharmasastra , an apocalyptic deluge plays a prominent part. According to

4251-559: The House of Commons to gain insight to the governmental system of the Romantic era . The novel includes many fictive allusions to her husband Percy Bysshe Shelley , who drowned in a shipwreck four years before the book's publication, as well as their close friend Lord Byron , who had died two years previously. The Last Man is one of the first pieces of dystopian fiction published. It was critically savaged and remained largely obscure at

4360-575: The Liberty of Tynedale was later also added to the new county of Carliol for financial reasons. By 1177, Carliol had become known as Cumberland. The border between England and Scotland was made permanent by the Treaty of York in 1237. The boundaries formed in the 12th century were not changed substantially over the county's existence. There are four English historic counties and two Scottish counties that it borders: Northumberland and County Durham to

4469-531: The Local Government Act 1888 , the Cumberland County Council was created as the county council for Cumberland, taking over administrative functions from the Court of Quarter Sessions . The Local Government Act 1894 reconstituted the existing sanitary districts as urban districts and rural districts , each with an elected council. The Act of 1888 also allowed any municipal borough with

The Last Man - Misplaced Pages Continue

4578-645: The Matsya Purana , the Matsya avatar of Lord Vishnu , informed the King Manu of an all-destructive deluge which would be coming very soon. The King was advised to build a huge boat (ark) which housed his family, nine types of seeds, pairs of all animals and the Saptarishis to repopulate Earth, after the deluge would end and the oceans and seas would recede. At the time of the deluge , Vishnu appeared as

4687-564: The Ottomans , and negotiates his return to Greece. Shortly after this, Lionel and Raymond return to the Greek army and fight their way to Constantinople . After a decisive battle near Constantinople's gates, Lionel discovers Evadne, who was wounded while fighting in the war. Before dying, Evadne prophesies Raymond's death, a prophecy which confirms his own suspicions. Raymond's intention to enter Constantinople causes dissension and desertion amongst

4796-568: The Public Health Act 1875 ( 38 & 39 Vict. c. 55) saw the creation of sanitary districts throughout England and Wales. The existing municipal boroughs and local boards became "urban sanitary districts", while "rural sanitary districts" were formed from the remaining areas of the poor law unions. Three more local boards were formed: Arlecdon and Frizington in 1882, Harrington in 1891 and Aspatria in 1892. In addition Workington and Whitehaven received charters of incorporation to become municipal boroughs in 1883 and 1894 respectively. In 1889, under

4905-511: The "Arkfalls", which terraforms Earth to an almost unrecognizable state. Unlike most apocalyptic works, in this one Earth is not inhospitable, and humanity is not on the verge of extinction. The World's End is a 2013 British-American comic science fiction film directed by Edgar Wright , written by Wright and Simon Pegg , and starring Pegg, Nick Frost , Paddy Considine , Martin Freeman , Eddie Marsan and Rosamund Pike . The film follows

5014-467: The "Day of Lavos". In the video game Half-Life (1998), hostile alien creatures arrive on Earth through a portal after a scientific experiment goes wrong. In its sequel, Half-Life 2 (2004), it is revealed to the player the creatures encountered in the first game are merely the slaves of a much more powerful alien race, the Combine, who have taken over the Earth to drain its resources after subduing

5123-512: The "spiraling health crisis would be caused by what people and their leaders had done and failed to do on the international stage—in trade, war and the interpersonal bargains, pacts and conflicts that precede them." Botting has further described the novel as identifying "three patterns of modern democratic corruption, which would be exposed and exacerbated by a pandemic: 1. slow yet steady institutional erosion of norms and practices of trust and equality; 2. authoritarian forms of populism that betray

5232-634: The 12th century until 1974, when it was subsumed into Cumbria with Westmorland as well as parts of Yorkshire and Lancashire . It gives its name to the unitary authority area of Cumberland , which has similar boundaries but excludes Penrith . In the Early Middle Ages , Cumbria was part of the Kingdom of Strathclyde in the Hen Ogledd , or "Old North", and its people spoke a Brittonic language now called Cumbric . The first record of

5341-452: The Air , the novel has become one of the best known early apocalyptic works. It has subsequently been reproduced or adapted several times in comic books, film, music, radio programming , television programming, and video games. Childhood's End is a 1953 science fiction novel by the British author Arthur C. Clarke , in which aliens come to Earth, human children develop fantastic powers and

5450-468: The Countess, who reconciles with Lionel at Idris' tomb. Lionel recovers Lucy (whose mother has died), and the party reaches Dover en route to France. In France, Adrian learns the earlier emigrants have divided into factions, amongst them a fanatical religious sect led by a false messiah who claims his followers will be saved from disease. Adrian unites most of the factions, but the fanatics declare their opposition to Adrian. Lionel sneaks into Paris, where

5559-713: The Cumberland Athletics Club; and various organisations and companies, such as the local newspapers The Cumberland News , and The West Cumberland Times and Star , and the Cumberland Building Society . It is also mentioned in Macbeth as the kingdom given to Prince Malcolm, and is also the initial setting for the Geoffrey Trease historical novel Cue for Treason . In June 1994, during the 1990s UK local government reform ,

SECTION 50

#1732780338798

5668-499: The Earth the Remnants knew. Melancholia (2011), the middle entry of filmmaker Lars von Trier 's "depression trilogy", ends with humanity completely wiped out by a collision with a rogue planet . The depressed protagonist reverses roles with her relatives as the crisis unfolds, as she turns out to be the only family member capable of calmly accepting the imminent impact event. In id Software 's video game Rage (2011), Earth

5777-614: The English crown in 1157, when Henry II of England took possession of the area (from Malcolm IV of Scotland ). Henry II formed two new counties from the former earldom: Westmorland and Carliol – originally an abbreviation of the Latin Carlioliensis '[bishop] of Carlisle'. Westmorland also included areas formerly part of the Earldom of Lancaster . The lead- and silver-mining area of Alston , previously associated with

5886-489: The Gilgamesh version includes the ancient hero Utnapishtim and his family being saved through the intervention of the god Ea . The Biblical myth of Noah and his ark describes the destruction of the corrupt original civilization and its replacement with a remade world. Noah is assigned the task to build the ark and save two of each animal species in order to reestablish a new post-flood world. The Biblical story of

5995-730: The Greeks and dies in Constantinople , is based on Lord Byron . The novel expresses Mary Shelley's pain at the loss of her community of the "Elect", as she called them, and Lionel Verney has been seen as an outlet for her feelings of loss and boredom following their deaths and the deaths of her children. It appears that Shelley found inspiration for the title of her novel in Jean-Baptiste Cousin de Grainville 's Le Dernier Homme (1805), translated into English in 1806 as Omegarus and Syderia . The Last Man not only laments

6104-569: The Local Government Commission published draft recommendations, suggesting as one option a North Cumbria unitary authority (also including Appleby , the historic county town of Westmorland). It also suggested that Cumberland could be reinstated as an independent ceremonial county . The final recommendations, published in October 1994, did not include such recommendations, apparently due to lack of expression of support for

6213-430: The United Kingdom. She is haughty and ambitious, scheming to restore the monarchy through her children. Evadne Zaimi : A Greek princess with whom Adrian falls in love, but who loves Raymond. She is devoted and proud, even when she becomes impoverished. Clara : Daughter of Raymond and Perdita. Alfred and Evelyn : Sons of Lionel and Idris. Ryland : Leader of the popular democratic party, Ryland has grand plans for

6322-587: The abolition of nobility before the plague, but is unwilling to govern England during the plague. Merrival : An astronomer who is oblivious to the plague, instead speculating about the condition of the Earth in six thousand years, until his family dies. Broken by his tragedy, he dies not long afterwards. Lucy Martin : A young woman who chose to marry a repulsive suitor rather than wait for her true love, to provide for her ageing mother. Her devotion to her mother almost leads to her being left behind in England after

6431-596: The army because of reports of the plague . Raymond goes alone to find that Constantinople has been seemingly deserted and soon dies in an explosion, the result of a trap laid by the Turks. He is taken to a site near Athens for burial. Perdita refuses to leave Greece, but Lionel drugs her and brings her aboard a steamship, believing it to be in the best interests of Clara. Perdita awakens and, distraught at Raymond's death, throws herself overboard and drowns. In 2092, while Lionel and Adrian attempt to return their lives to normality,

6540-477: The atmosphere which lowered the temperature and altered weather patterns throughout the world. This was the source for Byron's poem. Mary Shelley 's novel The Last Man (1826) is a continuation of the apocalyptic theme in fiction and is generally recognized as the first major fictional post-apocalyptic story. The plot follows a group of people as they struggle to survive in a plague-infected world. The story's male protagonist struggles to keep his family safe but

6649-563: The concept of destruction that causes public interest in apocalyptic themes. Such fiction is studied by social sciences , and may provide insights into a culture's fears, as well as things like the role imagined for public administration . Since the late 20th century, a surge of popular post-apocalyptic films can be observed. Christopher Schmidt notes that, while the world "goes to waste" for future generations, we distract ourselves from disaster by passively watching it as entertainment. Some have commented on this trend, saying that "it

SECTION 60

#1732780338798

6758-440: The conversation between two souls in the afterlife as they discuss the destruction of the world. The destruction was brought about by a comet that removed nitrogen from Earth's atmosphere; this left only oxygen and resulted in a worldwide inferno. Similarly, Giacomo Leopardi 's short dialogue " Dialogue between a Goblin and a Gnome " (1824) features a world without the presence of the human beings, most likely because they "violate[d]

6867-493: The cult has settled, to try to rescue Juliet. She refuses to leave because the impostor has her baby but helps Lionel escape after the impostor's followers imprison him. Later, when her baby sickens, Juliet discovers the impostor has been hiding the effects of the plague from his followers. She is killed warning the other followers. The impostor commits suicide, and his followers return to the main body of exiles at Versailles . The exiles travel towards Switzerland , hoping to spend

6976-494: The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah also has post-apocalyptic elements. The daughters of Lot , who mistakenly believe that the destruction had engulfed the whole world and that they and their father were the only surviving human beings, conclude that in such a situation it would be justified - and indeed vitally needed - to have sex with their father in order to ensure the survival of humanity. Such situations and dilemmas occur in modern post-apocalyptic fiction. A similar story to

7085-589: The east; Westmorland to the south, the Furness part of Lancashire to the southwest; Dumfriesshire to the north and Roxburghshire to the northeast. To the west the county is bounded by the Solway Firth and the Irish Sea . The northern boundary is formed by the Solway Estuary and the border with Scotland running east to Scotch Knowe at Kershope Burn. The boundary runs south from Scotch Knowe along

7194-513: The elfin Eloi and the brutal Morlocks. Later in the story, the time traveler moves forward to a dying Earth beneath a swollen red sun. The War of the Worlds (1898) depicts an invasion of Earth by inhabitants of the planet Mars . The aliens systematically destroy Victorian England with advanced weaponry mounted on nearly indestructible vehicles. Due to the infamous radio adaptation of the novel by Orson Welles on his show, The Mercury Theatre on

7303-544: The entirety of Earth's governments and military forces in only seven hours. In the 2000 Don Bluth animated film Titan A.E. , Earth has been destroyed by the Drej, due to a human experimental discovery called Project Titan, which made them fear “what humanity will become”. The 2011 TV series Falling Skies , by Robert Rodat and Steven Spielberg , follows a human resistance force fighting to survive after extraterrestrial aliens attempt to take over Earth by disabling most of

7412-456: The eve of their departure to Dover , Lionel receives a letter from Lucy Martin, who could not join the exiles because of her mother's illness. Lionel and Idris travel through a snowstorm to assist Lucy. Idris, weak from years of stress and maternal fears, dies along the way during the fierce weather. Lionel brings her body to Windsor Castle , interring her in St George's Chapel , and is met by

7521-421: The exact minute, hour, and day the Sun will go " nova " – and when it does, it will boil away Earth's seas, beginning with the hemisphere that faces the sun, and as Earth continues to rotate, it will take only 24 hours before all life is eradicated. Super-hurricanes and tornadoes are predicted. Buildings will be blown away. A race is on to build thousands of spaceships for the sole purpose of transferring evacuees on

7630-531: The exile. The Imposter : Unnamed – a false prophet (from ambition, rather than fanaticism ) who creates a radical religious sect in opposition to Adrian while in France. Juliet : A young noblewoman who joins the Imposter's party to support her baby, but is later killed revealing his imposture. Mary Shelley states that in 1818 she discovered, in a cave near Naples , prophetic writings painted on leaves by

7739-564: The first chapter of Revelation, the writer St. John the Divine explains his divine errand: "Write the things which thou hast seen, the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter" (Rev. 1:19). He takes it as his mission to convey—to reveal—to God's kingdom His promise that justice will prevail and that the suffering will be vindicated (Leigh). The apocalyptist provides a beatific vision of Judgement Day, revealing God's promise for redemption from suffering and strife. Revelation describes

7848-447: The first third of the 19th century, when Mary Shelley 's The Last Man (1826) was published; however, this form of literature gained widespread popularity after World War II , when the possibility of global annihilation by nuclear weapons entered the public consciousness. The apocalypse event may be climatic, such as runaway climate change ; natural, such as an impact event ; man made, such as nuclear holocaust ; medical, such as

7957-513: The future county was part of Scotland, although some villages around Millom , which were the possessions of the Earl of Northumbria , had been incorporated into Yorkshire . In AD 1092, King William Rufus of England invaded the Carlisle district, settling it with colonists. He created an Earldom of Carlisle, and granted the territory to Ranulf le Meschin . In 1133, Carlisle was made the see of

8066-468: The homeworld of the killers, as described in the sequel, Anvil of Stars (1992). Al Sarrantonio 's Moonbane (1989) concerns the origin of werewolves (he attributes it to the Moon, which is why they are so attracted to it), and an invasion after an explosion on Luna sends meteoric fragments containing latent lycanthropes to Earth, who thrive in our planet's oxygen-rich atmosphere. Moonbane ' s tone

8175-405: The impact and consequences of the event itself, or it may be post-apocalyptic, set after the event. The time may be directly after the catastrophe, focusing on the psychology of survivors, the way to keep the human race alive and together as one, or considerably later, often including that the existence of pre-catastrophe civilization has been mythologized. Post-apocalyptic stories often take place in

8284-471: The last King of England, Adrian embraces republican principles . He is motivated by philosophy and philanthropy, rather than ambition. He is based on Percy Bysshe Shelley . Lord Raymond : An ambitious young nobleman, Raymond becomes famous for his military efforts on behalf of Greece against the Turks , but eventually chooses love over his ambition to become King of England. He instead becomes Lord Protector of England before returning to Greece . Raymond

8393-615: The last human left on Earth, Lionel follows the Apennine Mountains to Rome , befriending a sheepdog along the way. A year passes without anyone else entering Rome, and Lionel resolves to leave with his dog and live the rest of his life as a wanderer of the depopulated continents of Africa and Asia looking for other survivors. The story ends in the year 2100. Many of the central characters are wholly or partially based upon Shelley's acquaintances. Shelley had been forbidden by her father-in-law, Sir Timothy Shelley , from publishing

8502-513: The late 1990s with a trio of similarly themed projects. Asteroid (1997) is an NBC-TV miniseries about the U.S. government trying to prevent an asteroid from colliding with the Earth. The following year saw dueling big-budget summer blockbuster movies Deep Impact (1998) and Armageddon (1998), both of which involved efforts to save the Earth from, respectively, a rogue comet and an asteroid, by landing crews upon them to detonate nuclear weapons there in hopes of destroying them. Characters in

8611-584: The laws of nature, and [went] contrary to their welfare". Richard Jefferies ' novel After London (1885) can best be described as genuine post-apocalyptic fiction. After a sudden and unspecified catastrophe has depopulated England, the countryside reverts to nature and the few survivors return to a quasi-medieval way of life. The first chapters consist solely of a description of nature reclaiming England: fields becoming overrun by forest, domesticated animals running wild, roads and towns becoming overgrown, London reverting to lake and poisonous swampland. The rest of

8720-450: The letter was never delivered. Lionel and his sister grow up with no parental influence and become uncivilised. Lionel develops a hatred of the royal family, and Perdita grows to enjoy her isolation from society. When the king leaves the throne, the monarchy comes to an end and a republic is created. When the king dies, the Countess attempts to raise their son, Adrian, to reclaim the throne. However, Adrian opposes his mother and refuses to take

8829-445: The loss of Shelley's friends, but also questions the Romantic political ideals for which they stood. In a sense, the plague is metaphorical, since the revolutionary idyll of the élite group is corroded from within by flaws of human nature. As literary scholar Kari Lokke writes, "in its refusal to place humanity at the center of the universe, its questioning of our privileged position in relation to nature, then, The Last Man constitutes

8938-457: The lowest level of local government. Cumberland Ward included Carlisle and Wigton as well as parts of Inglewood Forest . The parish of Stanwix just to the north of Carlisle was partly in both Eskdale and Cumberland wards. * Parts or all of these parishes and townships constituted the City of Carlisle, and were largely outside the jurisdiction of Cumberland Ward. During the 19th century

9047-430: The male inhabitants for the county's defence from Scottish troop incursions. Each ward was composed of a number of parishes, areas originally formed for ecclesiastical administration. In common with other northern England counties, many ancient parishes in Cumberland were very large, often consisting of a number of distinct townships and hamlets. Many of these ancient parishes eventually became civil parishes and form

9156-419: The merging of small or lightly populated areas into larger units. A review was carried in Cumberland in 1934. The following table lists the urban and rural districts before and after the changes. The distribution of population in 1971 was as follows:1971 Census; Small Area Statistics In 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972 , the administrative county and county borough were abolished and their former area

9265-422: The outside world. Furthermore, they often explore a world without modern technology whose rapid progress may overwhelm people as human brains are not adapted to contemporary society, but evolved to deal with issues that have become largely irrelevant, such as immediate physical threats. Such works depict worlds of less complexity, direct contact, and primitive needs. It is often the concept of change as much as

9374-409: The people who bring an executive leader to power; and 3. patriarchal and religious forms of populism that manipulate the people's beliefs through fear and disinformation. The novel also comments on the racism expressed by imperial European nations towards the rest of the world. According to Olivia Murphy of the University of Sydney , the novel shows that "this sense of racial superiority and immunity

9483-400: The personal turmoil amongst his acquaintances. Lord Raymond, who came to be renowned for his exploits in a war between Greece and Turkey, has returned to England searching for a political position. Perdita and Evadne soon fall in love with him. On discovering that his beloved, Evadne, is in love with Raymond, Adrian goes into exile, presumably mad. Raymond intends to marry Idris (with whom Lionel

9592-483: The plague continues to spread across Europe and the Americas. The appearance of a black sun causes panic throughout the world, and storm surges flood coastal towns across Europe. At first, England is thought to be safe, but soon the plague reaches it. Ryland, recently elected Lord Protector , is unprepared for the plague, and flees northward, later dying alone amidst a stockpile of provisions. Adrian takes command and

9701-562: The planet is destroyed. Argentine comic writer Héctor Germán Oesterheld 's comic series El Eternauta (1957 to 1959), an alien race only mentioned by the protagonists as Ellos ("Them") invades the Earth starting with a deadly snowfall and then using other alien races to defeat the remaining humans. In Alice Sheldon 's Nebula -winning novelette " The Screwfly Solution " (1977), aliens are wiping out humanity with an airborne agent that changes men's sexual impulses to violent ones. Douglas Adams 's Hitchhiker's Guide series (1979–2009)

9810-663: The plot and flees to Lionel, who marries her soon after. The Countess leaves for Austria , resentful of her children and of Lionel. Adrian and the others live happily together until Raymond runs for Lord Protector and wins. Perdita adjusts to her newfound social position, while Raymond becomes well-beloved as an administrator. He discovers, however, that Evadne, after the political and financial ruin of her husband (on account of her own political schemes) lives in poverty in London, unwilling to plead for assistance. Raymond attempts to support Evadne by employing her artistic skills in secrecy, and later nursing her in illness, but Perdita learns of

9919-501: The proposal to the commission. The Grass-of-Parnassus was the county flower . It had been associated with the county since 1951, when it was included in the coat of arms granted to the Cumberland County Council. It subsequently featured in the arms granted to Cumbria County Council and Copeland Borough Council , in both cases to represent Cumberland. The flower was also attributed to Cumbria in 2002 as part of

10028-567: The relationship and suspects infidelity . Her suspicions arouse Raymond's proud nature, and the two separate. Raymond resigns his position and leaves to rejoin the war in Greece , accompanied by Adrian. Shortly after a wounded Adrian returns to England, rumours arise that Raymond has been killed. Perdita, loyal nonetheless, convinces Lionel to bring her and Clara to Greece to find him. Arriving in Athens , Lionel learns that Raymond had been captured by

10137-406: The scope of scientific inquiry. Unlike the earlier novel's warnings about Faustian over-reaching, this novel's devastating apocalypse strongly suggests that medicine had become too timid and ultimately come too late. The ineffectual astronomer Merrival, for example, stands in stark contrast to the frighteningly productive Victor Frankenstein. Shelley's construction of Lionel Verney's immunity remains

10246-544: The sea . The highest point of the county is Scafell Pike , at 3,208 feet (978 m), the highest mountain in England. Carlisle is the county town . The Earldom of Carlisle was partitioned into baronies. When the County of Cumberland was created, the baronies were subdivided as wards , a county sub-division also used in Durham , Northumberland and Westmorland . These originated as military subdivisions used to organise

10355-431: The sense of helplessness as we confront COVID-19 ." Eileen Hunt Botting of the University of Notre Dame described the book as Shelley's "second great work of science fiction," saying that it provided "an existential mind-set for collectively dealing with the threat of a global man-made disaster." Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction The story may involve attempts to prevent an apocalypse event, deal with

10464-431: The six-part ITV television drama serial The Last Train (1999) awaken from a cryogenic sleep after an asteroid the size of Birmingham strikes Africa, causing a worldwide apocalypse. K. A. Applegate 's 2001–2003 book series, Remnants , details the end of the world by asteroid collision. The first book, The Mayflower Project (2001), describes Earth in a sort of hysteria as 80 people are chosen by NASA to board

10573-428: The story is a straightforward adventure/quest set many years later in the wild landscape and society, but the opening chapters set an example for many later science fiction stories. H.G. Wells wrote several novels that have a post-apocalyptic theme. The Time Machine (1895) has the unnamed protagonist traveling to the year 802,701 A.D. after civilization has collapsed and humanity has split into two distinct species,

10682-530: The summer in a colder climate less favourable to the plague. By the time they reach Switzerland, however, all but four (Lionel, Adrian, Clara, and Evelyn) have died. They spend a few relatively happy seasons at Switzerland , Milan , and Como before Evelyn dies of typhus . The survivors attempt to sail across the Adriatic Sea from Venice to Greece , but a storm destroys the boat and drowns Clara and Adrian. Lionel swims to shore at Ravenna . Fearing to be

10791-672: The term 'Cumberland' appears in AD 945, when the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle recorded that the area was ceded to Malcolm I , king of Alba (Scotland), by King Edmund I of England . As with 'Cymru' , the native Welsh name for Wales , the names 'Cumberland' and 'Cumbria' are derived from kombroges in Common Brittonic , which originally meant "compatriots". At the time of the Domesday Book (AD 1086) most of

10900-699: The throne. He moves to Cumberland where Lionel, who bears a grudge against Adrian and his family for the neglect of the Verney family, intends to confront Adrian. He is mollified by Adrian's good nature and his explanation that he only recently discovered the letter. The two become close friends, and Lionel becomes civilised under Adrian's influence. Adrian assists Lionel in pursuing political endeavours in Vienna which Lionel accepts and leaves for 2 years but chooses to return to England because he has not heard from either Adrian or his sister. Lionel returns to England to face

11009-475: The time of its publication. It was not until the 1960s that the novel resurfaced for the public. Lionel Verney : The Last Man. The orphan son of an impoverished nobleman, Lionel is originally lawless, self-willed, and resentful of the nobility for casting aside his father. When he is befriended by Adrian, however, he embraces civilization and particularly scholarship. Verney is largely an autobiographical figure for Mary Shelley . Adrian, Earl of Windsor : Son of

11118-629: The travails or psychology of survivors, the way to maintain the human race alive and together as one, or considerably later, often including the theme that the existence of pre-catastrophe civilization has been forgotten (or mythologized). Post-apocalyptic stories often take place in a non-technological future world, or a world where only scattered elements of society and technology remain. Other themes may be cybernetic revolt , divine judgment , dysgenics , ecological collapse , pandemic , resource depletion , supernatural phenomena , technological singularity , or some other general disaster. The relics of

11227-477: The whole weight of the novel to bear upon the idea that the condition of the individual being is essentially isolated and therefore ultimately tragic " (xvii). Shelley shares this theme of tragic isolation with the poetry of Lord Byron and William Wordsworth . Just as her earlier and better-known novel Frankenstein (1818) engaged with scientific questions of electromagnetism, chemistry, and materialism, The Last Man finds Shelley again attempting to understand

11336-400: The world's technology and destroying its armed forces in a surprise attack. It is implied that the attacking aliens are in reality former victims of an attack on their own planet and are now the slaves of an unseen controller race. The television series Defiance (2013–2015) is set in an Earth devastated by the "Pale Wars", a war with seven alien races referred to as the "Votan", followed by

11445-487: The world. The world's destruction includes fire and flood consuming the earth while mythic beasts do battle with the Aesir gods, during which they all perish in an event called Ragnarök . After the destruction, a pair of humans, a man and woman, find the world renewed and the god Baldr resurrected. Such works often feature the loss of a global perspective as protagonists are on their own, often with little or no knowledge of

11554-605: Was combined with Westmorland and parts of Lancashire and the West Riding of Yorkshire to form the new county of Cumbria . The area from Cumberland went on to form the districts of Carlisle , Allerdale , Copeland and part of Eden . The name continues in use as a geographical and cultural term, and it survives in Cumberland sausages ; HMS Cumberland ; the Cumberland Fell Runners Club;

11663-562: Was divided into nine unions: Alston with Garrigill, Bootle, Brampton, Carlisle, Cockermouth, Longtown, Penrith, Whitehaven and Wigton. In the following year the Municipal Corporations Act 1835 was passed, reforming boroughs and cities in England and Wales as municipal boroughs with a uniform constitution. The corporation of the City of Carlisle was accordingly remodelled with a popularly elected council consisting of

11772-528: Was influential in the emergence of "the last man" theme which appeared in the works of several poets, such as "The Last Man" by Thomas Campbell (1824) and "The Last Man" (1826) by Thomas Hood , as well as "The Last Man" by Thomas Lovell Beddoes . The year 1816 was known as the Year Without a Summer because Mount Tambora had erupted in the Dutch East Indies in 1815 that emitted sulphur into

11881-543: Was printed in the United States of America in 1833. The novel was not reprinted until 1965. The Last Man received the worst reviews of all of Mary Shelley's novels: most reviewers derided the very theme of lastness, which had become a common one in the previous two decades. Individual reviewers labelled the book "sickening", criticised its "stupid cruelties", and called the author's imagination "diseased". The reaction startled Mary Shelley, who promised her publisher

#797202