Julie Hugonny: The Last Man, a Child of the Revolution

Beskrivning

Through the 19th century, the rising literary genre of Science Fiction crystallised into the images we know today: Frankenstein’s creature raising from the dead, Martians invading, spacemen exploring the universe, and time travellers discovering what the future holds.

Among those figures, one lives at the centre of its own trend: the Last Man on Earth, the survivor of an extinction-level event, and the hero of post-apocalyptic literature. This new mythical archetype brings together established literary types (Adam, Noah, Robinson Crusoe) into a new character, who stands as more than the sum of his parts. Spared by the catastrophe that has brought about the end of time, he bears witness to the disaster and its aftermath and brings closure -or renewal- to Mankind.

First appearing in 1805, the figure of the Last Man rose in popularity through the 19th century, a time of political, social, scientific, and religious upheaval. My presentation will trace the origin of the figure of the Last Man on Earth and explain its success, tying its inception and popularity to the four great paradigm changes at work through the century: the French Revolution, the Industrial Revolution, the Scientific Revolution and the Haitian Revolution.

Absent from all literature before that, the Last Man was created as the response to a need, a new language to express a new reality, and the medium through which authors and readers alike processed those unprecedented changes.

Julie Hugonny, PhD, is currently working at the University of Glasgow. Her research focuses on 19th century literature, as well as science-fiction. She studies apocalyptic literature and film, as well as representations of women and gender relations in sci-fi.