The Last of the Race: The Growth of a Myth from Milton to DarwinThis is an innovative and wide-ranging study of the myth of 'The Last of the Race' as it develops in a selection of literary and non-literary texts from the late seventeenth to late nineteenth centuries. The perennial fascination with the end of the world has given rise to many 'last men', from the ancient myths of Noah and Deucalion to contemporary stories of nuclear holocaust. Endangered peoples such as the Maasai or Bush People continue to attract intense interest. Fiona J. Stafford begins with Milton and ends with Darwin, exploring the myth-making of their texts in the light of contemporary literary, scientific, political, and religious views. Chapters on Milton, Burnet, Defoe, Macpherson, Cowper, Wordsworth, Byron, Mary Shelley, Fenimore Cooper, Bulwer-Lytton, and Darwin combine to form an important account of the traces of this most resonant of cultural preoccupations, providing a distinguished contribution to cultural history as well as to literary studies. |
From inside the book
Results 1-3 of 43
Page 12
... Paradise Lost , 1667 ) IT MAY seem perverse to begin an investigation of the last of the race by discussing John Milton's great poem on the creation of mankind . But Paradise Lost , as the title implies , is not so much a poem about the ...
... Paradise Lost , 1667 ) IT MAY seem perverse to begin an investigation of the last of the race by discussing John Milton's great poem on the creation of mankind . But Paradise Lost , as the title implies , is not so much a poem about the ...
Page 28
... Paradise Lost and the Last of the Race Milton's notion of the Apocalypse , like so much of his thought , is difficult to assess with any great confidence . Given the activities of fellow Puritans , Bunyan and Newton , in the prelude to ...
... Paradise Lost and the Last of the Race Milton's notion of the Apocalypse , like so much of his thought , is difficult to assess with any great confidence . Given the activities of fellow Puritans , Bunyan and Newton , in the prelude to ...
Page 33
... Paradise , so late their happy seat , Waved over by that flaming brand , the gate With dreadful faces thronged and fiery arms : Some natural tears they dropped , but wiped them soon ; The world was all before them , where to choose ...
... Paradise , so late their happy seat , Waved over by that flaming brand , the gate With dreadful faces thronged and fiery arms : Some natural tears they dropped , but wiped them soon ; The world was all before them , where to choose ...
Contents
List of Illustrations X | 1 |
The First Last Man? Thomas Burnet and the Revolution | 34 |
Robinson Crusoe as Sole Survivor | 56 |
Copyright | |
8 other sections not shown
Common terms and phrases
Adam ancient Apocalyptic appears attitude become Beddoes belief biblical Britain Bulwer Burnet Byron character Christian contemporary Cooper Creation Crusoe's Daniel Defoe dark Darwin death decline Defoe Despite destruction earth eighteenth-century emerges emphasis English Essay eternal Eternal Return extinction father feelings fiction Fingal future grief human idea imaginative Indian individual influence inspired isolation James Fenimore Cooper last bard last-of-the-race myth linear literature London loss Lyell Lyrical Ballads Macpherson's mankind Mary Shelley's millenarian Milton modern Mohicans narrative natural Newstead Abbey nineteenth century notion novel Omegarus original Ossian Oxford Paradise Lost past poem poet poetry political Pompeii Prisoner of Chillon progress psychological race reader Revolution Robinson Crusoe Romantic ruin rural seems seen sense Shelley significant society sole survivor species suggests survival symbol theory Thomas Thomas Burnet Thomas Lovell Beddoes traditional universal vanished vision vols William Wordsworth Wordsworth Yardley Oak