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. |
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Page 128
... ruin , especially at a time of war , when images of unshakeable power through the ages might have seemed more desirable . Fear is , however , predominant in the poem , and beneath the calm , contemplative surface lies a profound horror ...
... ruin , especially at a time of war , when images of unshakeable power through the ages might have seemed more desirable . Fear is , however , predominant in the poem , and beneath the calm , contemplative surface lies a profound horror ...
Page 148
... ruined walls . ( " The Ruined Cottage ' , 491-2 ) In their original context ( concluding the first draft of the poem ) ... ruin of her cottage and offering little hope or consolation . But , as he reworked the poem in the spring of 1798 ...
... ruined walls . ( " The Ruined Cottage ' , 491-2 ) In their original context ( concluding the first draft of the poem ) ... ruin of her cottage and offering little hope or consolation . But , as he reworked the poem in the spring of 1798 ...
Page 161
... ruin ' assembled by Thomas McFarland , but it is the most relevant to our subject , since the feeling of modern incompleteness is expressed through the image of a ' race ' . By translating the familiar ruins of paradise into the image ...
... ruin ' assembled by Thomas McFarland , but it is the most relevant to our subject , since the feeling of modern incompleteness is expressed through the image of a ' race ' . By translating the familiar ruins of paradise into the image ...
Contents
List of Illustrations X | 1 |
The First Last Man? Thomas Burnet and the Revolution | 34 |
Robinson Crusoe as Sole Survivor | 56 |
Copyright | |
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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