The last of the race
Subtitle: the growth of a myth from Milton to Darwin
By: Fiona J. Stafford.
Publisher: Clarendon Press; Oxford University Press
Published: 1994
Place of publication: Oxford; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 326
Subjects: Fantasy literature, English -- History and criticism.; Fantasy literature, American -- History and criticism.; Literature and anthropology -- English-speaking countries.; Extinction (Biology) in literature.; Indigenous peoples in literature.; End of the world in literature.; Ethnology in literature.; Survival in literature.; Race in literature.; Myth in literature.
Description: This 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.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [308]-320) and index.