The Cryptofictional Records Wing: The Purple Cloud (M.P. Shiel, 1901)

Chatto and Windus 1901

M.P. Shiel's novel The Purple Cloud is sometimes cited as one of the best of the early "last man on Earth" novels. Written in the "Decadent style" (featuring long run-on sentences and structured with an excessive, free-wheeling prose style), it was initially published as an abridged serial in The Royal Magazine from January to June 1901, but then published in September of that year by Chatto and Windus as a book with the unabridged text (Shiel slightly edited it again when the book was published in a Gollancz edition in 1929).

The main story describes how an expedition to the North Pole somehow triggers a mass extinction event in the form of a toxic, world-spanning cloud. Only one man, Adam Jeffson, survives this apocalypse, and during the middle part of the book he goes somewhat mad. He ends up building a great palace as a tribute to himself, but also goes on trips around the world destroying famous cities with explosives. Eventually, he stumbles across another survivor (a young girl, of course), and the remainder of the novel describes their evolving relationship and how they decide the future of mankind.

Aside from the survival and mass extinction aspects of the narrative, there is also a somewhat metaphysical layer in which Jeffson hears the advice of a "White" entity opposing a "Black" entity in his head. These two voices essentially place a "good and evil/life or death" struggle on the shoulders of the main character. However, it's never clear exactly whether these voices are "real" or symptom of schizophrenia...

Gollancz 1978

One of the fascinating things about Shiel's book is that it is told as a diary, written over a span of about 20 years by the protagonist, Adam Jeffson (the obvious Christian name is attached to a surname possibly meant as a play on "Jehovah's son"). His testimony starts out in the language of a writer-scientist, but as the years of isolation take their toll on him, his prose becomes more and more "manic". In the final third of the book, after he has met the woman Leda, his narration becomes almost Biblical in nature. All of these transformations help to maintain the verisimilitude of the book's premise as a collection of personal notes written intermittently over decades.

However, the published book actually begins with an "Introduction", in which the author (Shiel) describes a letter and some notebooks which he has just received from his dying friend, Dr. Browne. In the letter, Browne describes a hypnosis patient of his named Mary Wilson. Although now deceased, during her trances Wilson had been able to travel into the past and the future and recite books she had found there. Browne's package includes three notebooks, each containing lengthy Wilson transcriptions. The third notebook is titled "The Purple Cloud", and the remainder of the novel is presented as the contents of this document. Over the next several years, Shiel would publish the contents of the second and third of these "future books" under the titles The Last Miracle (1906) and The Lord of the Sea (1901).

Penguin Classics 2012

Below is a synopsis of the book, followed by a gallery of illustrations from original serial publication in The Royal Magazine, as well as from its reprinting in Famous Fantastic Mysteries in 1949. The original serial in The Royal Magazine appeared in 6 installments, but the expanded novel has no chapters at all (since it is presented as a "personal journal", written intermittently over 20 years). However, in order to better appreciate the structure of the narrative, I organized the below synopsis into 15 chapters and gave them unofficial chapter titles.

The Purple Cloud

A Race to the North Pole: When a financial tycoon dies and leaves his assets to the first man to reach the North Pole, several expeditions are mounted. However, in the following years all of them unexpectedly fail for one reason or another. Eventually, a proselytizing parson named Mackay begins to preach that mankind is not meant to reach the North Pole, and that the difficulties thus far encountered are, in fact, a warning (from God). Nonetheless, the author-narrator - an English writer-naturalist named Adam Jeffson - is able to find a place amongst the crew of the Boreal, the latest expedition to try for the Pole. However, his inclusion in the crew roster had actually been obtained through "underhanded" means - his ambitious fiancée had earlier poisoned one of the originally chosen crew members so that Jeffson could take his place. In this opening sequence, Jeffson also describes a lifetime of hearing two distinct disembodied voices in his head, which he has come to characterize as the voices of "White" and "Black" (roughly, Good and Evil).
Vanguard Press 1930
The Journey Begins: Sometime after the Boreal launches (from St. Katherine's Docks in London), an old acquaintance of Jeffson's named Wilson hints that Jeffson's placement on the mission is the result of his fiancée's propensity for lethal action. This precipitates a duel, in which Jeffson kills Wilson. Wilson's death is also fortunate for Jeffson because it gives him Wilson's place in the exclusive group chosen to sled north to the Pole (of which one will be rewarded with the inheritance money).
The North Pole: Almost two years later (the journey is long and arduous), the Boreal reaches solid ice, and the three lucky men chosen to continue north (including Jeffson) disembark and continue on dogsleds. Nearing the Pole, they discover crystalline meteorites dotting the area. One night, during a sudden earthquake, Jeffson abandons his fellow explorers and takes off alone towards the Pole. When he reaches it, he discovers a mysterious lake with a pillar made of ice standing in the center. On the pillar is carved a name and a date, both of which Jeffson cannot decipher (John Clute notes that this impious act of seeing the "forbidden name" is the crime against God which precipitates the extinction of mankind). With his goal reached, he heads back towards his camp. He soon discovers that the other two men in his party had been killed in the earthquake.
Panther 1969
Sighting the Purple Cloud: Continuing south, Jeffson sees a purple cloud in the sky, which carries the scent of peaches - however, the vapors also cause him to feel very ill. Fortunately, the wind blows the cloud away from him and he recovers. As he continues south, Jeffson begins seeing many dead animals lying on the ground. After many long months, he eventually comes across the Boreal, but only finds its crew dead and its decks covered with a layer of purple ash. He deduces that the purple cloud must have contained a form of cyanide, but - fortunately for him - the cloud has now dispersed (probably out to space). In the ensuing weeks, he continues down the coast on the Boreal and discovers many more ships, but all of them contain dead crewmen, stricken down in mid-action.
Flight of the Dead: Reaching Norway, Jeffson heads inland but discovers only a city filled with crowds of dead bodies, apparently caught in the middle of a rush to flee northwest. Returning to the sea, Jeffson sails further south and comes across a flotilla of dead ships (apparently struck down while heading north trying to seek refuge of some sort).
World Publishing Co. 1946, Art: Soshensky
The Blight in Northern England: Eventually Jeffson reaches northern England, although he fears what he might discover. In Dover, he finds more victims of the cloud, consisting of peoples from many lands. He soon discovers a newspaper which describes a cloud-borne wave of death which had swept the globe for 3 months (as of its printing), leading to chaos and panic. Reaching the main train station, he refuels one of the abandoned engines and heads towards London. While stopping in Canterbury, he sees houses in which the inhabitants had tried to save themselves by sealing themselves away from the vapor - but had then suffocated. He also notes that the gas has acted as a preservative on the dead, preventing rot and decay from setting in (the bodies are essentially "mummified"). Although most animals are dead, insects, fishes and frogs seem to have escaped death.
Searching For Survivors in London: In London, Jeffson finds a report theorizing that the purple cloud had been created by a volcanic eruption in the southern hemisphere, spewing forth clouds of toxic gas, which had then traversed the globe as the planet rotated on its axis. He then takes a boat up the Thames to search for any signs of life, hoping that some people might possibly have survived in the deep mines. After he completes several fruitless journeys into the mines, he spends some time in a house in Cornwall Point, which turns out to be the home of the poet Arthur Machen (stricken down whilst composing a final poem). Later, he discovers a hospital where some people had tried to seal themselves in from the vapor, but then died from suffocation. Without exposure to the preserving purple vapors, these bodies had rotted, so Jeffson burns the building in disgust. This inspires him to head back to London with the intention of burning the entire city.
Allison & Busby 1986, Art: William Holman Hunt
Descent Into Madness - The Burning Begins: Back in London Jeffson finally revisits his old home and discovers the corpses of his maid and fiancée. After impulsively clothing himself in the dress of a Turkish nobleman, he concocts the idea of creating a grand palace for himself - but first he begins building timed explosive devices. One day, he is surprised to find a lighted street. In front of a store he ironically spots finds the last lighted words of civilized man: "Drink Roborol". In the ensuing days, he sets timed explosives all over London (although he does save a few pieces of artwork from the National Gallery such as 'Vision of St. Helena,' Murillo's 'Boy Drinking,' and 'Christ at the Column'). One the evening of the city's detonation, he has a feast and watches London burn from a secluded townhouse, located a safe distance away from the blast area. Afterwards, he returns to the Boreal and then sails for France.
Moving to France: In France, Jeffson makes his home at La Chartreuse de Vauclaire in Périgord, a monastery villa. However, he also goes on several excursions across the country so that he can burn a few French villages. Eventually haunted by guilt, he decides that he must devote himself to building the great palace he had envisioned earlier, otherwise he will go mad (madder). He decides to build it on the island of Imbros (off the coast of Turkey).
Heyne 1982, Art: Giuseppe Festino
A Palace on Imbros and the Burning of More Cities: In the next 17 years, Jeffson builds his palace, but also takes many around the world excursions to go on city burning sprees. One day while sailing south, he encounters volcanoes spewing more of the toxic purple vapor, and barely manages to escape the area. Later, he comes across a French ship, whose log records that 10 volcanoes in the south seas had suddenly erupted, spewing the toxic gas on the exact same day that Jeffson had reached the North Pole and sighted the mysterious pillar (which at one point had been hinted to be related to the Forbidden Tree of Knowledge in the Garden of Eden).
A Survivor Is Discovered in Turkey: After his palace on Imbros is completed, Jeffson's mood pivots back and forth between narcissistic mania and despondent loneliness. Soon the White and Black Voices return (which had disappeared decades ago when the purple cloud had appeared). In an attempt to fight off his encroaching madness, Jeffson decides to journey to Constantinople on another city-burning mission. After Istanbul is destroyed, Jeffson departs the city, but is soon shocked when he comes across a naked young girl in the outlying forest. He initially tries to kill her (possibly in order to eat her), but a bolt of lightning strikes his upheld knife before it strikes her. When Jeffson awakens, he tries to leave the girl behind, but she persistently follows him wherever he goes.
Bison Books 2000, Art: R. W. Boeche
The Girl's Story: Eventually, the two of them settle in a nearby mansion where Jeffson reluctantly tries to care for the girl. One day, the girl leads him to the Sultan's palace in Constantinople (Istanbul). In the cellar (opened to the air by Jeffson's explosives), Jeffson finds the skeleton of the Sultan's wife. He deducts that the Sultana had been imprisoned in the cellar as some kind of punishment, but then never freed due to the death of the Sultan and his court from the purple cloud. The Sultana had then given birth to a girl, and both had then survived on the supplies found in the storeroom. After the death of the Sultana, her daughter had continued to survive underground until Jeffson's detonations had freed her.
Return to Imbros and the Girl's Education: Jeffson soon comes to believe that White's wish is to have the two of them restart the human race. However he refuses to comply, believing that mankind is not worthy of being resurrected. Nonetheless, the appearance of the girl seems to immediately restore his sanity after the previous 17 years of manic palace-building and city-burning. Eventually, Jeffson allows the girl to join him at his palace on Imbros, although he forces her to wear a veil so that he will not be tempted by her beauty, and they live in separate buildings. In the following year, he teaches her how to read and speak English. In time, she also learns how to cook and play music. At one point, she argues that mankind should return to its place on the Earth, but Jeffson maintains that mankind is not worthy of coming back.
Resisting Temptation in France: One day, an earthquake strikes Imbros, sending Jeffson's palace into the sea. With no reason to stay on the island, Jeffson and the girl - now calling herself Leda - head westwards across Europe on various refurbished trains. During this time, Jeffson eventually admits to himself that he does have feelings for the girl. Nonetheless he resists the urge to disrupt their platonic relationship, and in France, at the Chillon Castle, Jeffson tells Leda that they can both live in the same domicile, but that they can no longer see each other - still, he cannot resist socializing with her from time to time. When he feels that he can no longer bear the temptation of a carnal relation, he threatens her with a gun, but she ends up injuring herself with it.
The Future of Mankind: Eventually, Jeffson brings Leda to the French city of Havre, where he shows her how to use a telephone. He then departs alone on a ship to Portsmouth, England. There he tests the telephone to make sure that they can still communicate over the water. After several months, Jeffson is tempted to rejoin Leda, but stops himself at the last minute. Resolved to kill himself in order to prevent the inevitable, he is halted when Leda tells him that she sees another purple cloud approaching in the distance. Jeffson immediately rejoins Leda, accepting her as his wife. Although Leda's purple cloud never materializes, weeks later they still remain at the Château-les-Roses (in Normandy), where Jeffson resolves to continue the human race with Leda, hoping that it will follow her example as a decent human being.