The Scarlet Plague 9781518778766 Books
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The Scarlet Plague 9781518778766 Books
This 1912 story stands among the earliest of "after the collapse" dystopias. In it, Jack London starts with San Francisco of his day - not that different, except for the horses, than it is today. A mysterious plague breaks out, bringing terrible death within hours of its first symptoms - and, of course, incredibly contagious. Polite society quickly degenerates into isolated bands, some together for mutual support, others as predatory wolf-packs. Even a college campus turns into a war zone, with as many dead from gunfire as from disease. As you may imagine, London's writing style works well in conveying the brute savagery.Some few with natural immunity survive, like the narrator. He tells this story to a few boys from his tribe, descendants of those who survived pestilence and each other. But, the boys' world-view and even language have collapsed, too. They can barely understand the words he uses, can't imagine the society he describes, and frankly don't care. In closing the narrator mentions a cache of books he's placed in a cave, hoping it will help future generations regain civilized status. But that might be millenia away, if it ever comes at all.
-- wiredweird
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The Scarlet Plague 9781518778766 Books Reviews
1) This is a novella, not a short story; if you are expecting a thick book, don't go for it, but it's just as long as many published books.
1b) I was shocked to discover that Jack London had written what we'd now call postapocalyptic fiction. The frisson was stronger to realize that the apocalypse was now!
1c) I'd highly, highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys postapocalyptic fiction. I don't know if it's the origin of some of the tropes we often see, but it's definitely an early instantiation of them, and it's kind of heartbreaking.
2) This edition in particular is a beautiful edition of a text that is available online, proofed and corrected. I would much rather read this than any of the free editions for that reason I find errors distracting and this version has none.
2b) I'm looking forward to the rest of the Radium Age series!
"The Scarlet Plague" is a novella by Jack London that I'd never heard of before searching for recommended books available for free on . It was listed under science fiction and I thought "Whoa!" London's story was written in 1912, predicts a deadly plague in 2012, and is "narrated" by one of the few survivors--an 87-yr-old former English professor--60 years after civilization's collapse. The world of 2072 is completely feral, with scattered groups of stone-age humans perhaps only numbering a few thousand worldwide. The old professor tells his 3 grandchildren about the world before the plague, and the total collapse of everything. This work is vivid and profoundly pessimistic. If there's a fun part, it's London's portrait of Earth, circa 2012. A population of 8 billion, gross inequities of wealth and power, monorails, dirigibles, wireless communications not bad for guessing a century ahead. It screams to be adapted to the big or small screen, shooting in today's world and tweaking the story to match. 75 years before this book, Mary Shelley wrote "The Last Man," which some consider the great-granddaddy of post-apocalyptic novels. I'd never heard of that one before reading reviews of "The Scarlet Plague." I wonder if has it for free...
Love the book. I have the Spanish version in cartoon form also from Mexico City 1977 or so. This is a weird edition; the book was always called THE Scarlet Plague. The missing article seems odd, like writing Odd Couple instead of The Odd Couple or Grapes of Wrath instead of The Grapes of Wrath. We are warned that this copied novel with the incorrectly printed title may not be reproduced (in its current format) without the permission of the "publisher" who may be contacted at an email address--this as if there is anyone who would seek to steal the valuable two-spaces-after-a-paragraph format used by the "publisher" who seems to have simply typed the work up for sale on CreateSpace or wherever.
I for one pledge not to steal this valuable formatting. )
This short novelette of Jack London's, is a radical departure from his usual "he-man" expostulations upon brutal Nature, brutal men, brutal institutions, and, brutal oceans. He had manged Science Fiction, with as much adroitness, just as well, as he did with his usual genres.
It was fascinating to see how he made projections upon the progress of technology, 100 years ahead of his time. Wireless radios being used for routine communications between regular folks; monorails to transport the masses overland; and private luxury zeppelins, for the wealthy to travel.
After this pandemic had culled humanity, by at least 95%, there was an irrevocable descent by humanity into savage barbarity, once they lost their comforts, technology, and institutions, and that is the common thread--of brutality--that this story has, with the rest of London's works.
One should also read George R. Stewart's "Earth Abides" alongside of "Scarlet", as they are both very complimentary to each other.
This 1912 story stands among the earliest of "after the collapse" dystopias. In it, Jack London starts with San Francisco of his day - not that different, except for the horses, than it is today. A mysterious plague breaks out, bringing terrible death within hours of its first symptoms - and, of course, incredibly contagious. Polite society quickly degenerates into isolated bands, some together for mutual support, others as predatory wolf-packs. Even a college campus turns into a war zone, with as many dead from gunfire as from disease. As you may imagine, London's writing style works well in conveying the brute savagery.
Some few with natural immunity survive, like the narrator. He tells this story to a few boys from his tribe, descendants of those who survived pestilence and each other. But, the boys' world-view and even language have collapsed, too. They can barely understand the words he uses, can't imagine the society he describes, and frankly don't care. In closing the narrator mentions a cache of books he's placed in a cave, hoping it will help future generations regain civilized status. But that might be millenia away, if it ever comes at all.
-- wiredweird
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