I Am Legend

Infobox Book
name = I Am Legend
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image_caption =
author = Richard Matheson
illustrator =
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country = USA
language = English
series =
subject =
genre = Sci-fi/horror
publisher = Fawcett Gold Medal
pub_date = 1954
english_pub_date =
media_type = Paperback
pages = 160 (1954 edition)
317 (1995 edition includes several short stories)
isbn = ISBN 031286504X (1995 edition)
oclc =
preceded_by =
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"I Am Legend" is a 1954 science fiction novel by Richard Matheson about the last man alive in a future Los Angeles, California. It is notable as influential on the developing modern vampire genre as well as the zombie genre, in popularizing the fictional concept of a worldwide apocalypse due to disease, and in exploring the notion of vampirism as a disease. The novel was a success and was adapted to film as "The Last Man on Earth" in 1964, as "The Omega Man" in 1971, and again in 2007 as "I Am Legend".

Later releases of the novel include several of Matheson's short stories: "Buried Talents", "The Near Departed", "Prey", "Witch War", "Dance of the Dead", "Dress of White Silk, Mad House", "Funeral", "From Shadowed Places", and "Person to Person".

Plot

"I Am Legend" is the story of Robert Neville - apparently the sole survivor of a bacterial pandemic apocalypse, the symptoms of which resemble Vampirism. The author details Neville's daily life in Los Angeles from January of 1976 to January of 1979, as he attempts to comprehend, research, and possibly cure the disease that killed mankind, and to which he is immune. Neville's past is revealed through flashbacks, while his emotional struggle to cope with losing his family is dealt with by going about a daily routine.

Every day, Neville prepares for nightly sieges from a vampire horde. He spends the daylight hours repairing his house: boarding windows, hanging garlic garlands, disposing of vampire corpses and gathering supplies. Once darkness falls, the infected come out of hiding and lay siege to Neville's house. They taunt him and attempt to entice him out - he recognizes one 'vampire' as his friend Ben Cortman.

After bouts of depression and heavy drinking, Neville decides to find the causes of the disease. Books and other research materials are obtained from a library, and through painstaking research Neville is able to discover the root of the vampiric disease; a strain of bacteria capable of infecting both deceased and living hosts. However, he does not realize that the living hosts (the infected) are still inherently human, even though they exhibit all the signs of vampirism. He demonstrates during experiments on an unnamed woman and Ben Cortman that fear of the crucifix is a purely psychological trait. Since Cortman is Jewish, it is the Torah to which he reacts, rather than Christian religious artifacts.

At one point, Neville notices a wounded dog which has somehow survived outside. Initially wary, after some weeks the dog becomes more responsive, to the point where Neville is able to finally drag it inside his house and treat its wounds. Soon after, it gets infected and dies.

In June 1978, Neville comes across a seemingly uninfected woman abroad in the daylight and captures her. After the initial shock of seeing another human wears off, Neville becomes suspicious of Ruth and is skeptical of her story. He also notices that she is strongly against the killing of the vampires - he feels that if her story of survival was true, she would have become hardened to their fate. Too late, he discovers that she too is infected and just as he realizes this, Ruth knocks him out and leaves.

When he wakes up, Neville discovers a note left by Ruth. In it, she tells him that the infected have slowly been able to adapt to their disease to the point where they can spend short periods of time in sunlight and they are even attempting to rebuild society as they now know it. They fear and hate Neville since he unwittingly targets and destroys their people during his daytime excursions and view him as a predator. In their quest to capture him, the infected sent one of their own to Neville. She adds that they have evolved enough to hunt the true vampires (dead bodies animated by the 'germ') and even manufacture pills that keep the baser vampiric instincts at bay. She warns Neville that their hunters will come for him since they view him as a threat. Neville finally believes Ruth but decides not to leave, weary of his lonely and monotonous existence. Eventually the infected come to capture him; Neville watches from his house as they emerge from cars, kill the vampires outside with weapons and storm the house. He puts up a struggle but is badly wounded and, once captured, is taken to their headquarters.

Neville meets Ruth again in his prison; she informs him that she is a ranking member of this new society but unlike the others she doesn't fear and hate him. She tells him she had come to his prison to try and help him escape but that is now impossible. She acknowledges the need for Neville's execution, and slips him pills, claiming they will 'make it easier'. Emotionally broken, Neville finally accepts his fate and tearfully asks Ruth not to let this society get too brutal and heartless. Ruth kisses him and leaves.

Neville goes to his prison window and gets a glimpse of all the infected milling around in the yard waiting for his execution. When they spot him, he sees the fear, awe and horror in their eyes and he understands to them he is a scourge, just as they were a scourge to him at the beginning of the novel. Previously Neville saw the destruction of the infected survivors as a right and a moral imperative to be pursued for his own and mankind's survival, but now he finally acknowledges defeat. He is the only immune human left in the world, the only survivor of the "old race".

He glimpses a future society wherein infection is normal and he, Neville, is a murderous, biologic deviant. As he turns away and swallows the pills, Neville grasps the reversal that has taken place and that, just as vampires were legend in pre-infection times now he, as obsolete exemplar of old humanity, is legend in the eyes of the new race born of the infection.

Influence

"I Am Legend" influenced the zombie genre and popularized the concept of a worldwide disease apocalypse. Though classified and referred to as "the first modern vampire novel", [David Carroll and Kyla Ward, "The Horror Timeline" Burnt Toast No. 13 http://www.tabula-rasa.info/DarkAges/Timeline2.html] it is as a novel of social theme that "I Am Legend" impressed itself to the cinematic zombie genre by way of film director George A. Romero, who acknowledged its influence and that of its 1964 adaptation, "The Last Man on Earth", upon his film "Night of the Living Dead" (1968). [ [http://www.houseofhorrors.com/night68.htm "House of Horrors Presents: The Night of the Living Dead"] ] [ [http://cinefantastiqueonline.com/2008/02/13/retrospective-night-of-the-living-dead-1968 Steve Biodrowski, "Retrospective: Night of the Living Dead (1968)"] ] [Richard Matheson interview, in Tom Weaver, "Return of the B Science Fiction and Horror Movie Makers: The Mutant Melding of Two Volumes of Classic Interviews" (Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 1999), p. 307, ISBN 0-7864-0755-7.] Moreover, film critics noted similarities between "Night of the Living Dead" (1968) and "The Last Man on Earth" (1964). [ [http://notcoming.com/reviews.php?id=688 Thomas Scalzo, "The Last Man on Earth" (film review)] ] [ [http://uas.alaska.edu/pub/filmasart/lastmanonearth.htm Danel Griffin "The Last Man on Earth" (film review)] ]

Stephen King said, "Without Richard Matheson I wouldn’t be around." [ [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,923-2278832,00.html The Legend that inspired me - Times Online ] ] Film critics noted that the British film "28 Days Later" (2002) and its sequel "28 Weeks Later" both feature a rabies-type plague ravaging Great Britain, analogous to "I Am Legend". [ [http://www.channel4.com/film/reviews/film.jsp?id=109016 28 Days Later Movie Review (2002) from Channel 4 Film ] ] The recasting of zombies and vampires as products of infectious disease or radiation is now commonplace, as seen in the "Resident Evil" series, the "Blade" trilogy, the 1984 B movie "Night of the Comet", "Ultraviolet" and "The Addiction".

Adaptations

"I Am Legend" has been adapted to a feature-length film three times. The book has also been adapted into a graphic novel titled "Richard Matheson's I Am Legend" by Steve Niles and Elman Brown. [ [http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071223/STYLE/225372455/-1/style Nashuatelegraph.com: Tale with long history has legendary opening ] ]

A nine-part reading of the novel performed by Angus MacInnes was originally broadcast on BBC Radio 4.

"The Last Man on Earth"

In 1964, Vincent Price starred as Dr. Robert Morgan (rather than "Neville") in "The Last Man on Earth" (the original title of this Italian production was "L'Ultimo Uomo della Terra"). Matheson wrote the screenplay for this adaptation, but due to later rewrites he did not wish his name to appear in the credits; as a result, Matheson is credited under the pseudonym "Logan Swanson."

"The Omega Man"

In 1971, a far different version appeared as "The Omega Man", starring Charlton Heston (as Robert Neville) and Anthony Zerbe. Matheson had no influence on the screenplay for this film; it deviates from the novel's story in several ways, completely removing the vampirical elements except for sensitivity to light.

"I Am Legend"

Will Smith stars in the film directed by Francis Lawrence, released on December 14, 2007. This movie also deviates from the original novel. The infection is caused by a virus originally intended to cure cancer. Some vampiric elements are retained, such as sensitivity to UV light and attraction to blood. The film takes place in New York City and in the year 2012 instead of '76-'79, and Neville is given the dog by his daughter as she and the mother were about to escape.The ending is completely different, with him discovering a cure and killing himself to allow another immune person to take the cure to a hidden sanctuary. Presumably then, the cure is spread and man-kind is saved.

Prequel

In September 2008, it was announced that Warner Bros. had signed Will Smith up to make a prequel to the 2007 film. [ http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/movies/a131172/smith-to-take-on-i-am-legend-prequel.html ]

Popular Music

English Rock band Population Four have written a song basised around the themes and narritive of I am legend. The Song entitled "I AM..." was and recorded and released to the public in summer 2008

ee also

*Post-apocalyptic fiction
*Vampire literature
*Zombies in popular culture
*Survivalism

References

External links

* [http://www.iamlegendarchive.com The "I Am Legend" Book Archive]
* [http://www.myspace.com/populationfour website of Rock band "Population Four"]