''The Purple Cloud'' is an apocalyptic "last man" novel by the British writer

M. P. Shiel Matthew Phipps Shiell (21 July 1865 – 17 February 1947), known as M. P. Shiel, was a British writer. His legal surname remained "Shiell" though he adopted the shorter version as a ''de facto'' pen name. He is remembered mainly for supernatura ...

. It was published in 1901.

H. G. Wells Herbert George Wells"Wells, H. G."
Revised 18 May 2015. ''

H. P. Lovecraft later praised the novel as exemplary

weird fiction Weird fiction is a subgenre of speculative fiction originating in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Weird fiction either eschews or radically reinterprets ghosts, vampires, werewolves, and other traditional antagonists of supernatural horr ...

, "delivered with a skill and artistry falling little short of actual majesty." Wikisource:Supernatural Horror in Literature/The Weird Tradition in the British Isles The story is about a Adam Jeffson, a man on a polar expedition who discovers a mysterious and deathly Purple Cloud. In the wake of the massive global deaths wrought by the Purple Cloud, Jeffson becomes ruler of the world and builds a huge palace to his glory. He meets a young woman and the two become the heirs to the future of humanity. The novel formed the basis for the 1959 American film '' The World, the Flesh and the Devil''.

Textual variations

The novel exists in three distinct texts. It was first published as a serial, with illustrations by J. J. Cameron, in ''

The Royal Magazine ''The Royal Magazine'' was a monthly British literary magazine that was published between 1898 and 1939. Its founder and publisher was Sir Arthur Pearson. ''The Royal Magazines first edition was published in November 1898. According to this is ...

'', Vol V, #27-#30, Vol VI, #31–32, January – June 1901. This is the shortest version, and was photo-offset in Volume I of A. Reynolds Morse's monumental series, '' The Works of M. P. Shiel'' (1979–1983). The original book text was published in London by Chatto & Windus in September 1901. This is the longest version, and is considered by many to be the preferred text. The 1901 text was reprinted in London by

Tartarus Press Tartarus Press is an independent book publisher based near Leyburn, Yorkshire, UK.

in 2004 in an elaborate edition with all the Cameron illustrations from the serial and a new Introduction by

Brian Stableford Brian Michael Stableford (born 25 July 1948) is a British academic, critic and science fiction writer who has published more than 70 novels. His earlier books were published under the name Brian M. Stableford, but more recent ones have dropped ...

Hippocampus Press Hippocampus Press is an American publisher that specializes in, "the works of H. P. Lovecraft and his literary circle." Founded in 1999, and based in New York City, Hippocampus is operated by founder Derrick Hussey. As of 2017, it has issued ...

included the 1901 text, but without the illustrations, in an omnibus volume, ''The House of Sounds and Others'', edited by S. T. Joshi (2005). The 1901 text was also used in the edition published in 2012 in the

Penguin Classics Penguin Classics is an imprint of Penguin Books under which classic works of literature are published in English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Korean among other languages. Literary critics see books in this series as important members of the West ...

series with a new Introduction by John Sutherland. Shiel revised the novel in the 1920s, by tightening the language, rather than changing the plot. This version was first published in London by

Victor Gollancz Ltd. Victor Gollancz Ltd () was a major British book publishing house of the twentieth century and continues to publish science fiction and fantasy titles as an imprint of Orion Publishing Group. Gollancz was founded in 1927 by Victor Gollancz, an ...

(1929), and in New York by

Vanguard Press The Vanguard Press (1926–1988) was a United States publishing house established with a $100,000 grant from the left wing American Fund for Public Service, better known as the Garland Fund. Throughout the 1920s, Vanguard Press issued an array of ...

(1930). This, the final version, was the text most commonly reprinted in numerous subsequent editions. The novel has also been published in French, Italian, German and Spanish.

Plot

The story, a recording of a medium's meditation over the future writing of the text, details the narrator, Adam Jeffson, on an expedition to the

North Pole The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is the point in the Northern Hemisphere where the Earth's rotation, Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True North Pole to distingu ...

during the 20th century on board the ''Boreal''. Jeffson's fiancée, the Countess Clodagh, poisons her own cousin to secure a place on the ship for Jeffson, because the expedition was known to be one of the best ever planned. A millionaire, who died some years previously, had provided in his will for the payment of millions of dollars to the first person to reach the Pole. Before Jeffson leaves, he hears a priest speaking against polar research, calling the failure of all previous expeditions the

will of God The will of God or divine will is a concept found in the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament and the Quran, according to which God's will is the first cause of everything that exists. See also * Destiny * ''Deus vult'', a Latin expression meaning ...

, and prophesying a terrible fate for those who attempt to go against God's will. Jeffson remembers meeting with a man who claimed that the universe is a place of strife between vague "powers", "The White" and "The Black", which vie for dominance. Throughout the polar journey, Jeffson discovers that his course has been guided by these mysterious forces. He finds a huge lake of spinning water, with a rocky island inlaid with inscriptions. Upon seeing this, Jeffson faints. When he returns to his camp he feels nauseated after having smelled a peculiar peach-like odour. He also notices a moving purple cloud, spreading in the heavens. During the journey, he discovers dead animals, all without injury, and he learns of the death of his crew. The ship being fairly easy to operate,John D. Squires, "Shiel's Liquid Air Engines in ''The Purple Cloud''"
''

The New York Review of Science Fiction ''The New York Review of Science Fiction'' is a monthly literary magazine of science fiction that was established in 1988. It includes works of science fiction criticism, essays, and in-depth critical reviews of new works of fiction and scholarsh ...

'', December 2009, # 256, Vol 22, No 4 (Dec 2009), 6. he sets out by himself. First, he travels towards northern islands, but upon seeing the death of all various races from around the Earth there (the result of an exodus, escaping the death-bringing cloud), and meeting ships crowded with corpses, he comes instead to the dead continent, walking through London, searching for news of the cloud. He looks for any survivors, but finds all barricades broken through by mad crowds. Later, he goes to the house of

Arthur Machen Arthur Machen (; 3 March 1863 – 15 December 1947) was the pen-name of Arthur Llewellyn Jones, a Welsh author and mystic of the 1890s and early 20th century. He is best known for his influential supernatural, fantasy, and horror fiction. His ...

(a close friend of Shiel's), whom he finds dead, having been writing a poem until the very end. There, he finds the notebook into which he writes his whole narrative. The later parts of the book describe Jeffson's descent into mad pompousness: adopting Turkish attire, he declares himself monarch and burns down cities (including

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefect ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, and

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

) for pleasure. He then commits his life to one task, the construction of a huge and colossal golden palace on the isle of

Imbros Imbros or İmroz Adası, officially Gökçeada (lit. ''Heavenly Island'') since 29 July 1970,Alexis Alexandris, "The Identity Issue of The Minorities in Greece And Turkey", in Hirschon, Renée (ed.), ''Crossing the Aegean: An Appraisal of the 1 ...

, which he means to dedicate as an altar to God and a palace to himself. He spends seventeen years on the palace, several times abandoning the work, until its completion, when he recognises the vanity of it. While travelling through

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya ( Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis ( ...

, which he also burns down, he meets a twenty-year-old naked woman who is without the slightest knowledge of anything in the world. She continues to follow him, no matter how he mistreats her. Gradually, he accepts her, but forces her to wear a veil over her mouth. Her speed at learning astonishes him, so he teaches her to speak, read, cook, fish, and dress. The girl (who is unable to pronounce "r", instead saying "l") reveals that she had lived her whole life in a cellar below the royal palace of Turkey, and that she knew nothing of the world until she was freed when Jeffson burned down Constantinople. She becomes absorbed in the Bible and declares the humans who sought for riches as "spoiled". Jeffson struggles mightily against his growing affection towards the girl, wishing to end the human race. At the end, when he leaves to go to England, she telephones him about the re-appearance of the Purple Cloud over France. He rushes to her, embracing her as his wife and now hoping to find a way to escape the cloud. She tells him to trust that God will not allow her to die. He concludes his writing by saying that he has accepted his role and that after three weeks have passed no purple cloud has appeared, and he looks forward to the two of them becoming the progenitors of future humanity.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Purple Cloud 1901 British novels 1901 science fiction novels Apocalyptic novels Post-apocalyptic novels Novels set in the Arctic Works originally published in The Royal Magazine Novels first published in serial form Chatto & Windus books British novels adapted into films Science fiction novels adapted into films British science fiction novels