I Am Legend

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This article is about Richard Matheson's novel. For the 2007 film, see I Am Legend (film).

I Am Legend

Author	Richard Matheson
Country	USA
Language	English
Genre(s)	Sci-fi/horror
Publisher	Fawcett Gold Medal
Publication date	1954
Media type	Paperback
Pages	160 (1954 edition) 317 (1995 edition includes several short stories)
ISBN	ISBN 031286504X (1995 edition)

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.

1 Plot
2 Influence
3 Adaptations
4 See also
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Plot

I Am Legend covers the daily life of Robert Neville from January of 1976 to January of 1979, in Los Angeles. The story opens with the monotony and horror of quotidian life for the protagonist, who apparently is the sole survivor of a bacterial pandemic apocalypse, the symptoms of which are like vampirism. Neville prepares for a siege night from a vampire horde. He spends the day time hours repairing his house — boarding windows, hanging garlic garlands, disposing of vampire corpses, and gathering supplies.

The story is Neville's attempt to comprehend, and possibly cure, the disease that killed mankind, showing his research of vampirism, and its possible causes. Via flashback, Neville's past is revealed. Moreover, his emotional struggle to cope with losing his family is dealt with by going about a daily routine.

Neville sees the destruction of the infected survivors as a right, a moral imperative, even, to be pursued for his own — and mankind's — survival, yet, in the end, he glimpses a future society wherein infection is normal and he, Neville, a murderous, biologic deviant. He then grasps that, just as vampires were legend in pre-infection times, now he, Robert Neville, is legend for the new human race born of the infection.

[edit] Influence

First edition cover art

I Am Legend influenced the zombie genre and popularized the concept of a world-wide disease apocalypse. Though classified and referred to as "the first modern vampire novel", ^[1] 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). ^[2]^[3]^[4] Moreover, film critics noted similarities between Night of the Living Dead (1968) and The Last Man on Earth (1964). ^[5]^[6]

Stephen King said, "without Richard Matheson I wouldn’t be around". ^[7] 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. ^[8] The recasting of zombies as disease victims is comparable to recent zombie genre examples such as the Resident Evil series, the Blade trilogy, the 1984 B movie Night of the Comet, and The Addiction (1995), directed by Abel Ferrara.

In Kim Newman's alternate history novel Judgment of Tears, an alternate version of I Am Legend is said to be based on Count Dracula coming to America after being driven from Britain and establishing a vampire state there, with the hero the only mortal man left to oppose him.

On the album Le Sexorcisto: Devil Music Vol 1, the metal band White Zombie had a song called "I Am Legend", loosely based on the novel.

Christian post-hardcore band, He Is Legend, derive their title from the novel.

The comic Y: The Last Man is about the only man on Earth to survive a plague; a comic within the comic read by the titular character (about the last woman on earth) is called I Am Woman.^[9] The comic also has stadiums being used for the collection and disposal of corpses, as in I Am Legend.^[10]

[edit] 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.^[11]

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

[edit] The Last Man on Earth

Main article: The Last Man on Earth (1964 film)

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."

[edit] The Omega Man

Main article: 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 sensitivity to light.

[edit] I Am Legend

Main article: I Am Legend (film)

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. However, some vampiric elements are retained, such as sensitivity to UV light and attraction to blood.