EARTH ABIDES by George R.Stewart (1949)
Isherwood Williams (Ish) is not much of mixer which is just as well because most of humanity has just been wiped out by a deadly virus.
You might imagine this means the horror of piles of corpses lying everywhere but the dead bodies have either all been buried or we assume that all the victims gathered together in medical centers to tidily expire en-masse.
When we meet Ish, he is laid up in his remote mountain cabin after a snake bite. This poison seems to be the reason he is immune to the pandemic.
When he recovers he finds that civilization as he knows is has disappeared. Being a pragmatic and practically-minded kind of guy he resolves to cope with the great disaster methodically and logically. He gets a truck, food supplies, weapons and a dog. His trusty hammer becomes both a life saver and a symbol of his enduring strength.
George R.Stewart, like Ish, isn’t given much to sentimental musings or despairing speculations. In his one and only Sci-Fi work, the author’s misanthropic inclinations are evident when he makes statements like : “At the funeral of Homo Sapiens there will be few mourners”. He dryly imagines that three species of louse which prey upon human bodies will be the most sorry.
Equally, Stewart is not inclined to view the disaster as some kind of divine judgement. On the contrary, he writes: “What had happened did not inspire one to think that God was particularly interested in the human race, or in individuals”.
In the first, and best, section of the novel – ironically titled ‘World Without End’ – Ish initially sets out to search for any other survivors. The few that he finds are either crazy or are not the kind he feels much like hanging out with.
He remains a loner until he meets Em. She conveniently combines elements of Mother of Nature and Courage whilst neutralizing the increasingly sexist aspects of the novel (i.e. Men = Action / Women = Instinct).
Em also has blue in the half moons of her fingernails which signifies negro origins. This comes as a shock to our all-American hero – “Now everything came together in his mind – brunette complexion, dark liquid eyes, full lips, white teeth, rich voice, accepting temperament”. Ok, Ish’s response might not be entirely PC but it’s quite a bold character detail in a 1949 novel.
Em proves a good breeder and when other sane survivors are found a small community slowly emerges. The rest of the novel speculates on how to rebuild the rudiments of a new society. Broadly speaking books become less important while bows and arrows make a come back.
In theory, the structure of the novel leaves plenty of scope for tense scenes involving competing tribes but this is story of ideas not action. In general, Stewart is more interested in how Earth’s infrastructure, wildlife and vegetation will evolve without the controls of humankind. Tension and conflicts between are resolved without any great drama.
Post-apocalyptic novels never really go out of fashion and ‘Earth Abides’ stands up surprisingly well after 70 years. Music is one of the casualties of the disaster but if this were a movie, REM’s ‘It’s the end of the world as we know it (and I feel fine)’ would not be out of place over the closing credits.
