The novel “I Am Legend” by Richard Matheson was published for the first time in 1954.
Robert Neville’s days are spent looking for the vampires who live in the area around his home hiding from the sunlight to go out after sunset. He tries to find and kill as many of them as possible, knowing that at night they will come looking for him to convince him to go out, sometimes attempting an attack to break into his house.
The situation for Robert Neville is difficult because, as far as he knows, he’s the last man left on Earth after a pandemic turned everyone else into vampires. He struggles to remain lucid and all too often gets drunk to escape the despair caused by that situation. He tries to understand the origin and characteristics of vampirism hoping to improve his defenses, but he always risks making fatal mistakes.
Watching Tod Browning’s classic movie “Dracula”, Richard Matheson tried to imagine what the world would be like in an opposite situation, with a normal human among vampires. The story he developed left gothic horror tones out to embrace the post-apocalyptic theme. He adopted a science fiction frame with the theme of vampirism developed as a disease instead of a supernatural phenomenon.
The protagonist Robert Neville thinks he’s the only man on Earth immune to the disease that destroyed human civilization, but that made him the vampires’ target. From the beginning, it’s clear that his situation is really difficult, and the emotions he experiences are explored in depth throughout the novel. He’s mentally unbalanced because he’s been fighting vampires for some time all alone. The anguish of knowing that every night he could risk his life eroded his mental lucidity leading him to depression.
Despite the situation, Robert Neville investigates the causes of the disease that turned people into vampires, and that’s an important part of “I am legend”. Today these science fiction interpretations of vampirism have become common and have been developed in various ways, but in the 1950s Richard Matheson’s approach was original, also because the vampires of the novel had characteristics that mixed those of classic vampires with others more typical of zombies.
“I am legend” is a mix of action, scientific investigation of vampirism, and introspection with a good balance that helps to make the story intense even in the moments when the pace is slow. The reversal of the classic relationship between humans and vampires leads to reflections on good and evil: in a world that now belongs to vampires, who’s the villain?
All this in the 1950s was truly innovative and “I am legend” influenced literature and also cinema of various genres. The novel was adapted in various media, but the most famous adaptations are the three movies, even if they’re not always very faithful. It also inspired other movies: for example, in 1968 George Romero launched the zombie apocalypse with “Night of the Living Dead” using Richard Matheson’s novel as an inspiration.
“I am legend” has really dark tones that, together with certain moments that are quite brutal, can discourage some sensitive readers. However, it’s a novel that decades later is still extraordinary, so I recommend reading it without thinking about genre labels.
