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

Expand: date=June 2008 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. A week after the dog 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.