I Am Legend by Richard Matheson

I’ll tell you what; it is amazing what time and a less than faithful film adaptation will do to one’s memories of a novel. Actually, amazing probably isn’t the right word to describe this. I hesitate to use the word sad, however, because that is better suited for conveying my feelings toward the knowledge that many people only know the story of Robert Neville through the 2007 I Am Legend film adaptation starring Will Smith. Now, this isn’t to say the movie was bad, because it wasn’t (well, for the most part -- don’t get me started on the crappy CGI creature effects), just that it didn’t tell the story the way Richard Matheson wrote it. They also twisted the reason for the title I Am Legend and how it ultimately applied to Robert Neville in such a way that I left the theater completely pissed off, my poor brother taking the brunt of my anger as I vented about it during our entire drive home. Not that any of this really matters, nor does it even begin to explain why, after ten years, I went into the novel I Am Legend by Richard Matheson with very little knowledge of what would actually occur. Sure, I knew the gist of the story, and how it ended, and what some of the major events would be, but had forgotten enough of the tale to feel like I was sitting down with a previously unread novel. And honesty, given everything I had forgotten; things like the watch stopping while he was out and about during the day, the moments with the dog, the heart wrenching memories of his wife, and his odd almost surreal battle with Ben Cortman, I might as well have been reading the book for the first time.

As many people know I Am Legend by Richard Matheson is the story of Robert Neville and his fight for survival in a post apocalypses world. What many people don’t know is that the story does not take place in Manhattan (though I did like that setting in the movie, and thought the effects for that were impressive), and the creatures he is fighting to survive against are not zombies, but vampires (I don’t know if the movie intended the creatures to be zombies, but that seems to be what most people think). Unsure if he is the last man alive, but knowing he must be the last man in the area given how overrun it has become by vampires, Robert Neville spends his days either hunting down the creatures while they sleep, or hunting down supplies he needs for his house; a house that he has successfully fortified so that the vampires can’t get in at night. Unfortunately this monotonous, and somewhat violent existence starts to take its toll on him (memories of his wife and the events that unfolded with her also play a major part in this). Depressed, and drinking too much, Robert Neville starts to grow somewhat careless with his routine, which leads to a disaster that nearly costs him his life. Startled by this, and realizing he needs to make changes, Robert Neville sets down a new plan for his existence, one that sees him doing everything he can to learn about the vampire plaque and why it spread. Hopefully once he understands this he will be better able to survive against it, and maybe even cure those in the early stages of it. The task is not easy. For most of mankind’s existence the vampire has been treated as a supernatural myth rather than an actual creature, thus Robert Neville avenue of research is overrun with reasoning and explanations that are based upon fiction rather than fact. Things don’t get any easier either once he clears away all the fictitious garbage, because then he is faced with the difficulty of understanding the vampire creature as it truly is, which, like all other organisms on earth, is a very complex life form. Thankfully the daily fight for survival against the blood thirsty creatures is a pretty good motivation for him to keep at it even when things seem fruitless. The question is will he be able to hold out long enough for his growing knowledge of the vampire to be put to good use, or will his existences be stamped out by the forces surrounding him?

Rereading I Am Legend by Richard Matheson was a wonderful decision because it once again opened my eyes to the amazing story telling abilities of this world renowned author. It also has made me more determined than ever to sit down with some of the books I read and enjoyed so many years ago, because chances are my understanding of these tales has faded considerably over time and reading them again will be like sitting down with them for the first time. Even if my memory of the story is pretty much intact I have a feeling I will discover things about it I didn’t notice the first time around, and that alone is enough motivation for me to dive back into some of my favorite authors, Richard Matheson being one of them, Stephen King, Brian Lumley, and Clive Barker being others (just to name a few). Who knows, I may even re-read all the Hardy Boy stories as well. Twenty years has passed since my journey through them so there is no telling what my mind will rediscover. And now, before I overwhelm myself (and blog followers) with the possibility of titles to re-read, I must plead with those who have never read I Am Legend by Richard Matheson to pick up a copy and sit down with it -- especially if you have seen the movie. The story is just too impressive and too well told to pass up. Even if you aren’t a fan of vampires, or even horror fiction, it should still be read, because like any good tale those are just elements to the story and not the main focus. Instead the focus is on Robert Neville and his struggle to survive in a world that has been flipped head over heels, a world that once again proves mankind is a mere speck in the grand scope of things and can be wiped from existence with one easy stroke.