''The Hopkins Manuscript'' is a
social-political dystopian
A dystopia (from Ancient Greek δυσ- "bad, hard" and τόπος "place"; alternatively cacotopiaCacotopia (from κακός ''kakos'' "bad") was the term used by Jeremy Bentham in his 1818 Plan of Parliamentary Reform (Works, vol. 3, p. 493). ...
novel
A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...
published by
R. C. Sherriff
Robert Cedric Sherriff, FSA, FRSL (6 June 1896 – 13 November 1975) was an English writer best known for his play '' Journey's End'', which was based on his experiences as an army officer in the First World War. He wrote several plays, many nov ...
in 1939. Originally titled ''An Ordinary Man'', the novel was published with its present title by
Victor Gollancz
Sir Victor Gollancz (; 9 April 1893 – 8 February 1967) was a British publisher and humanitarian.
Gollancz was known as a supporter of left-wing causes. His loyalties shifted between liberalism and communism, but he defined himself as a Christ ...
, then republished as a Pan paperback in 1958 under the title ''The Cataclysm''. The book was further published by
The Macmillan Company
Macmillan Inc. is a defunct American book publishing company. Originally established as the American division of the British Macmillan Publishers, the two were later separated and acquired by other companies, with the remnants of the original Am ...
in 1963 and by
Persephone Books
''Persephone Books'' is an independent publisher based in Bath, England. Founded in 1999 by Nicola Beauman, Persephone Books reprints works largely by women writers of the late 19th and 20th century, though a few books by men are included. Th ...
in 2002.
The story is set in England, where the main character, Edgar Hopkins, writes a narrative about a catastrophe in which the Moon collides with Earth, and his life afterward. The foreword has the perspective of an academic society 1,000 years in the future finding the manuscript as an historical document.
References
1939 British novels
1939 science fiction novels
Dystopian novels
British political novels
British science fiction novels
Novels set in London
Novels about impact events
Works about the Moon
Novels by R. C. Sherriff
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