Difference between revisions of "The Lost World"

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[[Category: Fiction|Lost World, The]]
 
[[Category: Fiction|Lost World, The]]
 
[[Category: Media Theme - Adventure|Lost World, The]]
 
[[Category: Media Theme - Adventure|Lost World, The]]
[[Category: Media Theme - Fantasy|Lost World, The]]
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[[Category: Media Theme - Lost World|Lost World, The]]
[[Category: Lost World|Lost World, The]]
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[[Category: Media Theme - Prehistoric|Savage Empire, The]]
 
[[Category: Books I've Read|Lost World, The]]
 
[[Category: Books I've Read|Lost World, The]]
 
[[Category: Public Domain|Lost World, The]]
 
[[Category: Public Domain|Lost World, The]]
 
[[Category: Books That Fail the Bechdel Test|Lost World, The]]
 
[[Category: Books That Fail the Bechdel Test|Lost World, The]]

Revision as of 16:30, 6 October 2020

First edition UK hardcover.

The Lost World is a science fiction fantasy novel by Arthur Conan Doyle published in 1912. In the story, a caustic British scientist named Professor Challenger claims to have discovered a vale in South America filled with living prehistoric animals. Challenger is called a fraud by his fellow zoologists, and demands they send a party to evaluate his claim. A small group composed of Professor Summerlee, a scientific peer; Lord John Roxton, an adventurer; and Edward Malone, a reporter trying to prove himself a worthy adventurer to a woman, travel to South America where they are unexpectedly met with Challenger who guides them to the hidden valley. There, they do indeed find living, and very deadly, mega-fauna that has long since been extinct elsewhere in the world as well as a dangerous tribe of ape-men. The book chronicles their adventures and near-death-experiences as they get stuck in the valley and try to find a way out.

Personal

I read this book to better familiarize myself with early science fiction.

Status

This story is in the public domain. I don't own a physical copy, but have listened to an audio book recording.

Review

— This section contains spoilers! —

Good

  • The idea of a lost glade in which long-since extinct species still live is a wonderfully exciting idea.
  • Professor George Edward Challenger is hilariously condescending to everyone.

Bad

  • The writing style of correspondences being written and read later adds to the realism factor, but takes away a lot of suspense.
  • The book becomes very boring near the end when most of the dangers have been eliminated, and everything becomes merely descriptive.

Ugly

  • A fair amount of the book is racist and sexist implying that Irish people are naturally stubborn, proper women should be slightly afraid of their husbands, black people are intrinsically dumb, and so-called brown "savages" naturally prostrate themselves before their white superiors.
  • After committing genocide the characters are not only remorseless, but quite proud of themselves.

Links

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