There is a good deal of humour used in the book, without it detracting from the realism. Conan Doyle uses him as the eyes through which many of the adventures in The Lost World are seen. “He has a gentle voice and a quiet manner, but behind his twinkling blue eyes there lurks a capacity for furious wrath and implacable resolution, the more dangerous because they are held in leash.”Īnd lastly, Ed Malone, a reporter: I always felt that Malone was there to represent “us” – the decent, ordinary reader. Lord John Roxton: The aristocratic hunter-adventurer. Summerlee, the veteran Professor of Comparative Anatomy, rose among the audience, a tall, thin, bitter man, with the withered aspect of a theologian. He represents mainstream, conservative science (and is usually wrong). Professor Summerlee : A physical opposite to Challenger, a sceptic and a useful bickering partner for his fellow scholar. Indeed, it was a waste of energy, for if you were going to be angry with this man you would be angry all the time.” A model for portraits of “mad professors” thereafter. Professor Challenger: A squat bull-dog of a man and an arrogant, short tempered, genius. There are 4 main characters, each plays an important role in the story, and also in the story-telling by ensuring multiple points of view. This expedition discovers a lost world where dinosaurs, ape-men and humans co-exist. The story is that of a scientific expedition sent to examine the reported claims by the iconic Professor Challenger that prehistoric life still exists on an inaccessible plateau in Brazil. Today we might say it was a delightful adventure story, keeping the thrills coming and the improbable plot clipping along at a pleasingly manic pace. The Lost World would once have been described as a “ Boy’s Own Story” or a “ a rollicking good yarn”. So it should be no surprise that The Lost World was a favourite read.
I grew up near Crystal Palace (London), which boasts a Victorian park full of wonderful 19th century dinosaur sculptures. Long before I had heard of Sherlock Holmes I was an enthusiastic reader of Conan Doyle’s Professor Challenger stories. The Lost World, Arthur Conan Doyle (1912) – Review
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