the lost world novel by arthur conan doyle

The easy, plausible steps by which he leads up to the starting of the expedition and the realistic and amusing account of the public meeting in London at which it has its inception are all skillfully done and serve their purpose perfectly. His pterodactyls and his dinosaurs and even his missing links are, indeed, rather more real and convincing than his two scientists, who are portrayed with broad and humorous caricature. The author’s passion for detail, and his skill in handling it, together with his exact scientific knowledge, make it all seem not only possible but perfectly real. And finally, at the climax of their nightmarish experiences, they come upon a tribe of man-apes, missing links, and for a time it looks as if the 20th century would go down before the survivals of antiquity. They fight for their lives with pterodactyls, see iguanodons at play and watch the tragedies of life among the gigantic dinosaurs. When Conan Doyle sat down to write “The Lost World” did he say to himself he would prove that Rider Haggard had not exhausted the possibilities of weird and amazing fiction? Or did he stick his tongue in his cheek and set out to write a caricature of novels of adventure? Or did he just simply take all the strings off that scientific imagination of his and let it riot unrestrained with his central idea? Whatever his purpose, he has produced a highly interesting tale of outlandish adventure of a sort to stir the pulses and arouse the wonder of even the “jaded” novel reader.įor he goes back of the hintermost beyond of man’s knowledge, and has his little company of 20th-century scientists and adventurers test their courage and their skill against the huge and loathsome beasts of the Jurassic period. THE LOST WORLD by Arthur Conan Doyle | Review first published Oct.

The lost world novel by arthur conan doyle