This article examines the use of metaphors, allusions and similes to the prehistoric, primeval and the antediluvian during the First World War. This paper explores evolutionary ideas, their scientific basis and ambivalent narrative reflection in 'The Lost World', providing greater insight into Arthur Conan Doyle as science fiction writer and the literary discourse on evolution. Through his fictional microcosm Doyle locates ancient creatures and modern man in the meta-narrative of evolution, drawing inspiration from a wide range of sources, including earlier science fiction, travel accounts and fossil finds near his Sussex home, but especially the innovative fusion of palaeontology and Darwinism and ideas of a ‘missing link’ at the turn of the century. Prehistory comes alive, and like actors in a living natural history museum extinct species participate again in the struggle for survival. Professor Challenger is not only an expert in evolutionary science but also a man of action, organizing an expedition to a strange plateau in the Amazon rain forest, which turns out to be a lost world with dinosaurs and ape-men.
Doyle’s scientific romance combines a thrilling adventure plot with scientific concepts and debates of his time, particularly ideas on evolution.
A fascinating tale of adventure and discovery, The Lost World will excite the imagination as Doyle takes the reader back through time.Doyle’s novel 'The Lost World' (1912) is one of his most influential works, establishing dinosaurs in fiction and inspiring later science fiction, but also giving birth to Professor Challenger, one of the most memorable scientists in literature. Seemingly impossible to penetrate, this lost world holds great danger for the expedition team, from fiendish ape-men to terrifying prehistoric creatures. In this classic tale by the creator of Sherlock Holmes, a scientific expedition headed by the larger than life Professor Challenger, sets out to explore a plateau in South America that remains frozen in time from the days when dinosaurs roamed the earth. The novel also describes a war between indigenous people and a vicious tribe of ape-like creatures. The character of Professor Challenger was introduced in this book. It was originally published serially in the popular Strand Magazine and illustrated by New-Zealand-born artist Harry Rountree during the months of April–November 1912. This is the story of an expedition to a plateau in the Amazon basin of South America where prehistoric animals (dinosaurs and other extinct creatures) still survive. I have wrought my simple plan, If I give one hour of joy, to the boy who's half a man, Or the man who's half a boy.
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