| The Lost World by Arthur Conan Doyle, Science Fiction, Classics, Adventure Contributor(s): Doyle, Arthur Conan (Author) |
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ISBN: 0809597306 ISBN-13: 9780809597307 Publisher: Wildside Press OUR PRICE: $35.96 Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats Published: January 2004 Annotation: In The Lost World, the first in a series of books to feature the bold Professor Challenger--a character many critics consider one of the most finely drawn in science fiction--Challenger and his party embark on an expedition to a remote Amazonian plateau where, as the good professor puts it, "the ordinary laws of Nature are suspended" and numerous prehistoric creatures and ape-men have survived. "Just as Sherlock Holmes set the standard--and in some sense established the formula--for the detective story . . ., so too has The Lost World" set the standard and the formula for fantasy-adventure stories . . .," Michael Crichton writes in his Introduction. "The tone and techniques that Conan Doyle first refined in The Lost World have become standard narrative procedures in popular entertainment of the present day." "From the Trade Paperback edition. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Fiction | Classics - Fiction | Science Fiction - Action & Adventure - Fiction | Literary |
| Dewey: FIC |
| Lexile Measure: 1250 |
| Physical Information: 0.75" H x 6" W x 9" (1.21 lbs) 268 pages |
| Accelerated Reader Info |
| Quiz #: 36256 Reading Level: 7.8 Interest Level: Upper Grades Point Value: 13.0 |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: The setting for The Lost World is believed to have been inspired by reports of Doyle's good friend Percy Harrison Fawcett's expedition to Huanchaca Plateau in Noel Kempff Mercado National Park, Bolivia. Fawcett organized several expeditions to delimit the border between Bolivia and Brazil - an area of potential conflict between both countries. Doyle took part in the lecture of Fawcett in Royal Geographic Society on 13 February 1911 and was impressed by the tale about the remote "province of Caupolican" (present day Huanchaca Plateau) in Bolivia - a dangerous area with impenetrable forests, where Fawcett saw "monstrous tracks of unknown origin". Edward Malone, the narrator of The Lost World, the novel in which Challenger first appeared, described his first meeting with the character: His appearance made me gasp. I was prepared for something strange, but not for so overpowering a personality as this. It was his size, which took one's breath away - his size and his imposing presence. His head was enormous, the largest I have ever seen upon a human being. I am sure that his top hat, had I ventured to don it, would have slipped over me entirely and rested on my shoulders. He had the face and beard, which I associate with an Assyrian bull; the former florid, the latter so black as almost to have a suspicion of blue, spade-shaped and rippling down over his chest. The hair was peculiar, plastered down in front in a long, curving wisp over his massive forehead. The eyes were blue-grey under great black tufts, very clear, very critical, and very masterful. A huge spread of shoulders and a chest like a barrel were the other parts of him which appeared above the table, save for two enormous hands covered with long black hair. This and a bellowing, roaring, rumbling voice made up my first impression of the notorious Professor Challenger. |
Contributor Bio(s): Doyle, Arthur Conan: - "Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (1859 - 1930) was a British writer best known for his detective fiction featuring the character Sherlock Holmes. Originally a physician, in 1887 he published A Study in Scarlet, the first of four novels about Holmes and Dr. Watson. In addition, Doyle wrote over fifty short stories featuring the famous detective. The Sherlock Holmes stories are generally considered milestones in the field of crime fiction. Doyle was a prolific writer; his non-Sherlockian works include fantasy and science fiction stories about Professor Challenger and humorous stories about the Napoleonic soldier Brigadier Gerard, as well as plays, romances, poetry, non-fiction and historical novels. One of Doyle's early short stories, "J. Habakuk Jephson's Statement," helped to popularize the mystery of the Mary Celeste." |