The Lost World: Modern Library

The Lost World

By

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

The Lost World is a novel released in 1912 by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle concerning an expedition to a plateau in the Amazon basin of South America where prehistoric animals (dinosaurs and other extinct creatures) still survive. 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. The character of Professor Challenger was introduced in this book. The novel also describes a war between indigenous people and a vicious tribe of ape-like creatures.

Edward Malone, a reporter for the Daily Gazette, goes to his news editor, McArdle, to procure a dangerous and adventurous mission in order to impress the woman he loves, Gladys Hungerton. He is sent to interview Professor George Edward Challenger, to determine the truth of his claims about his trip to South America. After a fight with Malone, Challenger reveals his discovery of living dinosaurs in South America, and invites Malone, along with Professor Summerlee and Lord John Roxton, an adventurer who knows the Amazon, on a trip to prove his story. They reach the plateau with the aid of native guides; but one of these, called Gomez, is the brother of a man that Roxton killed, and isolates the explorers on the dinosaurs' plateau, and their servant Zambo is unable to prevent the rest of the guides from escape.