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{{Short description|A subgenre of the fantasy or science fiction genres}}
{{Short description|Subgenre of the fantasy or science fiction genres}}
{{other uses|Lost World (disambiguation)}}
{{other uses|Lost World (disambiguation)}}
[[File:Front cover King Solomon's Mines 1887.jpg|thumb|First Edition Cover of ''[[King Solomon's Mines]],'' by [[H. Rider Haggard]]
considered by some the first lost world narrative.<ref name=":0">According to Robert E. Morsberger in the "Afterword" of ''King Solomon's Mines'', The Reader's Digest (1993).</ref>]]
{{Fantasy}}
{{Fantasy}}



The '''lost world''' is a [[subgenre]] of the [[fantasy]] or [[science fiction]] genres that involves the discovery of an unknown Earth civilization. It began as a subgenre of the late-[[Victorian literature|Victorian]] adventure [[Romanticism|romance]]{{citation needed|date=April 2018}} and remains popular into the 21st century.
The '''lost world''' is a [[subgenre]] of the [[fantasy]] or [[science fiction]] genres that involves the discovery of an unknown Earth civilization. It began as a subgenre of the late-[[Victorian literature|Victorian]] adventure [[Romanticism|romance]]{{citation needed|date=April 2018}} and remains popular into the 21st century.


The genre arose during an era when Westerners were discovering the remnants of lost civilizations around the world, such as the tombs of Egypt's [[Valley of the Kings]], the semi-mythical stronghold of [[Troy]], the jungle-shrouded pyramids of the [[Maya civilization|Maya]], and the cities and palaces of the empire of [[Assyria]]. Thus, real stories of archaeological finds by imperial adventurers succeeded in capturing the public's imagination. Between 1871 and the [[First World War]], the number of published lost world narratives, set in every continent, increased significantly.<ref>
The genre arose during an era when Western archeologists discovered and studied civilizations around the world previously unknown to them, through disciplines such as [[Egyptology]], [[Assyriology]], or [[Mesoamerica]]n studies. Thus, real stories of archaeological finds inspired writings on the topic. Between 1871 and the [[First World War]], the number of published lost world narratives, set in every continent, increased significantly.<ref>
{{cite journal |last=Deane |first=Bradley |year=2008 |title=Imperial Barbarians: Primitive masculinity in Lost World fiction |journal=Victorian Literature and Culture |volume=36 |pages=205–25 |doi=10.1017/S1060150308080121 |s2cid=162826920 |url=http://journals.cambridge.org/production/action/cjoGetFulltext?fulltextid=1689316 |access-date=2012-05-18 }}</ref>
{{cite journal |last=Deane |first=Bradley |year=2008 |title=Imperial Barbarians: Primitive masculinity in Lost World fiction |journal=Victorian Literature and Culture |volume=36 |pages=205–25 |doi=10.1017/S1060150308080121 |s2cid=162826920 |url=http://journals.cambridge.org/production/action/cjoGetFulltext?fulltextid=1689316 |access-date=2012-05-18 }}</ref>


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==History==
==History==
⚫
''[[King Solomon's Mines]]'' (1885) by [[H. Rider Haggard]] is sometimes considered the first lost world narrative.<ref name=":0" /> Haggard's novel shaped the form and influenced later lost world narratives, including [[Rudyard Kipling]]'s ''[[The Man Who Would Be King]]'' (1888), [[Arthur Conan Doyle]]'s ''[[The Lost World (Arthur Conan Doyle)|The Lost World]]'' (1912), [[Edgar Rice Burroughs]]' ''[[The Land That Time Forgot (novel)|The Land That Time Forgot]]'' (1918), [[A. Merritt]]'s ''[[The Moon Pool]]'' (1918), and [[H. P. Lovecraft]]'s ''[[At the Mountains of Madness]]'' (1931).


⚫
Earlier works, such as [[Edward Bulwer-Lytton]]'s ''[[Vril|Vril: The Power of the Coming Race]]'' (1871) and [[Samuel Butler (novelist)|Samuel Butler]]'s ''[[Erewhon]]'' (1872) use a similar plot as a vehicle for [[Jonathan Swift|Swiftian]] social [[satire]] rather than romantic adventure. Other early examples are [[Simon Tyssot de Patot]]'s ''Voyages et Aventures de Jacques Massé'' (1710), which includes a prehistoric fauna and flora, and [[Robert Paltock]]'s ''The Life and Adventures of Peter Wilkins'' (1751), an 18th-century imaginary voyage inspired by both [[Daniel Defoe|Defoe]] and [[Jonathan Swift|Swift]], in which a man named Peter Wilkins discovers a race of winged people on an isolated island surrounded by high cliffs as in Burroughs's [[Caprona (island)|Caspak]]. The 1820 [[Hollow Earth]] novel ''[[Symzonia: A Voyage of Discovery|Symzonia]]'' has also been cited as the first of the lost world form, and [[Jules Verne]]'s ''[[Journey to the Center of the Earth]]'' (1864) and ''[[The Village in the Treetops]]'' (1901) popularized the theme of surviving pockets of prehistoric species.<ref name=Becker>{{cite book |title=The Lost Worlds Romance: From Dawn Till Dusk |last=Becker |first=Allienne R. |year=1992 |publisher=Greenwood Press |location=Westport, CT |isbn=0-313-26123-7 }}</ref> [[J.-H. Rosny aîné]] would later publish ''The Amazing Journey of Hareton Ironcastle'' (1922), a novel where an expedition in the heart of Africa discovers a mysterious area with an ecosystem from another world, with alien flora and fauna. [[Edgar Allan Poe]]'s ''[[The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket]]'' (1838) has certain lost world elements towards the end of the tale.
⚫
''[[King Solomon's Mines]]'' (1885) by [[H. Rider Haggard]] is sometimes considered the first lost world narrative.<ref>According to Robert E. Morsberger in the "Afterword" of ''King Solomon's Mines'', The Reader's Digest (1993).</ref> Haggard's novel shaped the form and influenced later lost world narratives, including [[Rudyard Kipling]]'s ''[[The Man Who Would Be King]]'' (1888), [[Arthur Conan Doyle]]'s ''[[The Lost World (Arthur Conan Doyle)|The Lost World]]'' (1912), [[Edgar Rice Burroughs]]' ''[[The Land That Time Forgot (novel)|The Land That Time Forgot]]'' (1918), [[A. Merritt]]'s ''[[The Moon Pool]]'' (1918), and [[H. P. Lovecraft]]'s ''[[At the Mountains of Madness]]'' (1931).

⚫
Earlier works, such as [[Edward Bulwer-Lytton]]'s ''[[Vril|Vril: The Power of the Coming Race]]'' (1871) and [[Samuel Butler (novelist)|Samuel Butler]]'s ''[[Erewhon]]'' (1872) use a similar plot as a vehicle for [[Jonathan Swift|Swiftian]] social [[satire]] rather than romantic adventure. Other early examples are [[Simon Tyssot de Patot]]'s ''Voyages et Aventures de Jacques Massé'' (1710), which includes a prehistoric fauna and flora, and [[Robert Paltock]]'s ''The Life and Adventures of Peter Wilkins'' (1751), an 18th-century imaginary voyage inspired by both [[Daniel Defoe|Defoe]] and [[Jonathan Swift|Swift]], where a man named Peter Wilkins discovers a race of winged people on an isolated island surrounded by high cliffs as in Burroughs's [[Caprona (island)|Caspak]]. The 1820 [[Hollow Earth]] novel ''[[John Cleves Symmes, Jr.|Symzonia]]'' has also been cited as the first of the lost world form, and [[Jules Verne]]'s ''[[Journey to the Center of the Earth]]'' (1864) and ''[[The Village in the Treetops]]'' (1901) popularized the theme of surviving pockets of prehistoric species.<ref name=Becker>{{cite book |title=The Lost Worlds Romance: From Dawn Till Dusk |last=Becker |first=Allienne R. |year=1992 |publisher=Greenwood Press |location=Westport, CT |isbn=0-313-26123-7 }}</ref> [[J.-H. Rosny aîné]] would later publish ''The Amazing Journey of Hareton Ironcastle'' (1922), a novel where an expedition in the heart of Africa discovers a mysterious area with an ecosystem from another world, with alien flora and fauna. [[Edgar Allan Poe]]'s ''[[The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket]]'' (1838) has certain lost world elements towards the end of the tale.


James Hilton's ''[[Lost Horizon]]'' (1933) enjoyed popular success in using the genre as a takeoff for popular philosophy and social comment. It introduced the name [[Shangri-La]], a [[meme]] for the idealization of the lost world as a [[Paradise]]. Similar books where the inhabitants of the lost world are seen as superior to the outsiders, are [[Joseph O'Neill (1886–1953)|Joseph O'Neill]]'s ''Land under England'' (1935) and [[Douglas Valder Duff]]'s ''Jack Harding’s Quest'' (1939).<ref>[http://www.lostworldread.com/downloads/lost_world_readers_guide_3.pdf "The Lost World"]. "Reader's Guide" (from file name) to Doyle's ''The Lost World''. The Lost World Read 2009 (lostworldread.com).</ref>
James Hilton's ''[[Lost Horizon]]'' (1933) enjoyed popular success in using the genre as a takeoff for popular philosophy and social comment. It introduced the name [[Shangri-La]], a [[meme]] for the idealization of the lost world as a [[Paradise]]. Similar books where the inhabitants of the lost world are seen as superior to the outsiders, are [[Joseph O'Neill (1886–1953)|Joseph O'Neill]]'s ''Land under England'' (1935) and [[Douglas Valder Duff]]'s ''Jack Harding’s Quest'' (1939).<ref>[http://www.lostworldread.com/downloads/lost_world_readers_guide_3.pdf "The Lost World"]. "Reader's Guide" (from file name) to Doyle's ''The Lost World''. The Lost World Read 2009 (lostworldread.com).</ref>
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The [[Hanna-Barbera]] action cartoon ''[[Space Ghost]]'' features a segment "Dino Boy in the Lost Valley", about a young boy named Todd who survives a plane crash and lands in a hidden prehistoric valley in South America. In another [[Hanna-Barbera]] cartoon ''[[Valley of the Dinosaurs]]'' science professor John Butler and his family - wife Kim, teenage daughter Katie, young son Greg, and dog Digger - are on a rafting trip along the Amazon River in an uncharted river canyon when they are suddenly swept through a cavern and caught in a whirlpool. Upon resurfacing, they find themselves in a mysterious realm where humans coexist with various prehistoric creatures, including dinosaurs. The Butlers meet and befriend a clan of Neanderthal cavepeople.
The [[Hanna-Barbera]] action cartoon ''[[Space Ghost]]'' features a segment "Dino Boy in the Lost Valley", about a young boy named Todd who survives a plane crash and lands in a hidden prehistoric valley in South America. In another [[Hanna-Barbera]] cartoon ''[[Valley of the Dinosaurs]]'' science professor John Butler and his family - wife Kim, teenage daughter Katie, young son Greg, and dog Digger - are on a rafting trip along the Amazon River in an uncharted river canyon when they are suddenly swept through a cavern and caught in a whirlpool. Upon resurfacing, they find themselves in a mysterious realm where humans coexist with various prehistoric creatures, including dinosaurs. The Butlers meet and befriend a clan of Neanderthal cavepeople.


In movies, the [[Indiana Jones (franchise)|''Indiana Jones'' franchise]] makes use of similar concepts. Also comics make use of the idea, such as the [[Savage Land]] in Marvel Comics and [[Themyscira (DC Comics)|Themyscira]] in DC comics.
In movies, the ''[[Indiana Jones]]'' franchise makes use of similar concepts. Also comics make use of the idea, such as the [[Savage Land]] in Marvel Comics and [[Themyscira (DC Comics)|Themyscira]] in DC comics.


==Geographic settings==
==Geographic settings==


Early lost world novels were typically set in parts of the world as yet unexplored by Europeans. Favorite locations were the interior of Africa (many of Haggard's novels, Burroughs' [[Tarzan]] novels) or inland South America (Doyle's ''[[The Lost World (Arthur Conan Doyle)|The Lost World]]'', Merritt's ''[[The Face in the Abyss]]''), as well as Central Asia (Kipling's ''[[The Man Who Would Be King]]'', Haggard's ''[[Ayesha (novel)|Ayesha, the Return of She]]'', Merritt's ''[[The Metal Monster]]'', Hilton's ''[[Lost Horizon]]'') and Australia ([[James Francis Hogan]]'s ''The Lost Explorer'' and ''Eureka'' by Owen Hall (pseudonym of New Zealand politician [[Hugh Lusk]])).
Early lost world novels were typically set in parts of the world as yet unexplored by Europeans. Favorite locations were the interior of Africa (many of Haggard's novels, Burroughs' [[Tarzan]] novels) or inland South America (Doyle's ''[[The Lost World (Arthur Conan Doyle)|The Lost World]]'', Merritt's ''[[The Face in the Abyss]]''), as well as Central Asia (Kipling's ''[[The Man Who Would Be King]]'', Haggard's ''[[Ayesha (novel)|Ayesha: The Return of She]]'', Merritt's ''[[The Metal Monster]]'', Hilton's ''[[Lost Horizon]]'') and Australia ([[James Francis Hogan]]'s ''The Lost Explorer'' and ''Eureka'' by Owen Hall (pseudonym of New Zealand politician [[Hugh Lusk]])).


Later writers favored Antarctica, especially as a [[Refugium (population biology)|refuge]] for prehistoric species. Burroughs' ''[[The Land That Time Forgot (novel)|The Land That Time Forgot]]'' and its sequels were set on the island of [[Caprona (island)|Caprona]] (a.k.a. Caspak) in the Southern Ocean. In [[Edison Marshall]]'s ''[[Dian of the Lost Land]]'' (1935), [[Cro-Magnons]], [[Neanderthals]], and [[mammoths]] survive in the "Moss Country", a sheltered warm corner of the continent. [[Dennis Wheatley]]'s novel ''The Man Who Missed the War'' (1945) also deals with a warm and hidden area on the continent, where there live humans such as the descendants of Atlantis.<ref>[http://www.violetbooks.com/REVIEWS/jas-wheatley.html "Sex, Jingoism & Black Magic: The Weird Fiction of Dennis Wheatley"]. Jessica Amanda Salmonson. ©2000. Violet Books (violetbooks.com). {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130717132542/http://www.violetbooks.com/REVIEWS/jas-wheatley.html |date=2013-07-17 }}</ref> In [[Jeremy Robinson]]'s ''[[Antarktos Rising]]'' (2007), dinosaurs and [[Nephilim]] emerge as the icecap melts. [[Mat Johnson]]'s ''[[Pym (novel)|Pym]]'' (2011) describes giant white hominids living in ice caves. [[Donald G. Payne|Ian Cameron]]'s ''[[The Mountains at the Bottom of the World]]'' (1972) has a relict population of [[Paranthropus]] living not quite in Antarctica, but in the southern Chilean Andes. ''Crusoe Warburton'' (1954), by [[Victor Wallace Germains]], describes an island in the far South Atlantic, with a lost, pre-gunpowder empire.
Later writers favored Antarctica, especially as a [[Refugium (population biology)|refuge]] for prehistoric species. Burroughs' ''[[The Land That Time Forgot (novel)|The Land That Time Forgot]]'' and its sequels were set on the island of [[Caprona (island)|Caprona]] (a.k.a. Caspak) in the Southern Ocean. In [[Edison Marshall]]'s ''[[Dian of the Lost Land]]'' (1935), [[Cro-Magnons]], [[Neanderthals]], and [[mammoths]] survive in the "Moss Country", a sheltered warm corner of the continent. [[Dennis Wheatley]]'s novel ''The Man Who Missed the War'' (1945) also deals with a warm and hidden area on the continent, where there live humans such as the descendants of Atlantis.<ref>[http://www.violetbooks.com/REVIEWS/jas-wheatley.html "Sex, Jingoism & Black Magic: The Weird Fiction of Dennis Wheatley"]. Jessica Amanda Salmonson. ©2000. Violet Books (violetbooks.com). {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130717132542/http://www.violetbooks.com/REVIEWS/jas-wheatley.html |date=2013-07-17 }}</ref> In [[Jeremy Robinson]]'s ''[[Antarktos Rising]]'' (2007), dinosaurs and [[Nephilim]] emerge as the icecap melts. [[Mat Johnson]]'s ''[[Pym (novel)|Pym]]'' (2011) describes giant white hominids living in ice caves. [[Donald G. Payne|Ian Cameron]]'s ''[[The Mountains at the Bottom of the World]]'' (1972) has a relict population of [[Paranthropus]] living not quite in Antarctica, but in the southern Chilean Andes. ''Crusoe Warburton'' (1954), by [[Victor Wallace Germains]], describes an island in the far South Atlantic, with a lost, pre-gunpowder empire.
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[[Brian Stableford]] makes a related point about Lost Worlds: "The motif has gradually fallen into disuse by virtue of increasing geographical knowledge; these days lost lands have to be very well hidden indeed or displaced beyond some kind of magical or dimensional boundary. Such displacement [...] so transforms their significance that they are better thought of as Secondary Worlds or Otherworlds."<ref name=LostLands>Stableford, Brian (1997). "Lost Lands and Continents". ''[[The Encyclopedia of Fantasy]]''. Online at Science Fiction Encyclopedia (sf-encyclopedia.uk). Retrieved 2019-03-11. <br />&nbsp; In two linked entries by editor [[John Clute]], the encyclopedia distinguishes "Otherworld" from its subclass "Secondary World", and also from the settings of Supernatural Fiction and Planetary Romance, and from related concepts.</ref>
[[Brian Stableford]] makes a related point about Lost Worlds: "The motif has gradually fallen into disuse by virtue of increasing geographical knowledge; these days lost lands have to be very well hidden indeed or displaced beyond some kind of magical or dimensional boundary. Such displacement [...] so transforms their significance that they are better thought of as Secondary Worlds or Otherworlds."<ref name=LostLands>Stableford, Brian (1997). "Lost Lands and Continents". ''[[The Encyclopedia of Fantasy]]''. Online at Science Fiction Encyclopedia (sf-encyclopedia.uk). Retrieved 2019-03-11. <br />&nbsp; In two linked entries by editor [[John Clute]], the encyclopedia distinguishes "Otherworld" from its subclass "Secondary World", and also from the settings of Supernatural Fiction and Planetary Romance, and from related concepts.</ref>


Below is a list of classic lost world titles drawn from [http://www.rohpress.com/masterworks_lost_worlds.html ''Lost Worlds: The Ultimate Anthology'']. Titles were selected from drawn from ''[[333: A Bibliography of the Science-Fantasy Novel]]'', [[Jessica Amanda Salmonson]]'s Lost Race checklist and [[E. F. Bleiler]]'s ''[[Science-fiction, the Early Years]]''.
Below is a list of classic lost world titles drawn from [http://www.rohpress.com/masterworks_lost_worlds.html ''Lost Worlds: The Ultimate Anthology'']. Titles were selected from ''[[333: A Bibliography of the Science-Fantasy Novel]]'', [[Jessica Amanda Salmonson]]'s [https://www.rohpress.com/lost_race_check_guide_1.html Lost Race Checklist] and [[E. F. Bleiler]]'s ''[[Science-fiction, the Early Years]]''.


===Lost worlds in Africa===
===Lost worlds in Africa===
*''[[King Solomon's Mines]]'' by [[H. Rider Haggard]]
*''[[King Solomon's Mines]]'' by [[Sir H. Rider Haggard]]
*''[[Allan Quatermain (novel)|Allan Quatermain]]'' by [[H. Rider Haggard]]
*''[[She: A History of Adventure]]'' by [[Sir H. Rider Haggard]]
*''[[She: A History of Adventure]]'' by [[H. Rider Haggard]]
*''[[Allan Quatermain (novel)|Allan Quatermain]]'' by [[Sir H. Rider Haggard]]
*''[[The People of the Mist]]'' by [[Sir H. Rider Haggard]]
*''[[Benita (novel)|Benita: An African Romance]]'' by [[Sir H. Rider Haggard]]
*''[[The Ghost Kings]]'' by [[Sir H. Rider Haggard]]
*''[[The Yellow God|The Yellow God: An Idol of Africa]]'' by [[Sir H. Rider Haggard]]
*''[[Queen Sheba's Ring]]'' by [[Sir H. Rider Haggard]]
*''[[The Holy Flower]]'' by [[Sir H. Rider Haggard]]
*''[[The Ivory Child]]'' by [[Sir H. Rider Haggard]]
*''[[She and Allan]]'' by [[Sir H. Rider Haggard]]
*''[[Heu-Heu|Heu-Heu; or, The Monster]]'' by [[Sir H. Rider Haggard]]
*''[[The Treasure of the Lake]]'' by [[Sir H. Rider Haggard]]
*''[[The Return of Tarzan]]'' (and many other [[Tarzan (book series)|Tarzan books]]) by Edgar Rice Burroughs
*''A Rip Van Winkle of the Kalahari'' by [[Frederick Carruthers Cornell]]
*''A Rip Van Winkle of the Kalahari'' by [[Frederick Carruthers Cornell]]
*''The Great White Queen: A Tale of Treasure and Treason'' by [[William Le Queux]]
*''The Great White Queen: A Tale of Treasure and Treason'' by [[William Le Queux]]
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*''[[The Aztec Treasure House]]'' by [[Thomas A. Janvier]]
*''[[The Aztec Treasure House]]'' by [[Thomas A. Janvier]]
*''[[Fruit of the Desert]]'' by [[Richard Hayes Barry]]
*''[[Fruit of the Desert]]'' by [[Richard Hayes Barry]]
*''[[Haunted Mesa|The Haunted Mesa]]'' by [[Louis L'Amour]]
*''[[The Haunted Mesa]]'' by [[Louis L'Amour]]
*''[[The Mound (novella)|The Mound]]'' by [[H.P. Lovecraft]]


===Lost worlds in Central America===
===Lost worlds in Central America===
*''Phantom City: A Volcanic Romance'' by [[William Westall]]
*''Phantom City: A Volcanic Romance'' by [[William Westall]]
*''The Lost Canyon of the Toltecs'' by [[Charles Sumner Seeley]]
*''The Lost Canyon of the Toltecs'' by [[Charles Sumner Seeley]]
*''The Bridge of Light'' by [[A. Hyatt Verrill]]
*''[[Heart of the World (novel)|Heart of the World]]'' by [[Sir H. Rider Haggard]]
*''[[The Bridge of Light (novel)|The Bridge of Light]]'' by [[A. Hyatt Verrill]]


===Lost worlds in South America===
===Lost worlds in South America===


*''[[The Country of the Blind]]'' by [[H. G. Wells]]
*''[[The Country of the Blind]]'' by [[H. G. Wells]]
*''[[The Lost World (Conan Doyle novel)|The Lost World]]'' by [[Arthur Conan Doyle]]
*''[[The Lost World (Conan Doyle novel)|The Lost World]]'' by [[Sir Arthur Conan Doyle]]
*''The Web of the Sun'' by [[T. S. Stribling]]
*''The Web of the Sun'' by [[T. S. Stribling]]
*''Immortal Athalia'' by [[Harry F. Haley]]
*''Immortal Athalia'' by [[Harry F. Haley]]
*''Prisoners of the Sun'' by [[Hergé]]
*''Prisoners of the Sun'' by [[Hergé]]
*''[[Lost in the Andes!]]'' by [[Carl Barks]], 1948, Donald Duck and his nephews get to know square eggs.
*''[[Lost in the Andes!]]'' by [[Carl Barks]], 1948, Donald Duck and his nephews get to know square eggs.
*''[[Up_(2009_film) | Up]], 2009 film by [[Pixar Animation Studios]] released by [[Walt Disney Pictures]].


===Lost worlds in Asia===
===Lost worlds in Asia===
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*''The Purple Sapphire'' by [[John Taine]]
*''The Purple Sapphire'' by [[John Taine]]
*''[[The Metal Monster]]'' by [[A. Merritt]]
*''[[The Metal Monster]]'' by [[A. Merritt]]
*''[[The Rose of Tibet]]'' by [[Lionel Davidson]]


===Lost worlds in Europe and the Middle East===
===Lost worlds in Europe and the Middle East===
*''No-Man’s-Land'' by John Buchan
*''No-Man’s-Land'' by [[John Buchan]] <!-- this seems to be the correct John Buchan -->
*''The Knight of the Silver Star'' by [[Percy James Brebner]]
*''The Knight of the Silver Star'' by [[Percy James Brebner]]
*''[[The Nameless City]]'' by ''[[H.P. Lovecraft]]''
*''[[The Nameless City]]'' by [[H.P. Lovecraft]]


===Lost worlds in Australia===
===Lost worlds in Australia===
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===Lost worlds at the Poles===
===Lost worlds at the Poles===
*''[[The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket]]'' by [[Edgar Allan Poe]]
*''Beyond The Great South Wall'' by [[Frank Savile]]
*''Beyond The Great South Wall'' by [[Frank Savile]]
*''The Ke Whonkus People: A Story of the North Pole Country'' by John O. Greene
*''The Ke Whonkus People: A Story of the North Pole Country'' by John O. Greene
*''[[The Land That Time Forgot (novel)|The Land That Time Forgot]]'' by [[Edgar Rice Burroughs]]
*''[[The Land That Time Forgot (novel)|The Land That Time Forgot]]'' by [[Edgar Rice Burroughs]]
*''[[The Island at the Top of the World|The Lost Ones]]'' by [[Donald G. Payne|Ian Cameron]]
*''[[The Island at the Top of the World|The Lost Ones]]'' by [[Donald G. Payne|Ian Cameron]]
*''[[At the Mountains of Madness]]'' by [[H.P.Lovecraft]].
*''[[At the Mountains of Madness]]'' by [[H.P. Lovecraft]]
*''The Greatest Adventure'' by [[John Taine]]
*''Polaris of the Snows'' by [[Charles B. Stilson]]
*''Polaris of the Snows'' by [[Charles B. Stilson]]
*''[[The Smoky God]]'' by [[Willis George Emerson]]
*''[[The Smoky God]]'' by [[Willis George Emerson]]
Line 104: Line 123:


===Hollow Earth===
===Hollow Earth===
*''[[At the Earth's Core (novel)|At the Earth's Core]]'' by [[Edgar Rice Burroughs]]
*''[[At the Earth's Core (novel)|At the Earth's Core]]'' (and [[Pellucidar|its sequels]]) by [[Edgar Rice Burroughs]]
*''[[The Coming Race]]'' by [[Edward Bulwer-Lytton]]
*''[[The Coming Race]]'' by [[Edward Bulwer-Lytton]]
*''Under the Auroras: A Marvelous Tale of the Interior World'' by [[William Jenkins Shaw]]
*''Under the Auroras: A Marvelous Tale of the Interior World'' by [[William Jenkins Shaw]]
*''[[The Moon Pool]]'' by [[A. Merritt]]
*''[[The Moon Pool]]'' by [[A. Merritt]]
*''[[Dwellers in the Mirage]]'' by [[A. Merritt]]
*''[[Dwellers in the Mirage]]'' by [[A. Merritt]]
*''[[Zanthodon (series)|Zanthodon]]'' by [[Lin Carter]]
*''[[Zanthodon]]'' by [[Lin Carter]]
*''[[Journey to the Center of the Earth]]'' by [[Jules Verne]]
*''[[Journey to the Centre of the Earth]]'' by [[Jules Verne]]


==See also==
==See also==

Latest revision as of 01:46, 3 December 2024

For other uses, see Lost World (disambiguation).
First Edition Cover of King Solomon's Mines, by H. Rider Haggard considered by some the first lost world narrative.[1]
Fantasy
Media
Genre studies
Subgenres
Fandom
Categories


The lost world is a subgenre of the fantasy or science fiction genres that involves the discovery of an unknown Earth civilization. It began as a subgenre of the late-Victorian adventure romance[citation needed] and remains popular into the 21st century.

The genre arose during an era when Western archeologists discovered and studied civilizations around the world previously unknown to them, through disciplines such as Egyptology, Assyriology, or Mesoamerican studies. Thus, real stories of archaeological finds inspired writings on the topic. Between 1871 and the First World War, the number of published lost world narratives, set in every continent, increased significantly.[2]

The genre has similar themes to "mythical kingdoms", such as Atlantis and El Dorado.

History

[edit]

King Solomon's Mines (1885) by H. Rider Haggard is sometimes considered the first lost world narrative.[1] Haggard's novel shaped the form and influenced later lost world narratives, including Rudyard Kipling's The Man Who Would Be King (1888), Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World (1912), Edgar Rice Burroughs' The Land That Time Forgot (1918), A. Merritt's The Moon Pool (1918), and H. P. Lovecraft's At the Mountains of Madness (1931).

Earlier works, such as Edward Bulwer-Lytton's Vril: The Power of the Coming Race (1871) and Samuel Butler's Erewhon (1872) use a similar plot as a vehicle for Swiftian social satire rather than romantic adventure. Other early examples are Simon Tyssot de Patot's Voyages et Aventures de Jacques Massé (1710), which includes a prehistoric fauna and flora, and Robert Paltock's The Life and Adventures of Peter Wilkins (1751), an 18th-century imaginary voyage inspired by both Defoe and Swift, in which a man named Peter Wilkins discovers a race of winged people on an isolated island surrounded by high cliffs as in Burroughs's Caspak. The 1820 Hollow Earth novel Symzonia has also been cited as the first of the lost world form, and Jules Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth (1864) and The Village in the Treetops (1901) popularized the theme of surviving pockets of prehistoric species.[3] J.-H. Rosny aîné would later publish The Amazing Journey of Hareton Ironcastle (1922), a novel where an expedition in the heart of Africa discovers a mysterious area with an ecosystem from another world, with alien flora and fauna. Edgar Allan Poe's The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket (1838) has certain lost world elements towards the end of the tale.

James Hilton's Lost Horizon (1933) enjoyed popular success in using the genre as a takeoff for popular philosophy and social comment. It introduced the name Shangri-La, a meme for the idealization of the lost world as a Paradise. Similar books where the inhabitants of the lost world are seen as superior to the outsiders, are Joseph O'Neill's Land under England (1935) and Douglas Valder Duff's Jack Harding’s Quest (1939).[4]

Hergé also explores the theme in his Tintin comics The Seven Crystal Balls and Prisoners of the Sun (1944–48). Here the protagonists encounter an unknown Inca kingdom in the Andes.

Contemporary examples

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Contemporary American novelist Michael Crichton invokes this tradition in his novel Congo (1980), which involves a quest for King Solomon's mines, fabled to be in a lost African city called Zinj. During the 1990s, James Gurney published a series of juvenile novels about a lost island called Dinotopia, in which humans live alongside living dinosaurs.

In video games, it is most notably present in the Tomb Raider and Uncharted franchises.

The Hanna-Barbera action cartoon Space Ghost features a segment "Dino Boy in the Lost Valley", about a young boy named Todd who survives a plane crash and lands in a hidden prehistoric valley in South America. In another Hanna-Barbera cartoon Valley of the Dinosaurs science professor John Butler and his family - wife Kim, teenage daughter Katie, young son Greg, and dog Digger - are on a rafting trip along the Amazon River in an uncharted river canyon when they are suddenly swept through a cavern and caught in a whirlpool. Upon resurfacing, they find themselves in a mysterious realm where humans coexist with various prehistoric creatures, including dinosaurs. The Butlers meet and befriend a clan of Neanderthal cavepeople.

In movies, the Indiana Jones franchise makes use of similar concepts. Also comics make use of the idea, such as the Savage Land in Marvel Comics and Themyscira in DC comics.

Geographic settings

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Early lost world novels were typically set in parts of the world as yet unexplored by Europeans. Favorite locations were the interior of Africa (many of Haggard's novels, Burroughs' Tarzan novels) or inland South America (Doyle's The Lost World, Merritt's The Face in the Abyss), as well as Central Asia (Kipling's The Man Who Would Be King, Haggard's Ayesha: The Return of She, Merritt's The Metal Monster, Hilton's Lost Horizon) and Australia (James Francis Hogan's The Lost Explorer and Eureka by Owen Hall (pseudonym of New Zealand politician Hugh Lusk)).

Later writers favored Antarctica, especially as a refuge for prehistoric species. Burroughs' The Land That Time Forgot and its sequels were set on the island of Caprona (a.k.a. Caspak) in the Southern Ocean. In Edison Marshall's Dian of the Lost Land (1935), Cro-Magnons, Neanderthals, and mammoths survive in the "Moss Country", a sheltered warm corner of the continent. Dennis Wheatley's novel The Man Who Missed the War (1945) also deals with a warm and hidden area on the continent, where there live humans such as the descendants of Atlantis.[5] In Jeremy Robinson's Antarktos Rising (2007), dinosaurs and Nephilim emerge as the icecap melts. Mat Johnson's Pym (2011) describes giant white hominids living in ice caves. Ian Cameron's The Mountains at the Bottom of the World (1972) has a relict population of Paranthropus living not quite in Antarctica, but in the southern Chilean Andes. Crusoe Warburton (1954), by Victor Wallace Germains, describes an island in the far South Atlantic, with a lost, pre-gunpowder empire.

According to Allienne Becker, there was a logical evolution from the lost world subgenre to the planetary romance genre: "When there were no longer any unexplored corners of our earth, the Lost Worlds Romance turned to space."[3]

Brian Stableford makes a related point about Lost Worlds: "The motif has gradually fallen into disuse by virtue of increasing geographical knowledge; these days lost lands have to be very well hidden indeed or displaced beyond some kind of magical or dimensional boundary. Such displacement [...] so transforms their significance that they are better thought of as Secondary Worlds or Otherworlds."[6]

Below is a list of classic lost world titles drawn from Lost Worlds: The Ultimate Anthology. Titles were selected from 333: A Bibliography of the Science-Fantasy Novel, Jessica Amanda Salmonson's Lost Race Checklist and E. F. Bleiler's Science-fiction, the Early Years.

Lost worlds in Africa

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Lost worlds in North America

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Lost worlds in Central America

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Lost worlds in South America

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Lost worlds in Asia

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Lost worlds in Europe and the Middle East

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Lost worlds in Australia

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Lost worlds at the Poles

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Hollow Earth

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b According to Robert E. Morsberger in the "Afterword" of King Solomon's Mines, The Reader's Digest (1993).
  2. ^ Deane, Bradley (2008). "Imperial Barbarians: Primitive masculinity in Lost World fiction". Victorian Literature and Culture. 36: 205–25. doi:10.1017/S1060150308080121. S2CID 162826920. Retrieved 2012-05-18.
  3. ^ a b Becker, Allienne R. (1992). The Lost Worlds Romance: From Dawn Till Dusk. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-313-26123-7.
  4. ^ "The Lost World". "Reader's Guide" (from file name) to Doyle's The Lost World. The Lost World Read 2009 (lostworldread.com).
  5. ^ "Sex, Jingoism & Black Magic: The Weird Fiction of Dennis Wheatley". Jessica Amanda Salmonson. ©2000. Violet Books (violetbooks.com). Archived 2013-07-17 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ Stableford, Brian (1997). "Lost Lands and Continents". The Encyclopedia of Fantasy. Online at Science Fiction Encyclopedia (sf-encyclopedia.uk). Retrieved 2019-03-11.
      In two linked entries by editor John Clute, the encyclopedia distinguishes "Otherworld" from its subclass "Secondary World", and also from the settings of Supernatural Fiction and Planetary Romance, and from related concepts.

La Gazette des Français du Paraguay, Le Monde Perdu, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - El Mundo Perdido, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle bilingual French Spanish, Numéro 9, Année 1, Asuncion 2013.

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