Concurrently, it observes that while the suggestion of the marriage of the mummy is raised in a number of these texts, any chance of longstanding romantic union is often foiled, in contrast to the distinctly marital “happily-ever-after”s characteristic of the fairy tale. It argues that dormant and perfectly-preserved female mummies that populate much of fin-de-siècle mummy fiction emulate the figure of Sleeping Beauty or Snow White, preserved in glass coffins or museum display cases. This essay examines the relationship between mummy fiction and the fairy-tale genre in the closing years of the nineteenth century and the early years of the twentieth. 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. 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.
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