Sherlock Holmes - The Land Of Mist

I guess it is time for someone to come to the rescue of George Edward Challenger, Ed Malone, and Lord Roxton, although those three adventurer heroes would probably be the last macho men to admit that they needed rescuing. After all, they survived Challenger's LOST WORLD in one of the greatest adventures since GULLIVER'S TRAVELS.

So now that reviewers are trashing the novella LAND OF MIST, it is time that someone offered an apologetic view.

True. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is better known for creating the Sherlock Holmes detective stories, but as good as the Holmes stories may be to aficionados, they are not the only arrows in Conan Doyle's quiver. Many readers equally appreciate the Challenger stories, particularly the temperamental ape of a zoologist himself - a crusty individualist (masterfully portrayed by Claude Raines in the disappointing 1960 version of THE LOST WORLD) who hates to have his personal privacy invaded by representatives of the press. His objections to reporters seem to be justified when he points out that they often print stories based on subjective preferences of the publishers and not on objective reality. One wonders what he would make of the Fourth Estate today with corporate entities determining what stories are printed or aired for the mass population. More than likely he would prefer alternative presses or radio talk shows like COAST TO COAST AM.

THE LOST WORLD is in the realm of science-fiction adventures as those written by the other talented Brit H. Ryder Haggard. The fact that Haggard penned more of these semi- fantasy adventures - such as SHE, KING SOLOMON'S MINES, and my favorite PEOPLE OF THE MIST -than Conan Doyle does not make Conan Doyle inferior. In THE LOST WORLD, Conan Doyle reveals that he is a superlative master of the pen, capable of creating believable characters who exhibit real human emotions when facing larger-than-life adversaries from another time. In THE LOST WORLD, arguably his best work, the three adventurers face long-thought extinct dinosaurs from the earth's distant past, the Jurassic period in pre-history.

However, Conan Doyle decided not to end the adventures of Challenger, Roxton, and Malone with their escapades on the dinosaur plateau or other realms of science-fiction. After World War I and his considerable personal losses, he decided to explore a realm populated by such masters of the horror story as Henry James, Algernon Blackwood, M. R. James, William Hope Hodgson and the granddaddy of the gothic novelists Bram Stoker. Some fans might argue for the inclusion of Mary Shelley in this list because of her classic FRANKENSTEIN, but genre purists have argued that FRANKENSTEIN was as much an early science-fiction story as it was gothic. (For an incredible science-fiction approach to FRANKENSTEIN, see Roger Corman's film FRANKENSTEIN UNBOUND).

Other readers have argued that LAND OF MIST is based on actual events and is more of a polemic for Spiritualist beliefs than a true gothic story. I cannot argue against that, particularly as Conan Doyle has included copious endnotes with his novella. I know, however, that fictional works are often reportedly based on, and inspired by, actual events. The excellent and under-rated horror film THE MOTHMAN PROPHECY is an example of this. The fact that Mothman sightings may have really existed does not detract from the enjoyment of the film or the recognition that this is a truly skillful piece of filmmaking.

I am not necessarily a believer in spiritualism (whether upper-case or lower-case S). I have, like others, sat in on séances and participated in Ouija board readings. I have not yet seen anything unequivocally convincing with any of those experiences, but this does not mean I am ruling out the validity of such experiences that other people may have had, including Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.