''The Land of Mist'' is a
novel
A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...
by British writer
Arthur Conan Doyle
Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a British writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for ''A Study in Scarlet'', the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Ho ...
, published in 1926.
Although this is a
Professor Challenger
George Edward Challenger is a fictional character in a series of fantasy and science fiction stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Unlike Conan Doyle's self-controlled, analytical character, Sherlock Holmes, Professor Challenger is an aggressive, ...
story, it centres more on his daughter Enid and his old friend Edward Malone. Another friend from the 1912 novel
''The Lost World'',
Lord John Roxton Lord John Roxton (a fictional title derived from the English parish of Roxton, Bedfordshire) is a supporting character in the Professor Challenger series of stories by Arthur Conan Doyle. He makes his initial appearance in the first entry of this se ...
, is also involved in the novel's second half.
Professor Summerlee, who has died of old age around this time, is referred to by the mediums (much to the anger of Professor Challenger).
Plot
Reporter Ned Malone (who was one of the main characters in Arthur Conan Doyle's ''The Lost World'') returns in this novel, in which he and Professor Challenger's daughter Enid are assigned to cover the current spiritualist phenomenon. They discover there really is something to a seance, and they try to convince Challenger to get interested in their investigations.
Spiritualism
Heavily influenced by Doyle's growing belief in
Spiritualism
Spiritualism is the metaphysical school of thought opposing physicalism and also is the category of all spiritual beliefs/views (in monism and dualism) from ancient to modern. In the long nineteenth century, Spiritualism (when not lowercase) ...
after the death of his son, brother, and two nephews in
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, the book focuses on Edward Malone's at first professional, and later personal interest in Spiritualism.
There is a suggestion in chapter two that the deaths of "ten million young men" in World War I was punishment by the "Central Intelligence" (that is,
God
In monotheism, monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator deity, creator, and principal object of Faith#Religious views, faith.Richard Swinburne, Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Ted Honderich, Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Ox ...
) for humanity's laughing at the evidence for life after death.
See also
*
1926 in science fiction
The year 1926 was marked, in science fiction, by the following events.
Births and deaths Births
* February 20 – Richard Matheson, American writer (died 2013)
* March 19 – Jimmy Guieu, French writer (died 2000)
* March 29 – Lino Aldani ...
External links
*
The Land of Mist' at Project Gutenberg Australia
British science fiction novels
1926 British novels
1926 science fiction novels
Professor Challenger novels
Hutchinson (publisher) books
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