THE LITERARY REFLECTION OF CONTEMPORARY SCIENTIFIC THOUGHT IN A. CONAN DOYLE'S “THE LOST WORLD”

Portnyagin Dmitry Valerievich, Balakhonova Vera Anatolyevna

The article analyzes the reception of the Victorian era's scientific paradigm through the lens of Arthur Conan Doyle's novel The Lost World. It examines how scientific debates of the period are reflected in the work's artistic structure, primarily through the character of Professor Challenger. Particular attention is paid to the semiotics of the isolated plateau as a space of arrested evolution and to the paleontological reconstructions linked to the author's personal interest in British fossil discoveries. The study also reveals the synthesis of scientific and imperial discourses embodied in the figure of the scientist-explorer. Ultimately, the article demonstrates how Doyle's novel serves as a stage for a complex dialogue between the scientific knowledge and cultural imagination of its time.

Keywords:Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World, Darwinism, Professor Challenger, science fiction, Victorian literature