Professor Challenger - a character in Arthur Conan Doyle's books

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

It is unlikely that there is such a person in the modern world who has never heard of the English writer Arthur Conan Doyle. Despite the fact that this author worked in the period from the last third of the 19th century to the first third of the 20th century, his works are still read.

For those who are not so familiar with his work, Conan Doyle is known mainly as the author of stories about the adventures of Sherlock Holmes. The stories "The Hound of the Baskervilles", "The Valley of Terror", "A Study in Scarlet" and other works about the famous London detective are considered classics of the detective genre even today.

However, Sherlock Holmes is not the only character created by Arthur Conan Doyle. Between 1912 and 1929, the author also wrote a series of science fiction novels starring Professor Challenger.

Description of the character. Appearance, personality and character

Description of Professor Challenger's appearance is found in the first of the books in the series about him. The story is told from the perspective of a young journalist, Edward Malone. It was his firstthe impression of the professor is conveyed in the novel "The Lost World".

Professor Challenger is a man of rather large build, with a rather large head and broad shoulders, but at the same time small in stature. Malone compares him to "a kind of flattened Hercules."

The journalist especially remembered the professor's face. An unusual impression was made by his large features, high forehead, thick black eyebrows. Challenger's beard is also black, long enough to reach his chest. The eyes are grey-blue. The first time he saw Edward Malone, the professor gave him a critical, authoritative look.

Challenger's voice also matched his appearance: loud and booming, a bit reminiscent of an animal roar.

The professor has a somewhat unrestrained disposition and self-confidence, but he is always ready to admit his mistakes in the presence of weighty arguments.

Professor Challenger is not a scientist in one particular field. He has deep knowledge in many fields of science such as physics, chemistry, biology, medicine and others. In relation to the professor, the term "Renaissance man" can be applied. He received his higher education at the University of Edinburgh, where he studied zoology, anthropology and medicine.

Professor Challenger is married to a woman named Jessica. The couple have a daughter, Enid.

Books about Professor Challenger. "The Lost World"

The first novel in the cycle was first published in 1912 and immediately gained immense popularity among readers. In the year of release in the original, the work wastranslated into several other languages, including Russian.

In the story of The Lost World, Professor Challenger travels across South America. He is accompanied by journalist Malone, Professor Summerlee and Lord Roxton.

It all starts with the fact that the scientific community accuses the professor of lying, claiming that he once discovered a plateau inhabited by dinosaurs is nothing but a fantasy. Challenger wants to prove that he really made a discovery, there is at least one place on Earth where prehistoric animals can still be found.

The plot was based on Arthur Conan Doyle's real expedition, which was made by Major Fossett, who was looking for lost Indian settlements off the coast of the Amazon.

Poison Belt

The second book of Professor Challenger's adventures, The Poison Belt, was published a year after the first novel.

The reader will meet all the same characters already familiar from The Lost World. These are Professor Summerlee, Lord Traveler John Roxton, reporter Edward Malone and, of course, Professor Challenger himself.

This time, the professor discovers that the planet and all life on it is in mortal danger. According to his observations of space objects, very soon the Earth will cross the band of poisonous ether. To protect himself and his friends, Challenger stocks up on a large number of oxygen tanks and equips a completely sealed room where no ether can penetrate.

Countrymist

The third book of the cycle was published 13 years after the publication of the second, in 1926. The period from 1918 to 1930 in the life of Arthur Conan Doyle is considered the most tragic: he had to endure the death of his son, brother and two nephews who did not return from the First World War.

That is why "Land of the Fog" differs in many ways from the previous two novels in this series. Not wanting to fully accept the death of loved ones, Doyle became interested in spiritualism and reflected this in the book.

The plot of "The Land of the Mist" mainly focuses on Enid Challenger and Edward Malone, who, like the writer, became followers of spiritualism.

When the Earth screamed

This story was first published in one of the American editions in 1928.

According to the plot of the story, Professor Challenger puts forward another new idea. He concludes that the planet Earth is in fact a living being, which, however, does not suspect that it is home to billions of people. The professor wants the planet to finally learn about the existence of humanity, or at least one of its representatives - Challenger himself.

Disintegration Machine

Arthur Conan Doyle's final story about Professor Challenger, "The Disintegration Machine", which was published in early 1929.

The device mentioned in the title of the story allows you to split any material object into its constituent particles - molecules. Hisinventor - Theodore Nemor. Wanting to see this invention live, Challenger and Malone pay Nemor a visit.