The Lost World

Read Arthur Conon Doyle’s The Lost World (1912), the novel Malcolm and Levine discuss. How does Crichton’s take on the idea of a pristine world in which dinosaurs still live differ from Doyle’s? What elements are common to both stories that might help account for the popularity of the idea?

Watch the film adaptation of The Lost World. Director Steven Spielberg altered several key scenes and softened the book’s pessimism. Compare and contrast these differences and defend or critique the alterations.

Prepare a character analysis of Lewis Dodgson. Define his motivations, his psychology, his behavior. Using the background information we receive on Dodgson’s business practices, his decision to kill Sarah Harding, and his attitude toward the island’s animals, does he make a too-easy villain?