Edgar Rice Burroughs’ novels fall into three categories for me: Books I Know I’ve Read, Books I Know I Haven’t Read, and Books I May Have Read 50 or 60 Years Ago But Don’t Remember For Sure. THE LOST CONTINENT falls into that third category. I was in the mood for some ERB, and I had a hunch I hadn’t read it before, so I decided to give it a try. Besides, who can resist one of those short Ace editions with a Frank Frazetta cover?
This novel takes place in the 22nd Century. All communication
between Western and Eastern Hemispheres has been cut off for more than two
hundred years, following a catastrophic war that seemed on the verge of
consuming Europe and threatened the Western Hemisphere as well. No one from the
West is allowed to venture past “Thirty” or “One Seventy-Five”, the dividing
lines between the hemispheres. (Hence the story’s original title, “Beyond
Thirty”.) Our narrator and protagonist is young naval officer Jefferson Turck,
commander of the Pan-American aero-submarine Coldwater. That’s right, it’s
an aero-submarine, meaning it can fly and travel underwater. How cool is
that? But not surprisingly, while the Coldwater is patrolling the
Atlantic, it develops engine trouble and has to ditch in the ocean. Turck can’t
submerge the craft because it wouldn’t be able to resurface. Turck also has to deal
with treachery among his own crew, and eventually that puts him at sea in a
small boat with three companions, being washed toward what once was Europe.
After two centuries, what will these stalwart Pan-Americans find?
Not surprisingly, one of the first people Turck runs into is a beautiful young
woman who needs rescuing. He and his companions go on to find that England has regressed
to a primitive level with rival tribes of barbarians fighting each other and
zoo animals having proliferated after the fall of civilization (as you can see in that great cover). Along with the
girl, they move on across the English Channel to what used to be France. Once
there, they discover that civilizations do still exist in the Eastern
Hemisphere, in the form of warring empires from China and Africa that are
battling to take over what used to be Europe.
This is a flawed but enjoyable novel. The first half, set mostly in what used
to be England, is full of intriguing concepts but bogs down a little in
travelogue mode, where the characters go here and look at this thing and go
there and look at this other thing. Once the scene shifts to the continent and
the characters find themselves embroiled in an epic war, Burroughs once again
packs the story with interesting ideas, but the whole thing feels rushed
considering how broad the scope of the tale is. There’s enough meat in THE LOST
CONTINENT that today’s authors probably would get a trilogy of doorstop novels
out of the same plot. If I had to choose, I much prefer Burroughs’ leaner,
faster-paced treatment of the story, but I still wish he’d done a little more
with it. The ending is a rather abrupt deus ex machina.
Don’t get me wrong. All quibbling aside, I liked THE LOST CONTINENT. Now that I’ve
read it, I’m certain it wasn’t one of the Burroughs books I read back in junior
high and high school, so I’m very glad I picked it up now. Burroughs could
always spin a yarn, and sometimes that’s exactly what I’m looking for. THE LOST
CONTINENT is an early novel by Burroughs, published as “Beyond Thirty” in the
February 1916 issue of the pulp ALL AROUND MAGAZINE, reprinted numerous times
starting in the Fifties, and currently available on Amazon in various e-book,
paperback, and hardcover editions. If you're a Burroughs fan and haven't read it, it's well worth your time.
10 comments:
I found it fascinating as one of the early examples of a pre-atomic post-apocalyptic novel. ERB would later explore similar territory in The Red Hawk.
This was the first ERB book I read and it led me to all the others. Fast and exciting - it still remains my favorite ERB and my favorite Frazetta cover.
I had a similar experience with this book two Decembers ago — couldn’t remember if i’d read it before. I was familiar with the basic premise of it from reading Richard Lupoff’s excellent ERB, MASTER OF ADVENTURE in my teens, but halfway through the first chapter , specific details seemed unfamiliar so I kept going. I ended up enjoying it, overall — I wouldnt rate it as highly as THE MOON MAID or the Caspak and Pellucidar books, but liked it more than BEYOND THE FARTHEST STAR or LAND OF HIDDEN MEN.
Am I correct in remembering that the Savage Princess in this one is descended from the currently reigning Royal Family of England? And that contrary to Frazetta’s (otherwise totally fab) cover, she’s a blonde?
b.t.
Yes, the Savage Princess is, technically, the Queen of England. I'm not sure Burroughs ever specifies her hair color, though. I'd have to go back and check in the book.
I was wrong, Burroughs does mention in one place that the girl's hair is brown.
Read this a couple of times as a young teen. Not Burroughs best but enjoyable. WWI isolationism had a plot role.
Ah. I remember thinking ERB’s description didn’t match Frazetta’s default black-haired Eurasian beauty, but I guess my imagination over-compensated :)
b.t.
The premise of this book reminds a bit of The Return by Richard Maynard, which is about a group of astronauts returning to earth a few hundred years later than planned. They find that Europe has devolved into several savage tribes. The astronauts are by far the oldest inhabitants of Earth as whatever has befallen humanity wiped anyone older than late teens. I have read this book a few times and I am equally haunted by it every time. When I first read it I thought of ERB but I don't think I ever read The Lost Continent.
Great Burroughs tale, flaws and all. I recall picking the 1963 ACE edition fresh off the rack at the long-gone Arcade newsstand. I'm still amused that his primitive, fragmented Brit tribes all have different corrupted pronunciations of "Great Britain."
Ah, that's a nostalgic cover there. I read that one sometime in grade school - probably 1974-ish, that's when I read most of ERB, although I stretched out Tarzan into 8th grade when I realized I was going to run out of his books eventually - and remember liking it quite a lot at the time. Don't think I've revisited it since and I'm content to retain my fond memories of it rather than risk a change of opinion.
Maybe not as good as some of his better known work, but it certainly contributed to my appreciation of concise writing - a technique that's largely unknown in these dark days.
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