 Dust-jacket forLost Continents | |
| Author | L. Sprague de Camp |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | L. Robert Tschirky and Ric Binkley |
| Language | English |
| Subject | Atlantis |
| Publisher | Gnome Press |
Publication date | 1954 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (Hardback) |
| Pages | 362 pp |
Lost Continents: The Atlantis Theme in History, Science, and Literature is a study byL. Sprague de Camp that provides a detailed examination of theories and speculations on Atlantis and other lost lands, including the scientific arguments against their existence. It is one of his most popular works. It was written in 1948 and first published serially in the magazineOther Worlds Science Fiction in 1952–1953; portions also appeared as articles inAstounding Science Fiction,Galaxy Science Fiction,Natural History Magazine, and theToronto Star. It was first published in book form byGnome Press in 1954; an updated edition was published byDover Publications in 1970. De Camp revised the work both for its first book publication and for the updated edition.[1][2]
L. Sprague de Camp enjoyed debunking doubtful history andpseudoscientific claims. The work provides a detailed examination of theories and speculations onAtlantis and otherlost lands, including thescientific arguments against their existence, and how they have been continued, developed and imitated by later theorists, speculators, scientific enquirers, enthusiasts, occultists, quacks, and fantasists throughout history. Major speculative locales as Atlantis,Mu, andLemuria are covered in depth, with the origins of lesser-known ones such asThule,Hyperborea, andRutas also treated. The work shows how the misinterpretation ofMayan writings created theMu myth, and how the nameLemuria originated from thegeological hypothesis about aland bridge between India andSouth Africa. The book goes into modern usage of the concept inspeculative fiction, as well as the various attempts to discover the "real" Atlantis.
The 1970 edition was updated to reflect the rehabilitation ofAlfred Wegener'scontinental drift theory and investigation of the ancientvolcanic eruption of theAegean island ofThera. This eruption is considered by many who think that Plato's account of Atlantis' destruction had an underlying historical basis, to be that basis.
De Camp's work is still one of the most reliable sources on the lost continent theme. Lost continents or ancient civilizations sunk by adeluge are a common theme in the scriptures of doctrines of many modernpseudoreligions orcults. Well-known instances includeJames Churchward's books onMu, theTheosophical portrayals ofHyperborea,Lemuria andAtlantis, and even theNazimythologizing aboutThule. As authors of these materials tend not to state (or do mis-state) their sources, works like that of de Camp are quite useful to anyone interested inobjective information.
ReviewerGroff Conklin described the original edition as "a monument of scholarship [and] a richly documented and entertaining survey of how crazy the crackpots can get."[3]Boucher andMcComas praised it as "a marvelously and terrifying history of the human will-to-believe, even in the face of all factual evidence."[4]