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Simulating antiquity in boys' adventure fiction : maps and ink stains

"A genre that glorifies brutish masculinity and late Victorian imperialism, boys' 'lost world' adventure fiction has traditionally been studied for its politically problematic content. While attuned to these concerns, this Element approaches the genre from a different angle, viewing adventure fiction as not just a catalogue of texts but a corpus of books. Examining early editions of Treasure Island, King Solomon's Mines, and The LostWorld, the Element argues that fin-de-siècle adventure fiction sought to resist the nineteenth-century industrialisation of book production from within. As the Element points out, the genre is filled with nostalgic simulations of material anachronisms - 'facsimiles' of fictional pre-modern paper, printing, and handwriting that re-humanise the otherwise alienating landscape of the modern book and modern literary production. The Element ends by exploring a subversive revival of lost world adventure fiction that emerged in response to e-books at the beginning of the twenty-first century"--A genre that glorifies brutish masculinity and late Victorian imperialism, boys' 'lost world' adventure fiction has traditionally been studied for its politically problematic content. While attuned to these concerns, this Element approaches the genre from a different angle, viewing adventure fiction as not just a catalogue of texts but a corpus of books. Examining early editions of Treasure Island, King Solomon's Mines, and The Lost World, the Element argues that fin-de-siecle adventure fiction sought to resist the nineteenth-century industrialisation of book production from within. As the Element points out, the genre is filled with nostalgic simulations of material anachronisms - 'facsimiles' of fictional pre-modern paper, printing, and handwriting that re-humanise the otherwise alienating landscape of the modern book and modern literary production. The Element ends by exploring a subversive revival of lost world adventure fiction that emerged in response to ebooks at the beginning of the twenty-first century.

Online Cambridge University Press

A study of action-adventure fiction : The executioner and Mack Bolan

Employing hitherto closed access to the histories of several publishing houses, this is an investigation of the action-adventure novel, chronicling the rise and fall of small enterprises which first saw the potential in such an approach to fiction. It focuses first on the creations of Don Pendleton, tracing his 38-book series "The Executioner", and examining the evolution of the series under a growing number of writers. The study also includes a commentary on the many "Mack Bolan" imitators.

The anthology of colonial Australian adventure fiction

Marauding bushrangers, lost exploerers, mad shepherds, new chums and mounted troopers: these are some of the characters who populate the often perilous world of colonial Australian adventure fiction. Squatters defend their hard eanred properties from attack, while floods and other natural disasters threaten to wipe any trace of settlement away. Colonial Australian adventure fiction takes its characters on a journey into remote and unfamiliar territory, often in pursuit of wealth and well being. But these journeys are invariably fraught with danger, and everything comes at a price.

Online EBSCO Academic Comprehensive Collection