Lost Cities: Generic Conventions, Hidden Places, and Primitivism in Juvenile Series Mysteries

Abstract

International travel has long been a part of American and British juvenile mystery series; exotic locales suggested grand adventure to an audience who, especially through the mid-twentieth century, were generally homebound. Early, pre-World War I series such as the Rover Boys and Tom Swift often featured international travel located mostly in the Western hemisphere, whether to Mexico (The Rover Boys in Southern Waters, or the Deserted Steam Yacht [1907] and Tom Swift in the City of Gold [1912]); the Arctic North (Tom Swift in the Caves of Ice [1908] and The Rover Boys in Alaska, or Lost in the Field of Ice [1914]); or the Caribbean (The Rover Boys on Treasure Island [1909] and Tom Swift and his Wireless Message [1911]). During World War I, series often traveled overseas to Europe, reflecting the war effort itself (this is true for both boys’ and girls’ series, including Aunt fane’s Nieces in the Red Cross [1915] and Ned, Bob, and Jerry on the Firing Line, or the Motor Boys Fighting for Uncle Sam [1919]). Later, as technology aided the ease of international travel, girls’ and boys’ series traveled even further afield: popular boy flier Ted Scott was Lost at the South Pole (1930), for example, while popular girl sleuth Beverly Gray traveled to the Far East (Beverly Gray in the Orient, 1937).