The Adventures of Conan Doyle: The Life of the Creator of Sherlock Holmes

Synopsis

"WHO, REALLY, was Dr. Watson? And who was Sherlock Holmes? Both, I discovered in exploring the background for this book, had their parallels in real life. There actually was a Dr. John Watson, who lived in London, had served in the war in India, and had been wounded. And it is well-known that Holmes was very much like Dr. Joseph Bell, a skillfully deductive surgeon who taught at Edinburgh University. But I determined, as I worked on, that in the last analysis, Dr. Watson and Mr. Holmes, like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, were really different aspects of the same person, in this instance Arthur Conan Doyle. ... He liked sport, and played Rugby and billiards expertly. He loved dogs, and kept a bull pup. He loved Turkish baths. He had a kind of wild courage, and tended to be romantic and gullible. He was loyal, a patriot, faithful to his friends and his wife. Self-effacing and considerate, though capable of being rash and headstrong, he was the perfect Boswell for Holmes. Conan Doyle's resemblances to Holmes are numerous. Holmes was descended from a family of squires, and he had some French blood. He had gray eyes. He had one brother. He suffered from conflicting moods of excitement and depression. He could be impatient and sharp. He had a bizarre sense of humor. He loved to make subtle literary references. He was inordinately excited by murder cases. He was familiar with an extraordinary IO . . . PREFACE range of subjects, including ciphers, medieval manuscripts, and the structure of warships. He went out in society but wi. ... He loved to reflect on philosophy and the course of history. Like Watson, he longed for the country while in London. Holmes had an almost clairvoyant grasp of events, beyond that of any other detective. He made up his own mind about crimes, deliberately acting as an accessory, when necessary, for the ultimate solution of a case, assuming the roles of judge and jury, and sometimes releasing the apparently guilty. He could deduce details of people's lives simply by glancing at them. Conan Doyle's son Adrian wrote of his father that he could sit in a cafe and determine from the hats, coats, shoes, umbrellas, and walking sticks of those who came in virtually their whole life stories."

Copyright:

1976

Book Details

Book Quality:

Excellent

Book Size:

268 Pages

ISBN-13:

9780393075076

Publisher:

N/A

Date of Addition:

03/25/04

Copyrighted By:

Charles Higham

Adult content:

No

Language:

English

Has Image Descriptions:

No

Categories:

Literature and Fiction, Language Arts

Submitted By:

Carrie Karnos

Proofread By:

Lena

Usage Restrictions:

This is a copyrighted book.