Conan Doyle: The Man Who Created Sherlock Holmes
Though Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's name is recognized the world over, for decades the man himself has been overshadowed by his better understood creation, Sherlock Holmes, who has become one of literature's most enduring characters. Based on thousands of previously unavailable documents, Andrew Lycett, author of the critically acclaimed biography Dylan Thomas, offers the firs Though Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's name is recognized the world over, for decades the man himself has been overshadowed by his better understood creation, Sherlock Holmes, who has become one of literature's most enduring characters.
The Life and Times of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Based on thousands of previously unavailable documents, Andrew Lycett, author of the critically acclaimed biography Dylan Thomas, offers the first definitive biography of the baffling Conan Doyle, finally making sense of a long-standing mystery: Hardcover , pages. Published December 18th by Free Press first published To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.
Lists with This Book. Mar 28, Kaitron added it. I think you are going to see some sherlock holmes on my to read list soon Jun 20, Jennifer Petkus rated it it was amazing. After all, Conan Doyle knew a lot of people and once the famous author hits his stride, you realize he was friends, enemies and frenemies with a lot of other famous figures, including H. Wodehouse, Rudyard Kipling and Harry Houdini. He was related by marriage to E. Hornung, the creator of gentleman thief Arthur J. Biographer Andrew Lycett, however, has done an admirable job of balancing the importance of Holmes, something Sir Arthur probably would have appreciated, but which might disappoint a Sherlockian.
The resulting portrait of Conan Doyle seemed quite understandable to me. Conan Doyle was an outsize character who needed things to make sense, either by his own doing or by a power greater than himself. One of the byproducts of his own greatness was that singular creation, Sherlock Holmes. Another byproduct of portraying this fascinating subject, coupled with the wealth of material Lycett was able to use following the deaths of several Doyle relations, is this somewhat daunting biography. Jan 08, M rated it liked it Shelves: Exceptional but exhausting biography.
Incredibly detailed and interesting first half but also pretty long and repetitive second half. The most interesting point the author makes is that Doyle originally started off identifying with Holmes, but eventually switches that position to Watson in the end - which is made clear if you read the stories along with the bio.
The man who created Sherlock Holmes - Telegraph
Oct 13, Mary Ellen rated it liked it Shelves: A highly detailed, exquisitely researched biography. I would not be surprised to find that Lycett invented both a time machine and a shrink ray so that he could spend every single day of Conan Doyle's life perched on his shoulder like a tiny biographer angel. Or demon, depending on your view of the book. The text is very dense with a lot of information crammed into every sentence.
This can be fascinating, if you are interested in the period being covered, or tedious, if that particular aspect of A highly detailed, exquisitely researched biography. This can be fascinating, if you are interested in the period being covered, or tedious, if that particular aspect of Conan Doyle's life leaves you cold.
For instance, I greatly enjoyed the sections on Conan Doyle's medical and literary careers, but found myself frustrated by the in depth analysis of his spiritualism. It really is a matter of personal preference. It should be noted that the title is accurate. This is not just a discussion of Conan Doyle, but of the times in which he lived. Learning about the philosophical movements, historical events, and influential figures which surrounded Conan Doyle can give you insights into how he became the writer he was.
But for readers wanting a more stream-lined, Conan-Doyle-centric biography, this book will frustrate the hell out of them.
- Le choix dune mariée - Un sentiment inoubliable (Passions) (French Edition).
- The man who created Sherlock Holmes;
- See a Problem?!
Moreover, readers expecting a major focus on the Sherlock Holmes stories may be disappointed by how cursory their treatment is. However, if what you are looking for is a deeper understanding of Arthur Conan Doyle as a complete man not just as the creator of Sherlock Holmes and the era that shaped him you cannot help but be satisfied.
And more than a little impressed by the astonishing breadth of Lycett's research. Dec 07, Paul rated it it was ok Shelves: This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This is an okay book. I have to be honest, I finished it because of a conversation I had with a friend and then with my wife about finishing books. I typically don't finish books I'm not completely enjoying.
They seem to make a commitment to the book, so I gave it try. Again, this book is okay, but honestly, this author either under-informs due to lack of information or over informs with details about how well AC Doyle did in a cricket match on a certain day.
Arthur Conan Doyle
The fact that he had an extramarital This is an okay book. The fact that he had an extramarital affair while his wife was dying of tuberculosis is fascinating, especially since he was clearly in love with and later married his mistress and they had a "fairytale" romance after his first wife's death - sorry for the spoilers, but I'm making a point. However, as Lycett points out, most of the "dirt" was expunged by his mistress and there is no "source" material on this, so it is really rather dry reading because it is a fact he had the affair but we can know next to nothing about it, so the details for those 10 years are cricket matches and a couple of thoughts on his short stories.
His passion for spirtualism is clear, but his motivation or any comments on why he was so into it are arid and lacking. The book is more fun as a study on Victorian England than on AC Doyle in all honesty and I cannot recommend this book to anyone, really. For a man as interesting as Doyle was, this book was a drag to get through. It's slow going to begin with, but the inclusion of irrelevant details biographical info on Doyle's contemporaries that has nothing to do with what the author is discussing, bios of Doyle's great grand parents, Doyle's Cricket record certainly doesn't help.
Feb 02, Susan rated it liked it Shelves: This biography almost contains too much detailed information and quotes from too many relatively unimportant letters for the general reader. It also portrays a man certainly not likeable, an almost protypical Victorian with all the limitations that meant. The contradictions of his character were rather extreme - a medical scientist who created the most rational detective yet who believed in spiritualism and seances; a man who prided himself on his integrity but who carried on an affair while his This biography almost contains too much detailed information and quotes from too many relatively unimportant letters for the general reader.
The contradictions of his character were rather extreme - a medical scientist who created the most rational detective yet who believed in spiritualism and seances; a man who prided himself on his integrity but who carried on an affair while his wife lay dying; fully Irish on both sides of his family and still opposing political freedom for the Irish.
However it did make me want to reread all the Sherlock Holmes stories. A factual at times too much , well-researched, sincere, honest, and at times rather dry biography of that brilliant storyteller who had given us so many memorable stories, and yet who is remembered by the vast majority only for the creation of one character and his style.
The book is a difficult read not only because of its fact-findings, but often due to its rather admonishing tone that I found to be disconcerting after reading the more sympathetic writings of Daniel Stashower. Nevertheless, as A factual at times too much , well-researched, sincere, honest, and at times rather dry biography of that brilliant storyteller who had given us so many memorable stories, and yet who is remembered by the vast majority only for the creation of one character and his style.
Sep 19, Naomi rated it did not like it. It is rare that I give up entirely on books, but I will make an exception for this book. I am usually a love of non fiction, and I am a lover of Sherlock Holmes, and I have been waiting for a good biography on the man who created the series, but I take great issue with this one. Lycett creates a portrait of Holmes as a bumbling buffoon who just stumbled on the dynamic duo. I don't think that I am being naive when I say that this cannot be accurate; after reading the Sherlock Holmes collection I It is rare that I give up entirely on books, but I will make an exception for this book.
I don't think that I am being naive when I say that this cannot be accurate; after reading the Sherlock Holmes collection I feel assured that its creator is somewhat talented.
This leaves me to discredit the entire volume. Well, not read, completely. There is a lot of really good stuff here, but it is a very dense book with lots and lots of detail and I just can't seem to concentrate on it. I think I might be in a "no non-fiction" mood lately which doesn't bode well for the books I've got here right now from the public library. I'll give them all a chance but I really, really just want to read fiction right now.
I'm not rating this be Well, not read, completely. I'll keep it in mind and maybe go back to it when my tastes change back to wanting more variety. Jul 07, Julia rated it it was ok. Even apart from this, all was far from sweetness and light in Conan Doyle's life, especially after his wife, Louise, developed TB.
He fell in love with a younger and prettier woman, but his wife survived as a chronic invalid for nine years, keeping him apart from the girl he loved. It is unsurprising to find him protesting his righteousness to "the Mam", and assuring her that his wife did not suffer in the least from the fact that he was in love with another woman.
Like Dickens, whom he resembles, Conan Doyle had a tremendous capacity for convincing himself. His editors take his version at face value but Lycett, more subtly, observes that one of the later Holmes stories, "The Problem of Thor Bridge", deals with a woman in Louise's position, driven by jealousy to a suicide that attempts to implicate her supplanter as her murderer. The story suggests Conan Doyle's oblique recognition that his wife might have seen things differently.
This is only the most stark of the instances in which the editors fail to engage seriously with the central question of how far Conan Doyle's self-presentation can be trusted. The brief linking passages of A Life in Letters fill in all manner of factual minutiae, but fail to weigh the value of the author's words. By contrast, Lycett's sophisticated account reveals a character with far more light and shade, capable, on the one hand, of generosity and courage and, on the other, of self-deception, emotional blackmail, mental cruelty especially towards his first wife and her children and sheer silliness especially towards the second family.
The letters reveal that he canonised his eldest son, Kingsley, after his early death, while Lycett suggests that he treated Kingsley quite badly during his life, so guilt had something to do with this. If there is too little of the Letters' loving, honourable son in Lycett, this is partly because the letters in question were not available to him.
Unpublished letters are legally the property of the writer's natural heirs: This is abundantly the case with the Conan Doyle estate. The family letters that fell to the share of his daughter by his second wife went to the British Library on her death; but Foley, by virtue of being both Conan Doyle's sister Ida's grandson, and named as heir by the widow of Conan Doyle's youngest son, was in a position under the daughter's will to remove "documents merely of family interest" from public access.
It is these documents that are published as A Life in Letters.
But while Lycett's narrative is competent if a little colourless, the afterword in which he reveals these machinations is the most entertaining part of the book, written with a degree of sustained fury that makes the words crackle off the page. And for all the impediments in his way, Lycett's is by far the better book.