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Where was Conan Doyle born? The Adventures of Sir Arthur. Interesting facts about Arthur Conan Doyle

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Doyle also wrote historical novels (“The White Squad”, etc.), plays (“Waterloo”, “Angels of Darkness”, “Lights of Destiny”, “The Speckled Ribbon”), poems (collections of ballads “Songs of Action” (1898) and “Songs of the Road”), autobiographical essays (“Notes of Stark Monroe” or “The Mystery of Stark Monroe”) and “everyday” novels (“Duet accompanied by a random choir”), libretto of the operetta “Jane Annie” (1893, co-authored).

Biography

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was born into an Irish Catholic family renowned for its achievements in the arts and literature. The name Conan was given to him in honor of his father's uncle, artist and writer Michel Conan. Father - Charles Altamont Doyle, an architect and artist, at the age of 23 married 17-year-old Mary Foley, who passionately loved books and had a great talent as a storyteller. From her, Arthur inherited his interest in knightly traditions, exploits and adventures. “My true love for literature, my penchant for writing, I believe, comes from my mother,” Conan Doyle wrote in his autobiography. - “Vivid images of the stories that she told me in early childhood completely replaced in my memory memories of specific events in my life of those years.”

The family of the future writer experienced serious financial difficulties - solely because of the strange behavior of his father, who not only suffered from alcoholism, but also had an extremely unbalanced psyche. Arthur's school life was spent at Godder Preparatory School. When the boy was 9 years old, wealthy relatives offered to pay for his education and sent him for the next seven years to the Jesuit closed college Stonyhurst (Lancashire), from where the future writer suffered hatred of religious and class prejudice, as well as physical punishment. The few happy moments of those years for him were associated with letters to his mother: he did not give up the habit of describing in detail to her the current events of his life for the rest of his life. In addition, at the boarding school, Doyle enjoyed playing sports, mainly cricket, and also discovered his talent as a storyteller, gathering around him peers who spent hours listening to stories made up on the go.

A. Conan Doyle, 1893. Photographic portrait by G. S. Berro

As a third-year student, Doyle decided to try his hand at the literary field. His first story, “The Secret of the Sesas Valley” (eng. The Mystery of Sasassa Valley), created under the influence of Edgar Allan Poe and Bret Harte (his favorite authors at that time), was published by the university Chamber's Journal, where the first works of Thomas Hardy appeared. That same year, Doyle's second story, An American Story, The American Tale) appeared in the magazine London Society .

In 1884, Conan Doyle began work on Girdlestone Trading House, a social and everyday novel with a crime-detective plot (written under the influence of Dickens) about cynical and cruel money-grubbing merchants. It was published in 1890.

In 1889, Doyle's third (and perhaps strangest) novel, Clumber's Mystery, was published. The Mystery of Cloud). The story of the "afterlife" of three vengeful Buddhist monks - the first literary evidence of the author's interest in the paranormal - subsequently made him a staunch follower of spiritualism.

Historical cycle

In February 1888, A. Conan Doyle completed work on the novel The Adventures of Micah Clarke, which told the story of the Monmouth Rebellion (1685), the purpose of which was to overthrow King James II. The novel was released in November and was warmly received by critics. From this moment on, a conflict arose in Conan Doyle's creative life: on the one hand, the public and publishers demanded new works about Sherlock Holmes; on the other hand, the writer himself increasingly sought to gain recognition as the author of serious novels (primarily historical ones), as well as plays and poems.

Conan Doyle's first serious historical work is considered to be the novel "The White Squad". In it, the author turned to a critical stage in the history of feudal England, taking as a basis a real historical episode in 1366, when there was a lull in the Hundred Years' War and “white detachments” of volunteers and mercenaries began to emerge. Continuing the war on French territory, they played a decisive role in the struggle of contenders for the Spanish throne. Conan Doyle used this episode for his own artistic purpose: he resurrected the life and customs of that time, and most importantly, presented knighthood, which by that time was already in decline, in a heroic aura. “The White Company” was published in Cornhill magazine (whose publisher, James Penn, declared it “the best historical novel since Ivanhoe”), and was published as a separate book in 1891. Conan Doyle always said that he considered it one of his best works.

With some allowance, the novel “Rodney Stone” (1896) can also be classified as historical: the action here takes place at the beginning of the 19th century, Napoleon and Nelson, playwright Sheridan are mentioned. Initially, this work was conceived as a play with the working title “House of Temperley” and was written under the famous British actor Henry Irving at the time. While working on the novel, the writer studied a lot of scientific and historical literature (“History of the Navy”, “History of Boxing”, etc.).

In 1892, the “French-Canadian” adventure novel “Exiles” and the historical play “Waterloo” were completed, in which the main role was played by the then famous actor Henry Irving (who acquired all rights from the author).

Sherlock Holmes

1900-1910

In 1900, Conan Doyle returned to medical practice: as a field hospital surgeon, he went to the Boer War. The book he published in 1902, “The Anglo-Boer War,” met with warm approval from conservative circles, brought the writer closer to government spheres, after which he acquired the somewhat ironic nickname “Patriot,” which he himself, however, was proud of. At the beginning of the century, the writer received the title of nobility and knighthood and twice took part in local elections in Edinburgh (both times he was defeated).

In the early 90s, Conan Doyle established friendly relations with the leaders and employees of Idler magazine: Jerome K. Jerome, Robert Barr and James M. Barry. The latter, having awakened in the writer a passion for theater, attracted him to (ultimately not very fruitful) collaboration in the dramaturgical field.

In 1893, Doyle's sister Constance married Ernst William Hornung. Having become relatives, the writers maintained friendly relations, although they did not always see eye to eye. Hornung's main character, the "noble burglar" Raffles, was very much like a parody of the "noble detective" Holmes.

A. Conan Doyle also highly appreciated the works of Kipling, in whom, in addition, he saw a political ally (both were fierce patriots). In 1895, he supported Kipling in disputes with American opponents and was invited to Vermont, where he lived with his American wife. Later (after Doyle’s critical publications on England’s policy in Africa), relations between the two writers became cooler.

Doyle's relationship with Bernard Shaw was strained, who once described Sherlock Holmes as "a drug addict who has not a single pleasant quality." There is reason to believe that the Irish playwright took the attacks of the former against (now little-known author) Hall Kane, who abused self-promotion, personally. In 1912, Conan Doyle and Shaw entered into a public squabble on the pages of newspapers: the first defended the crew of the Titanic, the second condemned the behavior of the officers of the sunken liner.

Conan Doyle in his article called on the people to express their protest democratically, during the elections, noting that not only the proletariat is experiencing difficulties, but also the intelligentsia and the middle class, with whom Wells has no sympathy. While agreeing with Wells on the need for land reform (and even supporting the creation of farms on the sites of abandoned parks), Doyle rejects his hatred of the ruling class and concludes: “Our worker knows that he, like any other citizen, lives in accordance with certain social laws , and it is not in his interests to undermine the welfare of his state by sawing off the branch on which he himself sits.”

1910-1913

In 1912, Conan Doyle published the science fiction story “The Lost World” (subsequently filmed more than once), followed by “The Poison Belt” (1913). The main character of both works was Professor Challenger, a fanatic scientist endowed with grotesque qualities, but at the same time humane and charming in his own way. At the same time, the last detective story “Valley of Horror” appeared. This work, which many critics tend to underestimate, is considered by Doyle's biographer J. D. Carr to be one of his strongest.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1913

1914-1918

Doyle becomes even more embittered when he becomes aware of the torture that English prisoners of war were subjected to in Germany.

...It is difficult to develop a line of conduct regarding the Red Indians of European descent who torture prisoners of war. It is clear that we ourselves cannot torture the Germans at our disposal in the same way. On the other hand, calls for good-heartedness are also meaningless, for the average German has the same concept of nobility as a cow has of mathematics... He is sincerely incapable of understanding, for example, what makes us speak warmly of von Müller of Weddingen and our other enemies who are trying at least to some extent preserve a human face...

Soon Doyle calls for the organization of “retribution raids” from the territory of eastern France and enters into a discussion with the Bishop of Winchester (the essence of whose position is that “it is not the sinner who is to be condemned, but his sin”): “Let sin fall on those who force us to sin. If we wage this war, guided by Christ’s commandments, there will be no point. If we, following the well-known recommendation taken out of context, turned the “other cheek,” the Hohenzollern empire would have already spread across Europe, and instead of Christ’s teachings, Nietzscheanism would be preached here,” he wrote in The Times, December 31, 1917.

Conan Doyle refuted claims that his interest in spiritualism arose only at the end of the war:

Many people had not encountered Spiritualism or even heard of it until 1914, when the angel of death came knocking on many homes. Opponents of Spiritualism believe that it was the social cataclysms that shook our world that caused such an increased interest in psychic research. These unprincipled opponents stated that the author's advocacy of Spiritualism and his friend Sir Oliver Lodge's defense of the Doctrine was due to the fact that both of them had lost sons in the 1914 war. The conclusion followed from this: grief darkened their minds, and they believed in what they would never have believed in peacetime. The author has refuted this shameless lie many times and emphasized the fact that his research began in 1886, long before the outbreak of the war.. - (“History of Spiritualism”, Chapter 23, “Spiritism and War”)

Among the most controversial works of Conan Doyle in the early 20s is the book “The Phenomenon of the Fairies” ( The Coming of the Fairies, 1921), in which he attempted to prove the truth of the photographs of the Cottingley fairies and put forward his own theories regarding the nature of this phenomenon.

Last years

Sir A. Conan Doyle's grave at Minstead

At some point, there was an improvement: the writer immediately went to London to, in a conversation with the Minister of the Interior, demand the abolition of laws that persecuted mediums. This effort turned out to be the last: in the early morning of July 7, 1930, Conan Doyle died of a heart attack at his home in Crowborough (Sussex). He was buried not far from his garden house. At the request of the widow, the knightly motto is engraved on the tombstone: Steel True, Blade Straight(“Loyal as steel, straight as a blade”).

Family

Doyle had five children: two from his first wife - Mary and Kingsley, and three from his second - Jean Lena Annette, Denis Percy Stewart (17 March 1909 - 9 March 1955; in 1936 he became the husband of the Georgian princess Nina Mdivani ) and Adrian.

The famous writer of the early 20th century, Willy Hornung, became a relative of Conan Doyle in 1893: he married his sister, Connie (Constance) Doyle.

Works (favorites)

Sherlock Holmes series

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (collection of stories, 1891-1892)
Notes on Sherlock Holmes (collection of stories, 1892-1893)
The Hound of the Baskervilles (1901-1902)
The Return of Sherlock Holmes (collection of stories, 1903-1904)
Valley of Terror (1914-1915)
His farewell bow (collection of stories, 1908-1913, 1917)
Sherlock Holmes Archive (collection of stories, 1921-1927)

There are probably few people who have not seen the Soviet serial film “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson” with and starring. The famous detective, whom he also once played, came from the literary lines of the famous English writer and publicist - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Childhood and youth

Sir Arthur Ignaceus Conan Doyle was born on May 22, 1859 in the capital of Scotland - Edinburgh. This picturesque city is rich in history and cultural heritage, as well as attractions. Therefore, we can assume that in childhood the future doctor and writer observed the columns of the center of Presbyterianism - the Cathedral of St. Egidio, and also enjoyed the flora and fauna of the Royal Botanical Garden with a palm greenhouse, lilac heather and arboretum (a collection of tree species).

The author of adventure stories about the life of Sherlock Holmes grew up and was raised in a respected Catholic family; his parents made an undeniable contribution to the achievements of art and literature. Grandfather John Doyle was an Irish artist who worked in the genre of miniatures and political caricature. He came from the dynasty of a prosperous silk and velvet merchant.

The writer's father, Charles Altemont Doyle, followed in his parent's footsteps and left a watercolor mark on the canvases of the Victorian era. Charles diligently depicted Gothic scenes on canvases with fairy-tale characters, animals and fairies. In addition, Doyle Sr. worked as an illustrator (his paintings decorated manuscripts and), as well as an architect: the stained glass windows in Glasgow Cathedral were made according to Charles’ sketches.

On July 31, 1855, Charles proposed marriage to 17-year-old Irishwoman Mary Josephine Elizabeth Foley, who later gave her lover seven children. By the way, Mrs. Foley was an educated woman, she voraciously read courtly novels and told her children exciting stories about fearless knights. The heroic epic in the style of the troubadours of Provence left a mark on little Arthur’s soul once and for all:

“My true love for literature, my penchant for writing, I believe, comes from my mother,” the writer recalled in his autobiography.

True, instead of books of knighthood, Doyle more often leafed through the pages of Thomas Main Reid, who excited the minds of readers with adventure novels. Few people know, but Charles barely made ends meet. The fact is that the man dreamed of becoming a famous artist, so that in the future his name would be placed next to, and. However, during his lifetime, Doyle never received recognition or fame. His paintings were not in great demand, so his bright canvases were often covered with a thin layer of shabby dust, and the money earned from small illustrations was not enough to feed his family.

Charles found salvation in alcohol: strong drinks helped the head of the family distance himself from the harsh reality of life. True, alcohol only worsened the situation in the house: every year, in order to forget his unfulfilled ambitions, Doyle the father drank more and more, which earned him a contemptuous attitude from his older brothers. Ultimately, the unknown artist spent his days in deep depression, and on October 10, 1893, Charles died.

The future writer attended Godder Primary School. When Arthur was 9 years old, thanks to money from eminent relatives, Doyle continued his studies, this time at the closed Jesuit college Stonyhurst in Lancashire. It cannot be said that Arthur was delighted with his school days. He despised class inequality and religious prejudices, and also hated physical punishment: a teacher waving a belt only poisoned the existence of the young writer.

Mathematics was not easy for the boy; he did not like algebraic formulas and complex examples, which made Arthur sad. For his dislike of the subject, praised by and, Doyle received regular blows from fellow students - the Moriarty brothers. The only joy for Arthur was sports: the young man enjoyed playing cricket.

Doyle often wrote letters to his mother, describing in great detail what had happened that day in his school life. The young man also realized the potential of a storyteller: to listen to Arthur’s fictional adventure stories, queues of peers gathered around him, who “paid” the speaker with solved problems in geometry and algebra.

Literature

Doyle chose literary activity for a reason: as a six-year-old child, Arthur wrote his debut story called “The Traveler and the Tiger.” True, the work turned out to be short and did not even take up a whole page, because the tiger immediately dined on the unfortunate wanderer. The little boy acted according to the principle “brevity is the sister of talent,” and as an adult, Arthur explained that even then he was a realist and did not see a way out of the predicament.

Indeed, the master of the pen is not used to sinning with the technique of “God ex Machina” - when the main character, who finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time, is saved by an external factor or a factor that was not previously active in the work. The fact that Doyle initially chose the noble profession of medicine instead of writing is no surprise to anyone, because there are many similar examples; he even used to say that “medicine is my lawful wife, and literature is my mistress.”

Illustration for the book "The Lost World" by Arthur Conan Doyle

The young man preferred a white medical coat to a pen and inkwell thanks to the influence of one Brian C. Waller, who rented a room from Mrs. Foley. Therefore, after listening to doctors' stories, the young man, without any hesitation, submits documents to the University of Edinburgh. As a student, Doyle met other future writers - James Barry and.

In his free time from lecture materials, Arthur did what he loved - pored over the books of Bret Harte and, whose “The Gold Bug” left indelible impressions in the young man’s heart. Inspired by novels and mystical stories, the writer tries his hand at the literary field and creates the stories “The Secret of Sesas Valley” and “American History.”

In 1881, Doyle received a bachelor's degree and went to medical practice. It took the author of “The Hound of the Baskervilles” about ten years to abandon the profession of ophthalmologist and plunge headlong into the multifaceted world of literary lines. In 1884, under the influence of Arthur, Conan began work on the novel “Girdleston Trading House” (published in 1890), which tells about the criminal and domestic problems of English society. The plot is based on the clever businessmen of the underworld: they deceive people who instantly find themselves at the mercy of careless merchants.

In March 1886, Sir Conan Doyle was working on “A Study in Scarlet,” which was completed in April. It is in this work that the famous London detective Sherlock Holmes appears before readers for the first time. The prototype of a professional detective was a real person - Joseph Bell, a surgeon, professor at the University of Edinburgh, who knew how to use logic to figure out both a gross mistake and a fleeting lie.

Joseph was idolized by his student, who diligently observed every move of the master, who came up with his own deductive method. It turns out that cigarette butts, ashes, watches, a cane bitten by a dog and dirt under fingernails can say much more things about a person than his own biography.

The character Sherlock Holmes is a kind of know-how in the literary space, since the author of detective stories sought to make him an ordinary person, and not a mystical book hero in whom either positive or negative qualities are concentrated. Sherlock, like other mortals, has bad habits: Holmes is careless in handling things, constantly smokes strong cigars and cigarettes (the pipe is an invention of the illustrators) and, in the complete absence of interesting crimes, uses cocaine intravenously.

The story “A Scandal in Bohemia” became the beginning of the famous series “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes,” which included 12 detective stories about the detective and his friend, Dr. Watson. Conan Doyle also created four full-length novels, which, in addition to A Study in Scarlet, include The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Valley of Terror and The Sign of Four. Thanks to his popular works, Doyle became almost the highest paid writer both in England and throughout the world.

Rumor has it that at one point the creator got tired of Sherlock Holmes, so Arthur decided to kill the witty detective. But after the death of the fictional detective, Doyle began to be threatened and warned that his fate would be sad if the writer did not resurrect the hero the readers liked. Arthur did not dare to disobey the will of the provocateur, so he continued to work on numerous stories.

Personal life

Outwardly, Arthur Conan Doyle, like , created the impression of a strong and powerful man, like a hero. The author of the books went in for sports until old age and even in old age could give a head start to the young. According to rumors, it was Doyle who taught the Swiss to ski, organized auto racing and became the first person to ride a moped.

The personal life of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is a storehouse of information from which you can compose a whole book, similar to a non-trivial novel. For example, he went sailing on a whaling ship, where he served as a ship's doctor. The writer admired the vast expanses of the sea depths and also hunted seals. In addition, the literary genius served on cargo ships off the coast of West Africa, where he became acquainted with the life and traditions of another people.

During the First World War, Doyle temporarily suspended his literary activities and tried to go to the front as a volunteer to show his contemporaries an example of courage and courage. But the writer had to cool his ardor, as his proposal was rejected. After these events, Arthur began publishing journalistic articles: the writer’s manuscripts on military topics appeared in The Times almost every day.

He personally organized groups of volunteers and tried to become the leader of “retribution raids.” The master of the pen could not remain inactive during these troubled times, because every minute he thought about the terrible torture to which his compatriots were being subjected.

As for love relationships, the master’s first chosen one, Louise Hawkins, who gave him two children, died of consumption in 1906. A year later, Arthur proposes to Jean Leckie, the woman with whom he has been secretly in love since 1897. From his second marriage, three more children were born into the writer’s family: Jean, Denis and Adrian (who became the writer’s biographer).

Although Doyle positioned himself as a realist, he reverently studied occult literature and conducted seances. The writer hoped that the spirits of the dead would provide answers to the questions that interested him; in particular, Arthur was worried about whether there was life after death.

Death

In the last years of Doyle’s life, nothing foreshadowed trouble, the author of “The Lost World” was full of energy and strength, and in the 1920s the writer visited almost all the continents of the world. But during a trip to Scandinavia, the health of the literary genius deteriorated, so throughout the spring he stayed in bed, surrounded by family and friends.

As soon as Doyle felt better, he went to the British capital in order to make his last attempt in life to talk to the Home Secretary and demand the repeal of laws under which the government persecuted followers of spiritualism.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle died at home in Sussex of a heart attack in the early hours of July 7, 1930. Initially, the creator’s grave was located near his house, but later the writer’s remains were reburied in the New Forest.

Bibliography

Sherlock Holmes series

1887 - Study in crimson
1890 - The Sign of Four
18992 - The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
1893 - Notes on Sherlock Holmes
1902 - The Hound of the Baskervilles
1904 - The Return of Sherlock Holmes
1915 - Valley of Terror
1917 - His farewell bow
1927 - Sherlock Holmes Archive

Cycle about Professor Challenger

1902 - The Lost World
1913 - Poison Belt
1926 - Land of Fog
1928 - When the Earth Screamed
1929 - Disintegration machine

Other works

1884 - Message from Hebekuk Jephson
1887 - Uncle Jeremy's Household Affairs
1889 - The Mystery of Clumber
1890 - Girdleston Trading House
1890 - Captain of the Polar Star
1921 - The Phenomenon of Fairies

Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle

The most famous are his detective works about Sherlock Holmes, adventure and science fiction books about Professor Challenger, humorous works about Brigadier Gerard, as well as historical novels (The White Squad). In addition, he wrote plays (“Waterloo”, “Angels of Darkness”, “Lights of Fate”, “The Speckled Ribbon”) and poems (collections of ballads “Songs of Action” (1898) and “Songs of the Road”), autobiographical essays (“Letters Stark Munro”, also known as “The Mystery of Stark Monroe”), domestic novels (“Duet, with an introduction by a choir”), and was a co-author and librettist of the operetta “Jane Annie” (1893).

en.wikipedia.org

Biography

Doyle(eng. Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle)

Autograph. Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle(eng. Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle)

The writer's real name is Doyle. After the death of his beloved uncle named Conan (who actually raised him), he took his uncle’s surname as his middle name (in England this is possible, compare: Jerome Klapka Jerome, etc.). Thus, Conan is his "middle name", but in adulthood he began to use this name as a writer's pseudonym - Conan Doyle. In Russian texts there are also variants of the spelling Conan Doyle (which is more consistent with the rules for rendering proper names during translation - the transcriptive method), as well as Conan-Doyle and Conan-Doyle. It is a mistake to write with a hyphen (cf. Alexander-Pushkin). However, the correct spelling is Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Arthur is the name at birth (named), Conan is adopted in memory of his uncle, Doyle (or Doyle) is the surname.

Early years

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was born into an Irish Catholic family known for its achievements in art and literature. Father Charles Altamont Doyle, an architect and artist, at the age of 22 married 17-year-old Mary Foley, who passionately loved books and had a great talent for storytelling.

From her, Arthur inherited his interest in knightly traditions, exploits and adventures. “My true love for literature, my penchant for writing, I believe, comes from my mother,” Conan Doyle wrote in his autobiography. “The vivid images of the stories that she told me in early childhood completely replaced in my memory the memories of specific events in my life in those years.”

The family of the future writer experienced serious financial difficulties - solely because of the strange behavior of his father, who not only suffered from alcoholism, but also had an extremely unbalanced psyche. Arthur's school life was spent at Godder Preparatory School. When the boy was 9 years old, wealthy relatives offered to pay for his education and sent him for the next seven years to the Jesuit closed college Stonyhurst (Lancashire), from where the future writer suffered hatred of religious and class prejudice, as well as physical punishment. The few happy moments of those years for him were associated with letters to his mother: he did not give up the habit of describing in detail to her the current events of his life for the rest of his life. In addition, at the boarding school, Doyle enjoyed playing sports, mainly cricket, and also discovered his talent as a storyteller, gathering peers around him who spent hours listening to stories he made up on the go.

In 1876, Arthur graduated from college and returned home: the first thing he had to do was rewrite the papers of his father, who by that time had almost completely lost his mind, in his name. The writer subsequently told about the dramatic circumstances of Doyle Sr.’s imprisonment in a psychiatric hospital in the story The Surgeon of Gaster Fell (1880). Doyle chose a medical career over art (to which his family tradition predisposed him) - largely under the influence of Brian C. Waller, a young doctor to whom his mother rented a room in the house. Dr. Waller was educated at the University of Edinburgh: Arthur Doyle went there to receive further education. Future writers he met here included James Barry and Robert Louis Stevenson.

As a third-year student, Doyle decided to try his hand at the literary field. His first story, The Mystery of Sasassa Valley, influenced by Edgar Allan Poe and Bret Harte (his favorite authors at the time), was published by the university's Chamber's Journal, where Thomas Hardy's first works appeared. That same year, Doyle's second story, The American Tale, appeared in the London Society magazine.

In February 1880, Doyle spent seven months as a ship's doctor in Arctic waters aboard the whaling ship Hope, receiving a total of 50 pounds for his work. “I boarded this ship as a big, clumsy youth, and came down the gangplank as a strong, grown man,” he later wrote in his autobiography. Impressions from the Arctic journey formed the basis of the story “Captain of the Pole-Star”. Two years later he made a similar voyage to the West Coast of Africa aboard the Mayumba, which sailed between Liverpool and the West Coast of Africa.

Having received a university diploma and a bachelor's degree in medicine in 1881, Conan Doyle began practicing medicine, first jointly (with an extremely unscrupulous partner - this experience was described in The Notes of Stark Munro), then individually, in Plymouth. Finally, in 1891, Doyle decided to make literature his main profession. In January 1884, Cornhill magazine published the story "The Message of Hebekuk Jephson." During those same days, he met his future wife, Louise "Tuya" Hawkins; the wedding took place on August 6, 1885.

Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle(eng. Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle)

In March 1886, Conan Doyle began, and by April had largely completed, work on A Study in Scarlet (originally titled A Tangled Skein, with the two main characters named Sheridan Hope and Ormond Sacker). The publisher Ward, Locke and Co. bought the rights to the novel for £25 and published it in Beeton's Christmas Annual in 1887, inviting the writer's father Charles Doyle to illustrate the novel.

A year later, Doyle's third (and perhaps strangest) novel, The Mystery of Cloomber, was published. The story of the "afterlife" of three vengeful Buddhist monks is the first literary evidence of the author's interest in the paranormal, which later made him a convinced follower of spiritualism.

Historical cycle

In February 1888, A. Conan Doyle completed work on the novel “The Adventures of Micah Clarke,” which told the story of the Monmouth Rebellion (1685), the purpose of which was to overthrow King James II. The novel was released in November and was warmly received by critics. From this moment on, a conflict arose in Conan Doyle's creative life: on the one hand, the public and publishers demanded new works about Sherlock Holmes; on the other hand, the writer himself increasingly sought to gain recognition as the author of serious novels (primarily historical ones), as well as plays and poems.

Conan Doyle's first serious historical work is considered to be the novel "The White Squad". In it, the author turned to a critical stage in the history of feudal England, taking as a basis a real historical episode in 1366, when there was a lull in the Hundred Years' War and “white detachments” of volunteers and mercenaries began to emerge. Continuing the war on French territory, they played a decisive role in the struggle of contenders for the Spanish throne. Conan Doyle used this episode for his own artistic purpose: he resurrected the life and customs of that time, and most importantly, presented chivalry, which by that time was already in decline, in a heroic aura. The White Company was published in Cornhill magazine (whose publisher, James Penn, declared it “the best historical novel since Ivanhoe”), and was published as a separate book in 1891. Conan Doyle always said that he considered it one of his best works.

With some allowance, the novel “Rodney Stone” (1896) can also be classified as historical: the action here takes place at the beginning of the 19th century, Napoleon and Nelson, playwright Sheridan are mentioned. Initially, this work was conceived as a play with the working title “House of Temperley” and was written under the famous British actor Henry Irving at that time. While working on the novel, the writer studied a lot of scientific and historical literature (“History of the Navy”, “History of Boxing”, etc.).

Conan Doyle dedicated “The Exploits” and “Adventures” of Brigadier Gerard to the Napoleonic Wars, from Trafalgar to Waterloo. The birth of this character dates back, apparently, to 1892, when George Meredith handed Conan Doyle the three-volume “Memoirs” of Marbot: the latter became the prototype of Gerard. The first story of the new series, “Brigadier Gerard's Medal,” was first read by the writer from the stage in 1894 during a trip to the United States. In December of the same year, the story was published by Strand Magazine, after which the author continued work on the sequel in Davos. From April to September 1895, The Exploits of Brigadier Gerard was published in the Strand. “Adventures” were also published here for the first time (August 1902 - May 1903). Despite the fact that the plots of the stories about Gerard are fantastic, the historical era is depicted with great accuracy. “The spirit and flow of these stories are remarkable, the precision in keeping names and titles in itself demonstrates the magnitude of the work you have expended. Few would be able to find any errors here. And I, having a special nose for all sorts of mistakes, never found anything with insignificant exceptions,” the famous British historian Archibald Forbes wrote to Doyle.

Sherlock Holmes

"A Scandal in Bohemia", the first story in the "Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" series, was published in The Strand magazine in 1891. The prototype of the main character, who soon became a legendary consulting detective, was Joseph Bell, a professor at the University of Edinburgh, famous for his ability to guess the character and past of a person from the smallest details. For two years, Doyle created story after story, and eventually began to become burdened with his own character. His attempt to “finish off” Holmes in a fight with Professor Moriarty (“Holmes’ Last Case,” 1893) was unsuccessful: the hero, beloved by the reading public, had to be “resurrected.” Holmes's epic culminated in the novel The Hound of the Baskervilles (1900), which is considered a classic of the detective genre.

Four novels are dedicated to the adventures of Sherlock Holmes: A Study in Scarlet (1887), The Sign of Four (1890), The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Valley of Terror - and five collections of short stories, the most famous of which are The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. (1892), Notes on Sherlock Holmes (1894) and The Return of Sherlock Holmes (1905). The writer's contemporaries tended to downplay the greatness of Holmes, seeing in him a kind of hybrid of Dupin (Edgar Allan Poe), Lecoq (Emile Gaboriau) and Cuff (Wilkie Collins). In retrospect, it became clear how different Holmes was from his predecessors: the combination of unusual qualities raised him above his time, making him relevant at all times. The extraordinary popularity of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson gradually grew into a branch of new mythology, the center of which to this day remains an apartment in London at 221-b Baker Street.

1900-1910

Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle(eng. Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle)

In 1900, Conan Doyle returned to medical practice: as a surgeon at a military field hospital, he went to the Boer War. The book he published in 1902, “The War in South Africa,” met with warm approval from conservative circles, brought the writer closer to government spheres, after which he acquired the somewhat ironic nickname “Patriot,” which he himself, however, was proud of. At the beginning of the century, the writer received the title of nobility and knighthood and twice took part in local elections in Edinburgh (losing both times).

On July 4, 1906, Louise Doyle (with whom the writer had two children) died of tuberculosis. In 1907, he married Jean Leckie, with whom he had been secretly in love since they met in 1897.

At the end of the post-war debate, Conan Doyle launched extensive journalistic and (as they would say now) human rights activities. His attention was drawn to the so-called Edalji case, which centered on a young Parsi who was convicted on trumped-up charges (of mutilating horses). Conan Doyle, taking on the “role” of a consulting detective, thoroughly understood the intricacies of the case and, with just a long series of publications in the London Daily Telegraph newspaper (but with the involvement of forensic experts), proved his charge’s innocence. Beginning in June 1907, hearings on the Edalji case began in the House of Commons, during which the imperfections of the legal system, deprived of such an important tool as the court of appeal, were exposed. The latter was created in Britain - largely thanks to the activity of Conan Doyle.

In 1909, events in Africa again came into Conan Doyle's sphere of public and political interests. This time he exposed Belgium's brutal colonial policy in the Congo and criticized the British position on this issue. Conan Doyle's letters to The Times on this topic had the effect of a bomb exploding. The book “Crimes in the Congo” (1909) had an equally powerful resonance: it was thanks to it that many politicians were forced to become interested in the problem. Conan Doyle was supported by Joseph Conrad and Mark Twain. But Rudyard Kipling, a recent like-minded person, greeted the book with restraint, noting that, while criticizing Belgium, it indirectly undermined British positions in the colonies. In 1909, Conan Doyle also took up the defense of the Jew Oscar Slater, who was unjustly convicted of murder, and achieved his release, albeit after 18 years.

Relationships with fellow writers

In literature, Conan Doyle had several undoubted authorities: first of all, Walter Scott, on whose books he grew up, as well as George Meredith, Mine Reid, R. M. Ballantyne and R. L. Stevenson. The meeting with the already elderly Meredith in Box Hill made a depressing impression on the aspiring writer: he noted for himself that the master spoke disparagingly about his contemporaries and was delighted with himself. Conan Doyle only corresponded with Stevenson, but he took his death seriously, as a personal loss.

Doyle's relationship with Bernard Shaw was strained, who once described Sherlock Holmes as "a drug addict without a single pleasant quality." There is reason to believe that the Irish playwright took the attacks of the former against (now little-known author) Hall Kane, who abused self-promotion, personally. In 1912, Conan Doyle and Shaw entered into a public squabble on the pages of newspapers: the first defended the crew of the Titanic, the second condemned the behavior of the officers of the sunken liner.

Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle(eng. Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle)

Conan Doyle knew H.G. Wells and outwardly maintained good relations with him, but internally he considered him an antipode. The conflict was aggravated by the fact that while Wells was one of the elite of “serious” British literature, Conan Doyle was considered, albeit talented, but a producer of entertaining reading for teenagers, with which he himself categorically disagreed. The confrontation took on open forms in a public discussion on the pages of the Daily Mail. In response to Wells's long article on labor unrest on June 20, 1912, Conan Doyle made a reasoned attack (“Labour Unrest. Reply to Mr. Wells”), showing the destructiveness of any revolutionary activity for Britain.

Mr. Wells gives the impression of a man who, while walking through the garden, would say: “I don’t like that fruit tree. It bears fruit not in the best way, does not shine with perfection of forms. Let’s cut it down and try to grow another, better tree in this place.” Is this what the British people expect from their genius? It would be much more natural to hear him say: “I don’t like this tree. Let's try to improve its viability without causing damage to the trunk. Maybe we can make it grow and bear fruit the way we would like it to. But let’s not destroy it, because then all past labors will be in vain, and it is still unknown what we will get in the future.”

Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle(eng. Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle)

Conan Doyle in his article calls on the people to express their protest democratically, during elections, noting that not only the proletariat is experiencing difficulties, but also the intelligentsia and the middle class, with whom Wells has no sympathy. Agreeing with Wells on the need for land reform (and even supporting the creation of farms in abandoned parks), Doyle rejects his hatred of the ruling class and concludes:

Our worker knows: he, like any other citizen, lives in accordance with certain social laws, and it is not in his interests to undermine the welfare of his state by sawing off the branch on which he himself sits.

1910-1913

In 1912, Conan Doyle published the science fiction novel The Lost World (subsequently adapted into films), followed by The Poison Belt (1913). The main character of both works was Professor Challenger, a fanatic scientist endowed with grotesque qualities, but at the same time humane and charming in his own way. At the same time, the last detective story, “The Valley of Horror,” appeared. This work, which many critics tend to underestimate, is considered by Doyle's biographer J. D. Carr to be one of his strongest.

The Lost World, although a resounding success, was not perceived by contemporaries as a serious science fiction work, despite the fact that the author described a real place: the Ricardo Franco Hills, located on the border of Bolivia and Brazil. The expedition of Colonel Fossett visited here: after meeting with him, Conan Doyle’s idea for the story was born. The story told in the story “The Poisoned Belt” seemed even less “scientific” to everyone. It is based on the hypothesis that the universal space environment is a certain ether that permeates space. The hypothesis was initially debunked, but subsequently underwent a rebirth - both in science fiction (A. Azimov, “Cosmic Currents”) and in science (“echo of the Big Bang”).

The main topics of Conan Doyle's journalism in 1911-1913 were: Britain's failure at the 1912 Olympic Games, Prince Henry's motor rally in Germany, the construction of sports facilities and preparations for the 1916 Olympic Games in Berlin (which never took place). In addition, sensing the approach of war, Conan Doyle in his newspaper speeches called for the revival of yeoman settlements, which could become the main force of the new motorcycle troops (Daily Express 1910: "Yeomen of the Future"). He was also occupied with the problem of urgent retraining of the British cavalry. In 1911-1913, the writer actively spoke out in favor of introducing Home Rule in Ireland, during the discussion more than once formulating his “imperialist” credo.

1914-1918

The outbreak of the First World War completely turned Conan Doyle's life upside down. At first, he volunteered for the front, confident that his mission was to set a personal example of heroism and service to his homeland. After this offer was rejected, he devoted himself to journalistic activities.

Beginning on August 8, 1914, Doyle's letters on military topics appeared in the London Times. First of all, he proposed creating a massive combat reserve and creating detachments of the civilian population to perform “protection services for railway stations and vital facilities, help in the construction of fortifications and perform many other combat tasks.” At home in Crowborough (Sussex County), Doyle personally began organizing such detachments and on the first day put 200 people under arms. He then expanded his practice to Eastbourne, Rotherford and Buxted. The writer came into contact with the Association for the Training of Volunteer Units (chaired by Lord Densborough), promising to create a gigantic united army of half a million volunteers. Among the innovations he proposed were the installation of mine-resistant tridents on board ships (The Times, September 8, 1914), the creation of individual life belts for sailors (Daily Mail, September 29, 1914), and the use of individual armored protective equipment (" Times", July 27, 1915). In a series of articles in the Daily Chronicle entitled "German Politics: Bet on Killing", Doyle described with his characteristic passion and force of conviction the atrocities of the German army in the air, at sea and in the occupied territories of France and Belgium. Responding to an American opponent (a certain Mr. Bennett), Doyle writes:

Yes, our pilots bombed Düsseldorf (as well as Friedrichshafen), but each time they attacked pre-planned strategic targets (aircraft hangars), to which they inflicted, as was recognized, significant damage. Even the enemy in his reports did not try to accuse us of indiscriminate bombing. Meanwhile, if we adopted German tactics, we could easily throw bombs at the crowded streets of Cologne and Frankfurt, which were also open to air strikes. - New York Times, February 6, 1915.

Doyle becomes even more embittered when he becomes aware of the torture that English prisoners of war were subjected to in Germany.

Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle(eng. Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle)

...It is difficult to develop a line of conduct regarding the Red Indians of European descent who torture prisoners of war. It is clear that we ourselves cannot torture the Germans at our disposal in the same way. On the other hand, calls for good-heartedness are also meaningless, for the average German has the same concept of nobility as a cow has of mathematics... He is sincerely incapable of understanding, for example, what makes us speak warmly of von Müller of Weddingen and our other enemies who are trying at least to some extent preserve a human face... . The Times, April 13, 1915.

Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle(eng. Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle)

Soon Doyle calls for the organization of “retaliation raids” from the territory of eastern France and enters into a discussion with the Bishop of Winchester (the essence of whose position is that “it is not the sinner who is to be condemned, but his sin”):

Let sin fall on those who force us to sin. If we wage this war, guided by Christ’s commandments, there will be no point. If we, following a well-known recommendation taken out of context, had turned the “other cheek,” the Hohenzollern empire would have already spread across Europe, and instead of Christ’s teachings, Nietzscheanism would be preached here. - The Times, December 31, 1917, “On the Benefits of Hate.”

Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle(eng. Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle)

In 1916, Conan Doyle toured British battlefields and visited the Allied armies. The result of the trip was the book “On Three Fronts” (1916). Realizing that official reports significantly embellished the real state of affairs, he, nevertheless, refrained from any criticism, considering it his duty to maintain the morale of the soldiers. In 1916, his work “The History of the Actions of British Troops in France and Flanders” began to be published. By 1920, all 6 of its volumes were published.

Doyle's brother, son and two nephews went to the front and died there. This was a great shock for the writer and left a heavy mark on all his further literary, journalistic and social activities.

1918-1930

At the end of the war, as is commonly believed, under the influence of shocks associated with the death of loved ones, Conan Doyle became an active preacher of spiritualism, which he had been interested in since the 80s of the 19th century. Among the books that shaped his new worldview was “Human Personality and Its Subsequent Life after Corporeal Death” by F. W. G. Myers. K. Doyle’s main works on this topic are considered to be “The New Revelation” (1918), where he spoke about the history of the evolution of his views on the question of the posthumous existence of the individual, and the novel “The Land of Mist” (1926). The result of his many years of research into the “psychic” phenomenon was the fundamental work “The History of Spiritualism”, 1926.

Conan Doyle refuted claims that his interest in spiritualism arose only at the end of the war:

Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle(eng. Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle)

Many people had not encountered Spiritualism or even heard of it until 1914, when the angel of death came knocking on many homes. Opponents of Spiritualism believe that it was the social cataclysms that shook our world that caused such an increased interest in psychic research. These unprincipled opponents stated that the author's advocacy of Spiritualism and his friend Sir Oliver Lodge's defense of the Doctrine was due to the fact that both of them had lost sons in the 1914 war. The conclusion followed from this: grief darkened their minds, and they believed in what they would never have believed in peacetime. The author has refuted this shameless lie many times and emphasized the fact that his research began in 1886, long before the outbreak of the war. - (“History of Spiritualism”, Chapter 23, “Spiritism and War”)

Among Conan Doyle's most controversial works of the early 20s is the book The Coming of the Fairies (1921), in which he tried to prove the truth of photographs of the Cottingley fairies and put forward his own theories regarding the nature of this phenomenon.

In 1924, Conan Doyle's autobiographical book Memoirs and Adventures was published. The writer’s last major work was the science fiction story “Marakot’s Abyss” (1929).

Family life

In 1885, Conan Doyle married Louise "Thuye" Hawkins; She suffered from tuberculosis for many years and died in 1906.

In 1907, Doyle married Jean Leckie, with whom he had been secretly in love since they met in 1897. His wife shared his passion for spiritualism and was even considered a rather powerful medium.

Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle(eng. Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle)

Doyle had five children: two from his first wife - Mary and Kingsley, and three from his second - Jean Lena Annette, Denis Percy Stewart (March 17, 1909 - March 9, 1955; in 1936 he became the husband of the Georgian princess Nina Mdivani) and Adrian.

The famous writer of the early 20th century, Willy Hornung, became a relative of Conan Doyle in 1893: he married his sister, Connie (Constance) Doyle.

Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle(eng. Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle)

Adrian Conan Doyle, the author of his father’s biography “The True Conan Doyle,” wrote: “The very atmosphere of the house breathed a chivalrous spirit. Conan Doyle learned to understand coats of arms much earlier than he became acquainted with the Latin conjugation.”

Last years

The writer spent the entire second half of the 20s traveling, visiting all continents, without stopping his active journalistic activity. Having visited England only briefly in 1929 to celebrate his 70th birthday, Doyle went to Scandinavia with the same goal - to preach “... the revival of religion and that direct, practical spiritualism, which is the only antidote to scientific materialism.” This last trip undermined his health: he spent the following spring in bed, surrounded by loved ones. At some point, there was an improvement: the writer immediately went to London to, in a conversation with the Minister of the Interior, demand the abolition of laws that persecuted mediums. This effort turned out to be the last: in the early morning of July 7, 1930, Conan Doyle died of a heart attack at his home in Crowborough (Sussex). He was buried not far from his garden house. At the request of the widow, only the writer’s name, date of birth and four words were engraved on the tombstone: Steel True, Blade Straight (“True as steel, straight as a blade”).

Some works

Sherlock Holmes

Bibliography of Sherlock Holmes

The Lost World (1912)
- The Poison Belt (1913)
- The Land of Mists (1926)
- The Disintegration Machine (1927)
- When the World Screamed (When the World Screamed) (1928)

Historical novels

Micah Clarke (1888), a novel about the Monmouth Rebellion in 17th-century England.
- The White Company (1891)
- The Great Shadow (1892)
- The Refugees (published 1893, written 1892), a novel about the Huguenots in France in the 17th century, the French exploration of Canada, and the Indian Wars.
- Rodney Stone (1896)
- Uncle Bernac (1897), a story about a French emigrant during the French Revolution.
- Sir Nigel (1906)

Poetry

Songs of Action (1898)
- Songs of the Road (1911)
- (The Guards Came Through and Other Poems) (1919)

Dramaturgy

Jane Annie, or the Good Conduct Prize (1893)
- Duet (A Duet. A duologue) (1899)
- (A Pot of Caviare) (1912)
- (The Speckled Band) (1912)
- Waterloo (A drama in one act) (1919) This section is not completed.
- You will help the project by correcting and expanding it.

Other works

Works in the style of Arthur Conan Doyle

Arthur Conan Doyle's son Adrian wrote a number of stories featuring Sherlock Holmes.

Film adaptations of works

- The Lost World (silent film by Harry Hoyt, 1925)
- The Lost World (1998 film).
- and others, see The Lost World.

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes series starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce, filmed between 1939 and 1946, produced 14 films, the first of which was The Hound of the Baskervilles.

The following films were released in the series “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson” with Vasily Livanov and Vitaly Solomin:
- "Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson"
- “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson”
- "The Hound of the Baskervilles"
- “Treasures of Agra”
- “The Twentieth Century Begins”

Museums

Sherlock Holmes House

Nakhodka 2004

On March 16, 2004, the personal papers of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle were discovered in London. More than three thousand sheets were found in the office of one law firm. The papers discovered include personal letters, including from Winston Churchill, Oscar Wilde, Bernard Shaw and President Roosevelt, diary entries, drafts and manuscripts of unpublished works by author Sherlock Holmes. The preliminary cost of the find is two million pounds sterling.

Arthur Conan Doyle in fiction

The life and work of Arthur Conan Doyle became an integral feature of the Victorian era, which naturally led to the appearance of works of art in which the writer acted as a character, and sometimes in an image very far from reality. For example, in the series of novels by Christopher Golden and Thomas E. Snigoski, “The Menagerie,” Conan Doyle appears as “the second most powerful magician of our world.”

In Mark Frost's mystical novel The List of Seven, Doyle helps the mysterious stranger Jack Sparks in the fight against the forces of evil trying to seize power over the world.

Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle(eng. Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle)

In a much more traditional vein, facts from the writer’s life were used in the British television series “Death Rooms.” The Dark Beginnings of Sherlock Holmes" ("Murder Rooms: The Dark Beginnings of Sherlock Holmes", 2000), where a young medical student Arthur Conan Doyle becomes an assistant to Professor Joseph Bell (the prototype of Sherlock Holmes) and helps him solve crimes.

Literature

Carr J.D., Pearson H. “Arthur Conan Doyle.” M.: Book, 1989.
- Conan Doyle, Arthur. Collected Works in eight volumes. M.: Pravda, Ogonyok Library, 1966.
- A. Conan Doyle. The Crowborough Edition of the Works. Garden City, New York, Doubleday, Doran and Company, Inc., 1906.
- Arthur Conan Doyle. Life lessons. Cycle “Symbols of Time” Translation from English. V.Polyakova, P.Gelevs. M.: Agraf, 2003.

Biography

Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle(eng. Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle)

Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle was born on May 22, 1859 in the capital of Scotland, Edinburgh, on Picardy Place, in the family of an artist and architect. His father, Charles Altamont Doyle, married at the age of twenty-two to Mary Foley, a young woman of seventeen, in 1855. Mary Doyle had a passion for books and was the main storyteller in the family, which is probably why Arthur later remembered her very touchingly. Unfortunately, Arthur's father was a chronic alcoholic, and therefore the family was sometimes poor, although he was, according to his son, a very talented artist. As a child, Arthur read a lot, having completely varied interests. His favorite author was Myne Reed and his favorite book was Scalp Hunters.

After Arthur reached the age of nine, wealthy members of the Doyle family offered to pay for his education. For seven years he had to attend a Jesuit boarding school in England at Hodder, a preparatory school for Stonyhurst (a large boarding Catholic school in Lancashire). Two years later he moved from Hodder Arthur to Stonyhurst. Seven subjects were taught there: the alphabet, counting, basic rules, grammar, syntax, poetry, and rhetoric. The food there was rather meager and did not have much variety, which, however, did not affect health. Corporal punishment was severe. Arthur was often exposed to them at that time. The instrument of punishment was a piece of rubber, the size and shape of a thick galosh, which was used to hit the hands.

It was during these difficult years at boarding school that Arthur realized that he had a talent for writing stories, so he was often surrounded by a congregation of admiring young students listening to the amazing stories he composed to amuse them. During one of the Christmas holidays, in 1874, he went to London for three weeks, at the invitation of his relatives. There he visits: the theater, zoo, circus, Madame Tussauds Wax Museum. He remains very pleased with this trip and speaks warmly of his Aunt Annette, his father’s sister, as well as Uncle Dick, with whom he will subsequently be, to put it mildly, not on friendly terms due to the divergence of views on his, Arthur’s, place in medicine, in particular, will he have to become a Catholic doctor... But this is still a distant future, he still has to graduate from university...

In his senior year, he edits the college magazine and writes poetry. In addition, he was involved in sports, mainly cricket, in which he achieved good results. He goes to Germany to Feldkirch to study German, where he continues to play sports with passion: football, stilt football, sledding. In the summer of 1876, Doyle was traveling home, but on the way he stopped in Paris, where he lived for several weeks with his uncle. Thus, in 1876, he was educated and ready to face the world, and also wished to make up for some of the shortcomings of his father, who by then had become insane.

The traditions of the Doyle family dictated that he follow an artistic career, but still Arthur decided to take up medicine. This decision was made under the influence of Dr. Brian Charles, a sedate, young lodger whom Arthur's mother took in to help make ends meet. Dr. Waller was educated at the University of Edinburgh, and so Arthur decided to study there. In October 1876, Arthur became a student at the medical university, having previously encountered another problem - not receiving the scholarship he deserved, which he and his family so needed. While studying, Arthur met many future famous authors, such as James Barry and Robert Louis Stevenson, who also attended the university. But his greatest influence was one of his teachers, Dr. Joseph Bell, who was a master of observation, logic, inference and error detection. In the future, he served as the prototype for Sherlock Holmes.

While studying, Doyle tried to help his family, which consisted of seven children: Annette, Constance, Caroline, Ida, Innes and Arthur, who earned money in his free time, which he found through accelerated study of disciplines. He worked both as a pharmacist and as an assistant to various doctors... In particular, in the early summer of 1878, Arthur was hired as a student and pharmacist by a doctor from the poorest quarter of Sheffield. But after three weeks, Dr. Richadson, that was his name, broke up with him. Arthur does not give up trying to earn extra money while he has the opportunity, the summer holidays are on, and after a while he ends up with Dr. Elliot Hoare from the village of Rayton in Shronshire. This attempt turned out to be more successful; this time he worked for 4 months until October 1878, when it was necessary to start classes. This doctor treated Arthur well, and so he again spent the next summer working with him as an assistant.

Doyle reads a lot and two years after the start of his education he decides to try his hand at literature. In the spring of 1879, he wrote a short story, “The Mystery of Sasassa Valley,” which was published in Chamber’s Journal in September 1879. The story comes out badly cut, which upsets Arthur, but the 3 guineas received for it inspire him to write further. He sends a few more stories. But only “The American’s Tale” can be published in the London Society magazine. And yet he understands that this way he too can make money. His father's health deteriorates and he is admitted to a mental institution. Thus, Doyle becomes the sole breadwinner for his family.

Twenty years old, while studying in his third year at the university, in 1880, Arthur's friend Claude Augustus Currier invited him to accept the position of surgeon, which he had applied for himself, but was unable for personal reasons, on the whaler "Nadezhda" under the command of John Gray in the North Polar region Circle. First, "Nadezhda" stopped near the shores of the island of Greenland, where the crew began hunting seals. The young medical student was shocked by the brutality of it. But at the same time, he enjoyed the camaraderie on board the ship and the subsequent whale hunt that fascinated him. This adventure found its way into his first sea story, the frightening tale "The Captain of the Pole-star." Without much enthusiasm, Conan Doyle returned to his studies in the autumn of 1880, having sailed for a total of 7 months, earning about 50 pounds.

In 1881 he graduated from the University of Edinburgh, where he received a Bachelor of Medicine and a Master of Surgery, and began looking for employment, again spending the summer working for Dr Hoare. The result of these searches was a position as a ship's doctor on the ship "Mayuba", which sailed between Liverpool and the west coast of Africa, and on October 22, 1881, its next voyage began.

While swimming, he found Africa as disgusting as the Arctic was seductive.

Therefore, he leaves the ship in mid-January 1882, and moves to England to Plymouth, where he works together with a certain Cullingworth, whom he met during his last courses of study in Edinburgh, namely from the end of spring to the beginning of summer of 1882, for 6 weeks . (These first years of practice are well described in his book “The Stark Munro Letters.”) In which, in addition to describing life, the author’s reflections on religious issues and forecasts for the future are presented in large quantities. One of these forecasts is the possibility building a united Europe, as well as the unification of English-speaking countries around the United States. The first forecast came true not long ago, but the second is unlikely to come true. Also, this book talks about the possible victory over diseases through their prevention. Unfortunately, the only country. opinion, which was moving towards this, changed its internal structure (meaning Russia).)

Over time, disagreements arise between former classmates, after which Doyle leaves for Portsmouth (July 1882), where he opens his first practice, located in a house for 40 pounds per annum, which began to generate income only by the end of the third year. Initially, there were no clients and therefore Doyle had the opportunity to devote his free time to literature. He writes stories: “Bones”, “Bloomensdyke Ravine”, “My Friend is a Murderer”, which he published in the magazine “London Society” in the same 1882. While living in Portsmouth, he meets Elma Welden, whom he promises to marry if he earns £2 a week. But in 1882, after repeated quarrels, he broke up with her, and she left for Switzerland.

In order to somehow help his mother, Arthur invites his brother Innes to stay with him, who brightens up the gray everyday life of an aspiring doctor from August 1882 to 1885 (Innes goes to study at a boarding school in Yorkshire). During these years, our hero is torn between literature and medicine.

One day in March 1885, Dr. Pike, his friend and neighbor, invited Doyle to consult on the illness of Jack Hawkins, the son of the widow Emily Hawkins from Gloucestershire. He had meningitis and was hopeless. Arthur offered to place him in his home for his constant care, but Jack died a few days later. This death made it possible to meet his sister Louisa (or Tooey) Hawkins, aged 27, to whom he became engaged in April and married on August 6, 1885. His income at that time was approximately 300, and hers 100 pounds per year.

After his marriage, Doyle was actively involved in literature and wanted to make it his profession. It is published in Cornhill magazine. His stories come out one after another: “J. Habakuk Jephson's Statement, John Huxford's Hiatus, The Ring of Thoth. But stories are stories, and Doyle wants more, he wants to be noticed, and for this he needs to write something more serious. And so in 1884 he wrote the book “The Firm of Girdlestone: a romance of the unromantic” (“Girdlestones Trading House”). But to his great regret, the book did not interest publishers. In March 1886, Conan Doyle began writing a novel that would lead to his popularity. It was originally called A Tangled Skein. In April, he finishes it and sends it to Cornhill to James Payne, who in May of the same year speaks very warmly about it, but refuses to publish it, since, in his opinion, it deserves a separate publication. Thus began the ordeal of the author, trying to find a home for his brainchild. Doyle sends the manuscript to Arrowsmith in Bristol, and while waiting for a response to it, he participates in political events, where for the first time he successfully speaks in front of an audience of thousands. Political passions fade, and in July a negative review of the novel comes. Arthur does not despair and sends the manuscript to Fred Warne and Co. But they weren’t interested in their romance either. Next come Messrs. Ward, Locky and Co. They reluctantly agree, but set a number of conditions: the novel will be published no earlier than next year, the fee for it will be 25 pounds, and the author will transfer all rights to the work to the publisher. Doyle reluctantly agrees, as he wants his first novel to be judged by readers. And so, two years later, this novel was published in Beeton's Christmas Annual for 1887 under the title "A Study in Scarlet", which introduced readers to Sherlock Holmes (prototypes: Professor Joseph Bell, writer Oliver Holmes) and Doctor Watson (prototype Major Wood), who soon became famous. The novel was published as a separate edition in early 1888 and was accompanied by drawings by Doyle's father, Charles Doyle.

The beginning of 1887 marked the beginning of the study and research of such a concept as “life after death.” Together with his friend Ball from Portsmouth, he conducts a spiritualistic seance, which, however, did not allow them to fully understand this issue, which he continued to study throughout his subsequent life.

As soon as Doyle sent out A Study in Scarlet, he began a new book, and at the end of February 1888 he completed Micah Clarke (The Adventures of Micah Clarke), which was published only at the end of February 1889 by the Longman publishing house. Arthur has always been drawn to historical novels. His favorite authors were: Meredith, Stevenson and, of course, Walter Scott. It was under their influence that Doyle wrote this and a number of other historical works. While working on The White Company in 1889, riding the wave of positive reviews for Mickey Clark, Doyle unexpectedly receives a dinner invitation from the American editor of Lippincott's Magazine to discuss writing another Sherlock Holmes story. Arthur meets him and also meets Oscar Wilde and eventually agrees to their proposal. And in 1890, “The Sign of Four” appeared in the American and English editions of this magazine.

Despite his literary success and thriving medical practice, the harmonious life of the Conan Doyle family, expanded by the birth of his daughter Mary (born January 1889), was turbulent. The year 1890 was no less productive than the previous one, although it began with the death of his sister Annette. By the middle of this year he has completed The White Company, which is taken up for publication by James Payne in Cornhill and declared to be the best historical novel since Ivanhoe. By the end of the same year, under the influence of the German microbiologist Robert Koch and even more Malcolm Robert, he decides to leave his practice in Portsmouth and travels with his wife to Vienna, leaving his daughter Mary with his grandmother, where he wants to specialize in ophthalmology in order to later find work in London . However, having encountered the specialized German language and having studied for 4 months in Vienna, he realizes that his time was wasted. During his studies, he wrote the book “The Doings of Raffles Haw”, which, according to Doyle, “... is not a very significant thing...”. In the spring of the same year, Doyle visited Paris and quickly returned to London, where he opened a practice on Upper Wimpole Street. The practice was not successful (there were no patients), but during this time short stories about Sherlock Holmes were written for the Strand magazine. And with the help of Sidney Paget the image of Holmes is created.

In May 1891, Doyle fell ill with influenza and was near death for several days. When he recovered, he decided to leave medical practice and devote himself to literature. This takes place in August 1891. By the end of 1891, Doyle had become a very popular figure due to the appearance of the sixth Sherlock Holmes story, The Man with the Twisted Lip. But after writing these six stories, the editor of the Strand in October 1891 asked for six more, agreeing to any conditions on the part of the author. And Doyle asked for, as it seemed to him, the same amount, 50 pounds, having heard about which the deal should not have taken place, since he no longer wanted to deal with this character. But to his great surprise, it turned out that the editors agreed. And stories were written. Doyle begins work for the Exiles (graduated in early 1892) and unexpectedly receives an invitation to dinner from the Idler (lazy) magazine, where he meets Jerome K. Jerome, Robert Barr, with whom he later becomes friends. Doyle continues his friendly relationship with Barry and holidays with him in Scotland from March to April 1892. Having visited Edinburgh, Kirriemuir, Alford along the way. Upon returning to Norwood, he begins work on “The Great Shadow” (Napoleonic era), which he completes by the middle of that year.

In November of the same 1892, while living in Norwood, Louise gave birth to a son, whom they named Alleyn Kingeley. Doyle writes the story “Survivor from '15,” which, under the influence of Robert Barr, is remade into the one-act play “Waterloo,” which is successfully staged in many theaters (Brem Stoker bought the rights to this play.). In 1892, Strand magazine again proposed writing another series of stories about Sherlock Holmes. Doyle, in the hope that the magazine will refuse, sets a condition - 1000 pounds and ... the magazine agrees. Doyle is already tired of his hero. After all, every time you need to come up with a new plot. Therefore, when at the beginning of 1893 Doyle and his wife go on vacation to Switzerland and visit the Reichenbach Falls, he decides to put an end to this annoying hero. (Between 1889 and 1890, Doyle wrote a three-act play, Angels of Darkness (based on the plot of A Study in Scarlet). The main character in it is Dr. Watson. Holmes is not even mentioned in it. The action takes place in USA in San Francisco. We learn many details about his life there, and also that at the time of his marriage to Mary Morstan he was already married. This work was not published during the author’s lifetime. However, it was published later, but in Russian! the language has not yet been translated!) As a result, twenty thousand subscribers refused to subscribe to The Strand magazine. Now freed from his medical career and from the fictional character (The Field Bazaar, the only parody of Holmes, written for Edinburgh University's magazine, The Student, to raise funds for the reconstruction of the croquet field.), which depressed him and obscured what What he considered more important, Conan Doyle absorbed himself into more intense activity. This frantic life may explain why the previous doctor did not pay attention to the serious deterioration in his wife's health. In May 1893, the operetta Jane Annie: or, the Good Conduct prize (with J. M. Barrie) was staged at the Savoy Theater. But she failed. Doyle is very worried and begins to think about whether he is capable of writing for the theater? In the summer of the same year, Arthur's sister Constance married Ernest William Horning. And in August, he and Tui go to Switzerland to give a lecture on the topic “Fiction as part of literature.” He liked this activity and he did it more than once before, and even after that. Therefore, when, upon returning from Switzerland, he was offered a lecture tour in England, he took it up with enthusiasm.

But unexpectedly, although everyone was expecting this, Arthur's father, Charles Doyle, dies. And over time, he finally finds out that Louise has tuberculosis (consumption) and again goes to Switzerland. (There he writes "The Stark Munro Letters", which is published by Jerome K. Jerome in Lazy Man.) Although she was given only a few months, Doyle begins a belated departure and manages to delay her death. for more than 10 years, from 1893 to 1906. He and his wife move to Davos, located in the Alps. In Davos, Doyle is actively involved in sports and begins to write stories about Brigadier Gerard, based mainly on the book “Memoirs of General Marbeau.”

While being treated in the Alps, Tui gets better (this happens in April 1894) and she decides to go to England for a few days to their Norwood house. And Doyle, at the suggestion of Major Pond, should tour the United States reading excerpts from his works. And so, at the end of September 1894, together with his brother Innes, who by that time had graduated from a closed school in Richmond, the Royal Military School in Woolwich, became an officer, and went on the Elba liner of the Norddeilcher-Lloyd company from Southampton to America. There he visited more than 30 cities in the United States. His lectures were a success, but Doyle himself was very tired of them, although he received great satisfaction from this journey. By the way, it was to the American public that he first read his first story about Brigadier Gerard - “The Medal of Brigadier Gerard”. At the beginning of 1895, he returned to Davos to his wife, who by that time was feeling well. At the same time, The Strand magazine began publishing the first stories from “The Exploits of Brigadier Gerard” (“The Exploits of Brigadier Gerard”) and the magazine immediately increased the number of subscribers.

Due to his wife’s illness, Doyle is very burdened by constant travel, as well as by the fact that for this reason he cannot live in England. And then suddenly he meets Grant Allen, who, ill like Tuya, continued to live in England. So he decides to sell the house in Norwood and build a luxurious mansion in Hindhead in Surrey. In the fall of 1895, Arthur Conan Doyle travels to Egypt with Louise and his sister Lottie and spends the winter of 1896 there hoping for a warm climate that will be beneficial for her. Before this trip, he finishes the book “Rodney Stone”. In Egypt, he lives near Cairo, entertaining himself with golf, tennis, billiards, and horse riding. But one day, during one of the horse rides, the horse throws him off, and even hits him in the head with his hoof. To commemorate this trip, he receives five stitches above his right eye. Also, together with his family, he takes part in a trip by steamship to the upper reaches of the Nile.

In May 1896, he returns to England to find that his new house is still not built. Therefore, he rents another house in Greywood Beaches and all further construction takes place under his constant supervision. Doyle continues to work on Uncle Bernac: A Memory of the Empire, which he began in Egypt, but the book is difficult. At the end of 1896, he began writing “The Tragedy Of The Korosko,” which was created based on the impressions received in Egypt. And by the summer of 1897, he settled in his own house in Surrey, in Undershaw, where Doyle had his own office for a long time, in which he could work calmly, and it was in it that he came up with the idea of resurrecting his sworn enemy Sherlock Holmes, due to the improvement of his financial situation, which had somewhat worsened due to the high costs of building a house. At the end of 1897, he wrote the play Sherlock Holmes and sent it to Beerbohm Tree. But he wanted to significantly remake it to suit himself, and as a result, the author sent it to Charles Frohman in New York, and he, in turn, handed it over to William Gillett, who wanted to remake it to his liking. This time the long-suffering author gave up on everything and gave his consent. As a result, Holmes was married, and a new manuscript was sent to the author for approval. And in November 1899, Hiller's Sherlock Holmes was well received in Buffalo.

In the spring of 1898, before traveling to Italy, he completed three stories: “The Bug Hunter,” “The Man with the Clock,” and “The Disappearing Emergency Train.” In the last of them, Sherlock Holmes was invisibly present.

The year 1897 was significant in that the Diamond Jubilee (70 years) of Queen Victoria of England was celebrated. In honor of this event, an all-empire festival is organized. In connection with this event, about two thousand soldiers of all colors from all over the empire gathered in London, who marched through London on June 25 to the jubilation of residents. And on June 26, the Prince of Wales hosted a fleet parade in Spinhead: warships stretched out over 30 miles in four lines on the roadstead. This event caused an explosion of wild enthusiasm, but the approach of war was already felt, although the victories of the army were not at all unusual. On the evening of June 25, a screening of Conan Doyle’s “Waterloo” took place at the Lyceum Theater, which was received in the ecstasy of loyal feelings.

It is believed that Conan Doyle was a man with the highest moral principles, who did not change Louise during their life together. However, this did not prevent him from falling in love with Jean Leckie the first time he saw her on March 15, 1897. At the age of twenty-four, she was a strikingly beautiful woman, with blond hair and bright green eyes. Her many achievements were very unusual at that time: she was an intellectual, a good athlete. They fell in love with each other. The only obstacle that held Doyle back from his love affair was the health condition of his wife Tui. Surprisingly, Jean turned out to be an intelligent woman and did not demand anything that was contrary to his knightly upbringing, but nevertheless, Doyle meets the parents of his chosen one, and she, in turn, introduces her to his mother, who invites Jean to stay with her. She agrees and lives with her brother for several days with Arthur’s mother. A warm relationship develops between them - Jean was accepted by Doyle's mother, and became his wife only 10 years after Tui's death. Arthur and Jean meet often. Having learned that his beloved is interested in hunting and sings well, Conan Doyle also begins to become interested in hunting and learns to play the banjo. From October to December 1898, Doyle wrote the book “Duet with a Choir,” which tells the story of the life of an ordinary married couple. The publication of this book was received ambiguously by the public, who expected something completely different from the famous writer, intrigue, adventure, and not a description of the lives of Frank Cross and Maud Selby. But the author had a special affection for this book, which simply describes love.

When the Boer War began in December 1899, Conan Doyle announced to his fearful family that he was volunteering. Having written relatively many battles, without the opportunity to test his skills as a soldier, he felt that this would be his last opportunity to credit them. Not surprisingly, he was considered unfit for military service due to his somewhat overweight and forty years of age. Therefore, he goes there as a medical doctor and sails to Africa on February 28, 1900. On April 2, 1900, he arrived on site and set up a field hospital with 50 beds. But there are many times more wounded. Drinking water shortages begin, leading to an epidemic of intestinal diseases, and therefore, instead of fighting markers, Conan Doyle had to wage a fierce battle against microbes. Up to a hundred patients died a day. And this continued for 4 weeks. Fighting followed, allowing the Boers to gain the upper hand and on July 11 Doyle sailed back to England. For several months he was in Africa, where he saw more soldiers die from fever and typhus than from war wounds. The book he wrote, which underwent changes until 1902, “The Great Boer War” html (The Great Boer War), a five hundred page chronicle published in October 1900, was a masterpiece of military scholarship. It was not only a report on the war, but also a highly intelligent and knowledgeable commentary on some of the organizational shortcomings of the British forces at the time. He then threw himself headlong into politics, standing for a seat at Central Edinburgh. But he was wrongfully accused of being a Catholic fanatic, remembering his boarding school education by the Jesuits. Therefore, he was defeated, but he was more happy about it than if he had won.

In 1902, Doyle completed work on another major work about the adventures of Sherlock Holmes - “The Hound of the Baskervilles”. And almost immediately there is talk that the author of this sensational novel stole his idea from his friend, journalist Fletcher Robinson. These conversations are still ongoing.

In 1902, King Edward VII awarded Conan Doyle a knighthood for services rendered to the Crown during the Boer War. Doyle continues to be burdened by stories about Sherlock Holmes and Brigadier Gerard, so he writes “Sir Nigel” (“Sir Nigel Loring”), which, in his opinion, “... is a high literary achievement...” Literature, caring for Louise, courting Jean Leckie are so Playing golf as carefully as possible, driving fast cars, flying into the sky in hot air balloons and early, archaic airplanes, and spending time developing muscles did not bring Conan Doyle satisfaction. He again entered politics in 1906, but this time he was defeated.

After Louise died in his arms on July 4th, 1906, Conan Doyle was depressed for many months. He is trying to help someone who is in a worse situation than him. Continuing the stories about Sherlock Holmes, he comes into contact with Scotland Yard to point out errors of justice. This exonerates a young man named George Edalji, who was convicted of slaughtering many horses and cows. Conan Doyle proved that Edalji's eyesight was so poor that he would not have been physically able to commit this terrible act. The result was the release of an innocent man who managed to serve part of his sentence.

After nine years of secret courtship, Conan Doyle and Jean Leckie married publicly in front of 250 guests on September 18, 1907. With their two daughters, they moved to a new home called Windlesham, in Sussex. Doyle lives happily with his new wife and actively begins to work, which brings him a lot of money.

Immediately after his marriage, Doyle tries to help another convict, Oscar Slater, but is defeated. And only many years later, in the fall of 1928 (he was released in 1927), he ends this case successfully, thanks to the help of a witness who initially slandered the convict, but, unfortunately, he parted with Oscar himself on bad terms on financial grounds. This was due to the fact that it was necessary to cover the financial costs of Doyle and he suggested that Slater would pay them from the compensation given to him of 6,000 pounds for the years spent in prison, to which he replied that let the Ministry of Justice pay, since it was at fault.

A few years after his marriage, Doyle staged the following works: “The Speckled Ribbon”, “Rodney Stone”, published under the title “Turperley House”, “Glasses of Fate”, “Brigadier Gerard”. After the success of The Speckled Band, Conan Doyle wanted to retire from work, but the birth of his two sons, Denis in 1909 and Adrian in 1910, prevented him from doing so. The last child, their daughter Jean, was born in 1912. In 1910, Doyle published the book “The Crime of the Congo”, about the atrocities committed in the Congo by the Belgians. The works he wrote about Professor Challenger (“The lost world”, “The Poison Belt”) were no less successful than Sherlock Holmes.

In May 1914, Sir Arthur, along with Lady Conan Doyle and the children, went to inspect the Jesier Park National Forest in the northern Rocky Mountains (Canada). On the way, he stops in New York, where he visits two prisons: Toombs and Sing Sing, where he examines the cells, the electric chair, and talks with prisoners. The author found the city unfavorably changed from his first visit twenty years earlier. Canada, where they spent some time, was found charming and Doyle regretted that its pristine grandeur would soon be gone. While in Canada, Doyle gives a series of lectures.

They arrived home a month later, probably because for a long time, Conan Doyle had been convinced of the impending war with Germany. Doyle reads Bernardi's book "Germany and the Next War" and understands the seriousness of the situation and writes a response article, "England and the Next War", which was published in the Fortnightly Review in the summer of 1913. He sends numerous articles to newspapers about the upcoming war and military preparedness for it. But his warnings were regarded as fantasies. Realizing that England is only 1/6 self-sufficient, Doyle proposes to build a tunnel under the English Channel to provide itself with food in case of a blockade of England by German submarines. In addition, he proposes to provide all sailors in the navy with rubber rings (to keep their heads above water) and rubber vests. Few people listened to his proposal, but after another tragedy at sea, the mass implementation of this idea began.

Before the start of the war (August 4, 1914), Doyle joined a detachment of volunteers, which was entirely civilian and was created in the event of an enemy invasion of England. During the war, Doyle also makes suggestions for protecting soldiers and suggests something similar to armor, that is, shoulder pads, as well as plates that protect vital organs. During the war, Doyle lost many people close to him, including his brother Innes, who at his death had risen to the rank of Adjutant General of the Corps, and Kingsley's son from his first marriage, as well as two cousins and two nephews.

On September 26, 1918, Doyle travels to the mainland to witness the battle that took place on September 28 on the French front.

After such an amazingly full and constructive life, it is difficult to understand why such a person retreated into the imaginary world of science fiction and spiritualism. Conan Doyle was not a man who was satisfied with dreams and wishes; he needed to make them come true. He was manic and did it with the same dogged energy that he showed in all his endeavors when he was younger. As a result, the press laughed at him and the clergy did not approve of him. But nothing could hold him back. His wife does this with him.

After 1918, due to his deepening involvement in the occult, Conan Doyle wrote little fiction. Their subsequent trips to America (April 1, 1922, March 1923), Australia (August 1920) and Africa, accompanied by their three daughters, were also similar to psychic crusades. After spending up to a quarter of a million pounds in pursuit of his secret dreams, Conan Doyle was faced with the need for money. In 1926 he wrote “When the World Screamed”, “The Land of Mist”, “The Disintegration Machine”.

In the fall of 1929, he went on his last tour of Holland, Denmark, Sweden and Norway. He was already sick with Angina Pectoris.

Also in 1929, The Maracot Deep and Other Stories was published. Doyle's works have been translated in Russia before, but this time there was some inconsistency, apparently for ideological reasons.

In 1930, already bedridden, he made his last journey. Arthur rose from his bed and went into the garden. When he was found, he was on the ground, one of his hands was squeezing it, the other was holding a white snowdrop.

Arthur Conan Doyle died on Monday July 7, 1930, surrounded by his family. His last words before his death were addressed to his wife. He whispered, “You are wonderful.” He is buried in Minstead Hampshire Cemetery.

On the writer’s grave are carved the words bequeathed to him personally:

“Don’t remember me with reproach,
If you're interested in the story even a little
And a husband who has seen enough of life,
And boy, before whom else is the road..."

Biography

English writer Arthur Conan Doyle was born in the capital of Scotland, Edinburgh, on May 22, 1859. His father was an artist.

In 1881, Conan Doyle graduated from the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Edinburgh and traveled to Africa as a ship's doctor.

Returning home, he began practicing medicine in one of the districts of London. He defended his dissertation and became a doctor of medicine. But gradually he began to write stories and essays for local magazines.

Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle(eng. Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle)

Once he remembered one eccentric, a certain Joseph Bell, who was a teacher at the University of Edinburgh and periodically amazed his students with his excessive observation and ability, using the “deductive method,” to understand the most complex and confusing problems. So Joseph Bell, under the fictitious name of amateur detective Sherlock Holmes, appeared in one of the author’s stories. True, this story went unnoticed, but the next one - “The Sign of Four” (1890) - brought him popularity. In the early 90s of the 19th century, collections of stories “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes”, “Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes”, “The Return of Sherlock Holmes” were published one after another.
The “highlight” of the image of Sherlock Holmes was his intellectuality, irony and spiritual aristocracy, which give a special shine to the solving of complicated crimes.

Readers demanded from the author more and more new works about their favorite hero, but Conan Doyle understood that his imagination was gradually fading and wrote several works with other main characters - Brigadier Gerard and Professor Challenger.

Throughout his long life, Doyle traveled a lot, sailed as a ship's doctor to the Arctic on a whaling ship, to South and West Africa, and served as a field surgeon during the Boer War.

In the last years of his life, Conan Doyle was engaged in spiritualism, and even published a two-volume work, “The History of Spiritualism” (1926), at his own expense. Three volumes of his poems have also been published.

For his literary and journalistic activities, the writer was awarded a peerage and should now be called “Sir Doyle.”

Conan Doyle died in 1930 at the age of 71. He himself wrote his epitaph:
I have completed my simple task,
If you gave me at least an hour of joy
To a boy who is already half a man,
Or a man who is still half a boy.

Bibliography

The Canon of Sherlock Holmes bibliography includes 56 short stories and 4 novels written by the character's original creator, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle:

1. Study in Scarlet (1887)

2. The Sign of Four (1890)

3. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (collection, 1891–1892)
- Scandal in Bohemia
- Union of Redheads
- Identification
- The Boscombe Valley Mystery
- Five orange seeds
- Man with a split lip
- Blue carbuncle
- Variegated ribbon
- Engineer's Finger
- A distinguished bachelor
- Beryl tiara
- Copper beech trees

4. Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (collection, 1892–1893)
- Silver
- Yellow face
- The Clerk's Adventure
- Gloria Scott
- Musgrave House Rite
- Reigate Squires
- Hunchback
- Regular patient
- The Case of the Translator
- Naval Treaty
- Holmes's Last Case

5. The Hound of the Baskervilles (1901–1902)

6. The Return of Sherlock Holmes (collection, 1903–1904)
- Empty house
- Norwood Contractor
- Dancing men
- Lonely female cyclist
- Incident at the boarding school
- Black Peter
- The End of Charles Auguster Milverton
- Six Napoleons
- Three students
- Pince-nez in gold frame
- Missing Rugby Player
- Murder at Abbey Grange
- Second spot

7. Valley of Terror (1914–1915)

8. His farewell bow (1908–1913, 1917)
- At the Lilac Lodge / Incident at Wisteria Lodge
- Cardboard box
- Scarlet Ring
- Bruce-Partington drawings
- Sherlock Holmes dying
- The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax
- Devil's foot
- His farewell bow

9. Sherlock Holmes Archive (1921–1927)
- Mazarin Stone
- The Mystery of Torsky Bridge
- Man on all fours
- Vampire in Sussex
- Three Garridebs
- Notable client
- Incident at the Three Skates Villa
- A man with a white face
- Lion's mane
- Moscatel is retired
- The history of the dwelling under the veil
- The Mystery of Shoscombe Manor

Series about Professor Challenger:

1. The Lost World (1912)

2. Poison Belt (1913)

3. Land of Mists (1926)

4. Disintegration Machine (1927)

5. When the Earth Screamed (1928)

Sherlock Holmes
*"Notes about Sherlock Holmes"

Cycle about Professor Challenger
*The Lost World (1912)
*The Poison Belt (1913)
*The Land of Mists (1926)
*The Disintegration Machine (1927)
*When the World Screamed (1928)

Historical novels
*Micah Clarke (1888), a novel about the Monmouth Rebellion in 17th-century England.
*The White Company (1891)
*The Great Shadow (1892)
*The Refugees (published 1893, written 1892), a novel about the Huguenots in 17th-century France, the French exploration of Canada, and the Indian Wars.
*Rodney Stone (1896)
*Uncle Bernac (1897), a story about a French emigrant during the French Revolution.
*Sir Nigel (1906)

Poetry
*Songs of Action (1898)
*Songs of the Road (1911)
*The Guards Came Through and Other Poems (1919)

Dramaturgy
*Jane Annie, or the Good Conduct Prize (1893)
*Duet (A Duet. A duologue) (1899)
*A Pot of Caviare (1912)
*The Speckled Band (1912)
*Waterloo (A drama in one act) (1919)

The Lost World (silent film by Harry Hoyt, 1925)
The Lost World (1998 film).

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes series starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce, filmed between 1939 and 1946, produced 14 films, the first of which was The Hound of the Baskervilles.

The following films were released in the series “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson” with Vasily Livanov and Vitaly Solomin:
"Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson"
"The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson"
"The Hound of the Baskervilles"
"Treasures of Agra"
"The Twentieth Century Begins"
Interesting Facts

Arthur Conan Doyle was an ophthalmologist by profession.

Back in 1908, sensational news circulated in English newspapers: during excavations on the estate of lawyer Richard Dewson, near the city of Piltdown, the skull of a prehistoric man was found, which complements the chain of evolution passed by an intelligent creature from ape to man.
The “Piltdown Skull,” as this find was called, became a sensation in the scientific world. Numerous articles and weighty monographs appeared there. Meanwhile, from the very beginning there were scientists who doubted its authenticity.
The skull and everything connected with its discovery was carefully studied. There was even an attempt to organize an official investigation with the participation of members of Parliament, but it was indignantly rejected as “a slander against British science.” For decades since then, most anthropologists around the world have considered the Piltdown Skull a remarkable scientific discovery. Only in 1953, after X-ray and chemical analyzes carried out in the laboratories of Scotland Yard, was the version of skeptic scientists about falsification confirmed. According to experts, it was made by a very highly qualified specialist." He skillfully connected the upper part of the human skull with the jaw of an orangutan.
But the story of the discovery did not end there. American scientist John Hathaway-Winalow, who is keen on studying historical falsifications, recently published the results of his research. According to him, the hoax was conceived and carried out by none other than the world famous English writer Arthur Conan Doyle. According to evidence from the time, lawyer Richard Dewson, passionate about archeology, spoke disapprovingly of the areas of Conan Doyle, whose country house was adjacent to his estate. Stung, Conan Doyle decided to play a joke on the offender.
According to evidence from that time, lawyer Richard Dewson, passionate about archeology, spoke disapprovingly of the novels of Conan Doyle, whose country house was adjacent to his estate. Stung, Conan Doyle decided to play a joke on the offender.
An acquaintance of the writer, Jessie Fowless, who owned an antique store, gave him a skull found in an ancient Roman tomb. Conan Doyle bought an orangutan jaw from another friend, a doctor and amateur zoologist from the island of Borneo. Using needle files and a drill, the writer ground the skull to attach the monkey's jaw to it.
Then he treated the resulting compound with chemicals so that the skull of the “proto-human” looked quite “ancient”.
Knowing about his neighbor Deuson’s habit of excavating in a nearby abandoned mine, the writer buried his surprise there. The lawyer took the bait. He presented the found skull to the scientific society of the British Museum. This is how the fame of the “Piltdown Man” arose. The general enthusiasm for this was so great that Doyle did not dare to openly declare his falsification. But in his diary he wrote: “Instead of dumping the ignorant in the pit of their ignorance, I myself buried science there.” Until his death, he never learned that science would discover the truth.

He happened to be a doctor, an athlete, participate in a war, seek the release of innocently convicted people, fight for vaccination, test new drugs, write scientific works, historical and science fiction novels, give lectures... And all this - in addition to creating the immortal image of Sherlock Holmes. For this knight, without fear or reproach, his own convictions and honor were always more valuable than public opinion. “Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was a man of big heart, big stature and big soul,” Jerome K. Jerome said of him.

Eight thousand people - men in evening suits and women in long formal dresses - gathered at London's Royal Albert Hall on July 13, 1930 to honor the memory of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who died 5 days earlier. During these days, many articles appeared in the newspapers under catchy headlines: “Lady Doyle and her children await the return of the spirit of Conan Doyle”, “The widow is sure that she will soon receive a message from her husband”, the Daily Herald newspaper wrote about the secret code that death was given to his wife by the writer in order to avoid deception on the part of the medium who came into contact with him. There were many among the public who did not understand how the famous author of the adventures of Sherlock Holmes, a doctor of medicine and a materialist, could become one of the world's most famous propagandists of the "spiritualist religion." And today Sir Arthur had to appear in this crowded hall and resolve the contradiction of his life.

The rustling of silk and excited whispers died down as Lady Conan Doyle appeared. She walked with her head raised majestically, surrounded by her sons Adrian and Denis, daughter Jean and adopted daughter Mary. Jean sat next to the children on stage, but one of the chairs, between her and Denis, remained empty. There was a sign on it that read “Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.” Mrs. Roberts, a frail woman with huge brown eyes, a famous medium, came onto the stage. The session began - squinting her eyes and peering into the distance, like a sailor on the deck of a ship, guessing the horizon line during a storm, Mrs. Roberts burst into a monologue, conveying messages from the spirits who had come into contact with her to the people sitting in the hall. Before indicating who exactly the spirit was addressing, she described the clothes of the deceased, their habits, family ties, facts and little things that could only be known to relatives. But when the indignant skeptics began to leave the hall, Mrs. Roberts exclaimed: “Ladies and gentlemen! There he is, I see him again!” In the ringing silence, all eyes were again focused on the empty chair. And the medium, in a state of trance, shouted out in a quick, choking voice: “He was here from the very beginning, I saw him sit in the chair, he supported me, gave me strength, I heard his unforgettable voice!” Finally, Mrs. Roberts turned to Lady Jean: “Darling, I have a message for you.” A distant, radiant look appeared in Mrs. Doyle's eyes, and a smile of satisfaction flashed across her lips. The message from Doyle was drowned in noise and din, excited screams and the sounds of an organ - someone decided to interrupt this scene with musical chords. Lady Doyle refused to divulge the words that her husband conveyed to her that evening, she only repeated: “Believe me, I saw him as clearly as I see you now.”

Code of honor

“Arthur, don’t interrupt me, but rather repeat it again: who was your relative Sir Denis Pack to Edward III? When did Richard Pack marry Mary of the Irish branch of the Northumberlain Percys, infusing our family with the royal family for the third time? Now look at this coat of arms - this is the weapon of Thomas Scott, your great uncle, who was related to Sir Walter Scott. Don’t forget about this, my boy,” - during these heraldry lessons and his mother’s stories about the family tree of their ancient Irish family, Arthur’s heart sank sweetly with delight and excitement. ...Mary Foyley married at the age of 17 Charles Doyle, the youngest son of the famous artist, the first English cartoonist John Doyle. Charles came from London to Edinburgh to work in one of the government offices and stayed as a guest in her mother's house. He left for the capital of Scotland, far from social life, to finally get out of the shadow of his father and two successful brothers. One of them, James, was the chief artist of the humorous magazine Punch, published his own magazine and illustrated the works of William Thackeray and Charles Dickens. Henry Doyle became director of the National Art Gallery of Ireland.

Fate was less kind to Charles. In Edinburgh, he received just over 200 pounds a year, did routine paperwork and did not even know how to really sell his watercolor drawings, talented and full of whimsical imagination.

Of the 9 children his wife bore to him, seven survived; Arthur appeared in 1859 and was their first son. His mother spent all her spiritual strength trying to instill in him the concepts of knightly behavior and a code of honor. The real picture in the Doyle house was far from so sublime. Charles, melancholic by nature, passively watched his wife struggle unsuccessfully with poverty. After the visit of Thackeray, a friend of the London Doyles, when Charles was unable to properly receive the guest of honor, he finally fell into depression and became addicted to Burgundy. Fortunately, his wealthy relatives sent money so that Mary could send her 9-year-old son to England, to the closed Jesuit school in Stonyhurst, away from his unlucky father - an unsuitable role model.

Family portrait. 1904 Arthur Conan Doyle is in the top row, fifth from right. Mary Foley, the writer's mother, is in the center of the front row.

Universities

Arthur spent 7 years at school and then at the Jesuit College. Severe discipline, meager food and cruel punishments reigned here, and the dogmatism and dryness of the teachers turned any subject into a set of dull and boring platitudes. The love of reading and sports instilled by my mother helped me out. Having completed his studies with honors, Arthur returned home and, under the influence of his mother, decided to get a medical education - the noble mission of a doctor is perfectly suited to a man whose intentions include honorable performance of his duty. Especially now, when my father was sent to a hospital for alcoholics, and then to an even more woeful institution - a mental asylum...

The University of Edinburgh, looking like a gloomy medieval castle, was famous for its medical faculty. James Barry (the future author of Peter Pan) and Robert Louis Stevenson studied here with Doyle. Among the professors were James Young Simpson, who first used chloroform, Sir Charles Thompson, who had recently returned from the famous zoological expedition on the Challenger, Joseph Lister, who gained fame in the fight for antiseptics and headed the department of clinical surgery. One of the most powerful impressions of university life were the lectures of the famous surgeon Professor Joseph Bell. An aquiline nose, close-set eyes, eccentric manners, a decisive, sharp mind - this man will become one of the main prototypes of Sherlock Holmes. “Come on, gentlemen, students, use not only your scientific knowledge, but also your ears, nose and hands...” Bell said and invited another patient into the huge audience. “So, here is a former sergeant of the Highland Regiment, recently returned from Barbados. How do I know? This respected gentleman forgot to take off his hat, because this is not customary in the army, and has not yet had time to get used to civil manners. Why Barbados? Because the symptoms of fever of which he complains are characteristic of the West Indies.” The deductive method of identifying not only the disease, but also the profession, origin and personality traits of the patient amazed students who were ready to go hungry just to get to Bell for his almost magical performance.

For every lecture at the university you had to pay money, and a lot of it. Due to their absence, Arthur had to cut each of his four years of study in half, and during the holidays he had to do the most boring and thankless job - pouring and packaging potions and powders. Without a moment’s hesitation, in the third year of his studies he agreed to take the place of a ship’s surgeon on the whaling ship Nadezhda, which was sailing to Greenland. He did not have to use his medical knowledge, but Arthur, like everyone else, participated in whale catching, deftly wielding a harpoon, exposing himself to mortal danger along with other hunters. “I have become a grown man at 80 degrees north latitude,” Arthur will proudly say upon returning to his mother and give her the 50 pounds he earned.

Doctor Doyle

It seemed as if even the bright fire in the fireplace suddenly felt cold. James and Henry Doyle - Arthur's uncles - froze with faces petrified with disappointment and resentment. The nephew had just not only refused help, offered with the best intentions, but also incredibly offended their religious feelings. They were ready to find him a position as a doctor in London, using their extensive connections, with only one condition - he would become a Catholic doctor. “You yourself would consider me the ultimate scoundrel if I, being an agnostic, agreed to treat patients and not share their beliefs with them,” Arthur told them with completely inappropriate vehemence. A rebellion against religious education at a Jesuit school, studying medicine at one of the most progressive universities in Europe at that time, carefully reading the works of Charles Darwin and his followers - all this influenced the fact that by the age of 22 Arthur ceased to consider himself a believing Catholic.

...On the steps of a brick house, a tall man in a long cloak, in the faint bluish light of a small gas lamp, was polishing a brand new brass plate with the inscription “Arthur Conan Doyle, MD and Surgeon.” Arthur came to the port city of Portsmouth to begin a settled life here and try to create his own practice. He could not afford to hire a maid, and therefore only did housework under cover of darkness: it would not be good if future patients saw the doctor sweeping dirt from the porch or buying groceries in the poor port shops of the city. During his several months in the city, the only patient was a very drunk sailor - he tried to beat his wife right under the windows of his house. Instead, he himself had to dodge the strong fists of an angry doctor who jumped out at the noise. The next day the sailor came to him for medical help. In the end, Arthur realized that it was pointless to watch patients all day long. No one will knock on the door of an unknown doctor; you need to become a public person. And Doyle became a member of the bowling club, cricket club, played billiards at a nearby hotel, helped organize a football team in the city, and most importantly, joined the Portsmouth Literary and Scientific Society. Often at this time his diet consisted of bread and water, and he learned to fry thin pieces of bacon, saving gas, in the flame of a gas lantern. But things went uphill. Patients slowly began to arrive. And the stories “My Friend the Murderer” and “Captain of the North Star”, written in between, were bought by one of the Portsmouth magazines for 10 guineas each. Inspired by his first success, the newly minted writer created at a crazy speed, then rolled up pieces of paper into cardboard cylinders and sent them to various magazines and publishing houses - most often these literary “parcels” boomeranged back to the author. But one day in 1883, the prestigious Cornhill Magazine (its editors were proud of the fact that they printed not cheap pulp reading, but real examples of literature) published (albeit anonymously) Doyle’s essay “The Message of Hebekuk Jephson” and paid the author as much as 30 pounds. Detractors attributed the work to Stevenson, and critics compared it to Edgar Allan Poe. And this, in essence, was a confession.

Tui

One day, a doctor he knew asked Arthur to see a patient suffering from severe bouts of fever and delirium. Doyle confirmed the diagnosis - young Jack Hawkins was dying of cerebral meningitis. His mother and sister could not find an apartment - no one wanted to accept a sick tenant. Doyle invited them to take several rooms in his house. The death of Jack, for whom he did everything he could, had a hard effect on the impressionable doctor. The only relief was the gratitude in the sad eyes of his sister Louise. A thin 27-year-old girl with a surprisingly calm and gentle disposition awakened in him a desire to protect her and take her under his wing. After all, he was strong, and she was helpless. Knightly intentions also underlay the feelings that Arthur sincerely accepted as love for Tui (as he would call Louise). In addition, it is much easier for a married doctor in provincial society to gain the trust of patients, and it was high time for Arthur to get a wife - after all, due to his upbringing and principles, temperamental and full of vitality, he could only afford gallant courtship in women's society. Mary Doyle approved of her son's choice, and the wedding took place in May 1885. After his marriage, the pacified Arthur began to combine his medical practice and writing even more actively. Even then, the public figure and propagandist awakened in him: Doyle was not lazy in writing letters, articles and pamphlets to newspapers, discussing the value of American medical diplomas, the construction of a city recreation area or the benefits of vaccination. He submitted articles to medical journals on serious medical problems. But it was not the desire to make a scientific career, but only the desire to achieve the truth and protect it that forced Arthur to study thick volumes and even volunteer to act as a guinea pig: he several times tested drugs that were not yet listed in the British Pharmacological Encyclopedia.

How to end Holmes

The idea to write a detective story came to Conan Doyle when he was rereading his beloved Edgar Poe, because it was he who first not only introduced the word “detective” into use (in 1843 in the story “The Gold Bug”), but also made his detective Dupin the main character narratives. Arthur went further than Poe; his Sherlock Holmes was perceived not as a literary character, but as a real person, made of flesh and blood, “a detective with a scientific approach, who relies only on his own abilities and the deductive method, and not on the mistakes of the criminal or chance.” . His hero will investigate the crime using the same methods that Dr. Joseph Bell identified the disease and made a diagnosis. A Study in Scarlet initially experienced the fate of many of Doyle's early stories - the postman regularly returned slightly frayed cardboard cylinders to him. Only one publishing house agreed to publish the story simply because the publisher's wife liked it. However, the Strand magazine, which recently appeared in London, shortly after this publication in 1887, ordered the writer 6 more stories about the detective (they appeared between July and December in 1891) and was right. The magazine's circulation of 300 thousand copies increased to half a million. From early morning on the day the next issue was published, huge queues formed near the editorial building. On the ferry crossing the English Channel, the English could now be recognized not only by their checkered mackintoshes, but also by the Strand magazines tucked under their arms. The editor ordered Doyle 6 more stories about Holmes. But he refused. His mind was occupied with something completely different - he was writing a historical novel. Through his agent, he decided to demand £50 per story, convinced that this was too high a price, but received immediate consent and was forced to take up Sherlock Holmes again. But throughout his life, Conan Doyle would consider the historical novel genre to be the most important in his literary career. “Micah Clark” (about the struggle of the English Puritans during the time of King James II), “The White Company” (a romantic epic from the times of medieval England in the 14th century), “Sir Nigel” (the historical sequel to “The White Company”), “The Shadow of a Great Man” (about Napoleone). The most good-natured critics were perplexed: did Conan Doyle really seriously imagine himself as a historical novelist? And for him, the grandiose success of laconic stories about Holmes was only the work of a craftsman, but not a real writer...

In May 1891, Conan Doyle was between life and death for a week. In the absence of antibiotics, influenza was a real killer. When his mind became a little clearer, he thought about his future. What poor Louise took for another attack of fever was in fact a moment of crisis, not only in the medical sense. Having recovered, Arthur informed Louise that they were leaving Portsmouth for London and he was becoming a professional writer.

Now only Sherlock Holmes stood in his way, the same one who brought him fame and wealth and allowed him to become the head and support of the family. “He takes me away from much more important matters, I intend to end it,” Doyle complained to his mother. The mother, a passionate fan of Holmes, begged her son: “You do not have the right to destroy him. You can not! You do not have to!" And the Strand editors demanded more stories. Arthur again refused, asking for a thousand pounds per dozen just in case - an unheard-of fee at that time. The terms were accepted, and he could not let the publisher down.

Special gift

In August 1893, Louise began to cough and complain of chest pain. The husband invited a doctor he knew, and he unequivocally stated that she had tuberculosis, the so-called galloping one, which meant that she had no more than 3-4 months to live. Looking at his haggard, pale wife, Doyle went crazy: how could he, a doctor, not recognize the signs of illness himself much earlier? Guilt catalyzed energy and a passionate desire to save his wife from certain death. Doyle dropped everything and took Louise to a pulmonary sanatorium in Davos, Switzerland. Thanks to proper care and the colossal funds he spent on her treatment, Louise lived for another 13 years. The news of his father’s lonely death in a private ward of a hospital for the insane coincided with his wife’s illness. Conan Doyle went there to pick up his things and found among them a diary with notes and drawings that shook him to the core. Perhaps this was the second turning point in his fate. Charles turned to his son and sadly joked that only the Irish sense of humor could attribute to him an insane diagnosis simply because he “hears voices.”

Meanwhile, in London, people were seething with indignation - Holmes's Last Case appeared in the Strand. The detective died in a fight with Professor Moriarty over the Reichenbach Falls, which Doyle had recently admired in Switzerland when he visited his wife. Some particularly radical readers tied black mourning ribbons to their hats, and the magazine's editors were constantly attacked with letters and even threats. In a certain sense, the murder of Holmes psychologically alleviated Doyle's state of mind at least a little, as if, along with Holmes, who was so obsessively mistaken for his alter ego, part of the heavy burden that Arthur was carrying had fallen into the abyss. It was a kind of unconscious suicide. One of the critics at the end of the writer’s life, not without bitter insight, noted that after the murder of Holmes, Conan Doyle himself would never be the same... Even after he brought him back to life.

Jean Leckie. Photo from 1925

Defeat the demons

In the meantime, fate has prepared another test for him. On March 15, 1897, 37-year-old Doyle met 24-year-old Jean Leckie, the daughter of wealthy Scots from an ancient family dating back to the famous Rob Roy, at his mother's house. Huge green eyes, a wave of dark blond curls shimmering with gold, a thin delicate neck - Jean was a real beauty. She studied singing in Dresden and had a wonderful mezzo-soprano voice, and was an excellent horsewoman and athlete. They fell in love at first sight. But the situation was hopeless and therefore especially painful - the conflict between a sense of duty and passion had never tormented his soul with such destructive force. He had no right to even think about divorcing his disabled wife, and he could not become Jean’s lover. “It seems to me that you attach too much importance to the fact that your relationship can only be platonic. What difference does it make if you don’t love your wife anymore anyway?” - his sister’s husband once asked him. Doyle shouted back, “It’s the difference between innocence and guilt!” He already reproached himself for too many things and fought more and more fiercely with the demons who were trying to make a hole in his knightly chain mail of loyalty. Louise did not bother her husband, she endured suffering stoically, but Arthur could not bring himself to inhale the smell of medicine for a long time, he rushed about like a tiger in a cage, healthy, overflowing with energy, voluntarily condemning himself to abstinence.

To get rid of depression, he filled all his free time with a variety of activities. What he did in those years, it seems, would have been more than enough for several lifetimes. When a certain George Edalji, sentenced to life imprisonment for damaging livestock, approached him, Conan Doyle was able to prove his innocence. And then he took up another matter - Oscar Slater. A gambler and adventurer, he was in vain, as shown by the investigation carried out by Doyle and his lawyer, accused of the murder of an elderly lady. Arthur made dangerous mountaineering expeditions, in the company of the same desperate daredevils went in search of an ancient monastery in the Egyptian desert, flew in a hot air balloon, and refereed boxing matches. In between, he wrote a play about Holmes, a love novel “Duet,” which critics torn to smithereens for its sentimentality. He became interested in motorsport - a brand new Wolsley sports car, dark red with red tires, appeared in his stable. He drove it at crazy speed, flipped over several times and miraculously escaped death. He took part in the parliamentary elections, but lost - Doyle did not consider it necessary to talk with voters about their interests, while England entered the war with the Boers. A few years later, Lord Chamberlain himself would ask Doyle to take part in the elections again, although he vowed never to engage in politics again. Chamberlain knew how to persuade him: England was ceasing to be a great empire, its own colonies were becoming more powerful, it was necessary to increase taxes on imported goods and protect the domestic market. But, having agreed, he lost again. Imperial sentiments, even economically justified, were not in fashion, however, could the risk of being branded as a radical and harming his reputation really stop him?

Sir Arthur

He was lucky - one of the many attempts to get into the war with the Boers in South Africa was successful, and Arthur went there as a surgeon. Death, blood, suffering of people and his own fearlessness completely overshadowed his personal problems for several months. King Edward VII granted him a knighthood and the title of Sir. Arthur, filled with patriotism, wanted to refuse, considering it immodest to receive a reward for serving his country. But his mother and Jean persuaded him - he didn’t want to offend the king, did he? The writer's envious people sarcastically noted that the king granted him the title not at all for his services to England, but because, according to rumors, he had not read a single book in his life, except for stories about Sherlock Holmes.

He was forced to continue the detective's adventures by inflation and the ever-increasing expenses for his wife's treatment. £100 for 1,000 words - the Strand editor, as usual, did not skimp. Never before had magazine-stand sellers faced such pressure, being literally attacked to get their hands on the coveted issue of the first of a dozen new Holmes stories, "The Adventure of the Empty House." Jean suggested the plot to Arthur, and she also figured out how to plausibly resurrect Holmes. Baritsu - Japanese wrestling techniques, which, it turns out, were mastered by the detective, helped him avoid death...

Suddenly Louise's health deteriorated rapidly and she died in July 1906. And in September 1907, Conan Doyle's wedding to Jean Leckie took place. They bought a house in Windelsham, in one of the most picturesque parts of Sussex. In front of the facade, Jean planted a rose garden; from Arthur’s office there was a magnificent view of the green valleys leading straight to the strait...

One day in early August 1914, when it became clear that war could not be avoided, Conan Doyle received a note from the village plumber, Mr. Goldsmith: “Something needs to be done.” On the same day, the writer began to create a detachment of volunteers from nearby villages. He asked to be sent to the front, but the military department responded to the private of the 4th Royal Volunteer Regiment, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (he, of course, refused a higher rank) with a polite, decisive refusal.

Last trip

Jean's beloved brother Malcolm Leckie was the first to die in the war, then Conan Doyle's brother-in-law and two nephews. A little later - Arthur's eldest son Kingsley and brother Innes. Arthur wrote to his mother: “My only joy is that from all these beloved and dear people I receive obvious evidence of their posthumous existence...”

His belief in the existence of the souls of the dead and the possibility of communicating with them was strengthened by Jean, a convinced spiritualist. That is why the young and beautiful woman waited for him for so long. After all, she believed that even death could not separate them, which means there was no need to be afraid of the transience of earthly life. She discovered her abilities as a medium and for automatic writing (writing under the dictation of spirits in a state of meditative trance) shortly before the war. And then one day, behind the tightly curtained windows of the office, something happened that Conan Doyle had been hoping for for many years, studying the occult sciences and looking for evidence. During one of the sessions, his wife contacted the spirit of first his deceased sister Annette, then of Malcolm, who died in the war. Their messages contained details that even Jean could not know. For Conan Doyle, this became long-awaited and indisputable evidence, primarily because it was provided to him by his wife, whom he considered an ideal and pure woman in his thoughts.

In October 1916, an article by Conan Doyle appeared in a magazine devoted to occult sciences, where he publicly and officially admitted that he had acquired a “spiritualist religion.” Since then, Sir Arthur's last crusade began - he believed that there had never been a more important mission in his life: to alleviate the suffering of people by convincing them of the possibility of communication between the living and the departed. In the writer’s office, another (besides the military) card appeared. Arthur used flags to mark the cities in which he gave lectures on spiritualism. Australia, Canada, South Africa, Europe, 500 performances on a lecture tour in America alone. He knew that his name alone could attract people, and he did not spare himself. Crowds gathered to listen to the great Conan Doyle, although often the elderly giant, whose once athletic figure of an athlete had become plump and awkward, and whose drooping gray mustache gave him a resemblance to a walrus, was not at first recognized as the famous Englishman. Conan Doyle was aware that he was bringing reputation and fame to the altar of his faith. Journalists mercilessly jeered: “Conan Doyle has gone crazy! Sherlock Holmes lost his clear analytical mind and began to believe in ghosts." He received threatening letters, close friends begged him to stop, to return to literature and stories about the detective, instead of paying for the publication of his spiritualist works himself. The famous magician Harry Houdini, who had been friends with Arthur for many years, publicly threw mud at him and accused him of charlatanism after he attended a session conducted by Jean...

Early on the morning of July 7, 1930, 71-year-old Conan Doyle asked to be seated in a chair. The children were next to him, and Jean was holding her husband's hand. “I am going on the most exciting and glorious journey that I have ever had in my adventurous life,” Sir Arthur whispered. And he added, already moving his lips with difficulty: “Jean, you were magnificent.”

He was buried in the garden of their home in Windelsham, not far from his wife's rose garden. A memorial service was also held in the rose garden, conducted by a representative of the spiritualist church. A special train brought telegrams and flowers. Flowers carpeted the huge field next to the house. Jean was wearing a bright dress. During the funeral, according to eyewitnesses, there was no sense of grief at all. The Strand magazine sent a telegram: “Doyle has done his job well - in whatever field it concerns!” Another telegram read: "Conan Doyle is dead, long live Sherlock Holmes."

...After the funeral service in the Albert Hall, mediums all over the world reported: in the “land” of spirits a ray appeared, sparkling like a pure diamond. Jean constantly came into contact with her husband, heard his voice and received advice and wishes from him for herself, her children and his remaining loyal friends. Arthur asked her to urgently see a doctor: Jean had indeed been diagnosed with lung cancer. Ironically, in his earthly incarnation he failed to warn his first wife in time. After Lady Doyle's death in 1940, her and Arthur's children said that she, in turn, conveyed her messages to them through mediums... After the sale of the house in Windelsham, the couple were reburied. On Arthur's gravestone, his now fully grown children asked him to engrave the words: Knight. Patriot. Doctor. Writer.

Arthur Conan Doyle was born on May 22, 1859, in Edinburgh, into an intelligent family. The love of art and literature, in particular, was instilled in young Arthur by his parents. The entire family of the future writer was related to literature. Mother, moreover, was a great storyteller.

At the age of nine, Arthur went to study at the Jesuit private college Stonyhurst. The teaching methods there corresponded to the name of the institution. Coming out of there, the future classic of English literature forever retained his aversion to religious fanaticism and physical punishment. The storyteller's talent was awakened during his studies. Young Doyle often entertained his classmates on gloomy evenings with his stories, which he often made up on the fly.

In 1876 he graduated from college. Contrary to family tradition, he preferred a career as a doctor to art. Doyle received further education at the University of Edinburgh. There he studied with D. Barry and R. L. Stevenson.

The beginning of a creative journey

Doyle spent a long time searching for himself in literature. While still a student, he became interested in E. Poe, and himself wrote several mystical stories. But, due to their secondary nature, they did not have much success.

In 1881, Doyle received a medical diploma and a bachelor's degree. For some time he was engaged in medical practice, but did not feel much love for his chosen profession.

In 1886, the writer created his first story about Sherlock Holmes. “A Study in Scarlet” was published in 1887.

Doyle often fell under the influence of his venerable colleagues in writing. Several of his early stories and stories were written under the impression of the work of Charles Dickens.

Creative flourishing

Detective stories about Sherlock Holmes made Conan Doyle not only famous outside of England, but also one of the highest paid writers.

Despite this, Doyle always got angry when he was introduced as “Sherlock Holmes' dad.” The writer himself did not attach much importance to stories about the detective. He devoted more time and effort to writing such historical works as “Micah Clarke,” “Exiles,” “The White Company” and “Sir Nigel.”

Of the entire historical cycle, readers and critics liked the novel “White Squad” the most. According to the publisher, D. Penn, it is the best historical painting after “Ivanhoe” by W. Scott.

In 1912, the first novel about Professor Challenger, “The Lost World,” was published. A total of five novels were created in this series.

Studying the short biography of Arthur Conan Doyle, you should know that he was not only a novelist, but also a publicist. From his pen came a series of works dedicated to the Anglo-Boer War.

last years of life

Throughout the second half of the 20s. The writer spent the 20th century traveling. Without stopping his journalistic activities, Doyle visited all continents.

Arthur Conan Doyle died on July 7, 1930, in Sussex. The cause of death was a heart attack. The writer was buried at Minstead, in the New Forest National Park.

Other biography options

There were many interesting facts in the life of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The writer was an ophthalmologist by profession. In 1902, for his service as a military doctor during the Boer War, he was knighted.
Conan Doyle was fond of spiritualism. He retained this rather specific interest until the end of his life.
The writer highly valued creativity

Where was Conan Doyle born? The Adventures of Sir Arthur. Interesting facts about Arthur Conan Doyle

Biography

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Sherlock Holmes

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1914-1918

Last years

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Doctor Doyle

Special gift

Sir Arthur

Last trip

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Creative flourishing

last years of life

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