Doyle Arthur Conan - biography. Conan Doyle biography Conan Doyle biography brief

Of course, when the name of Arthur Conan Doyle sounds, most immediately recall the image of the famous Sherlock Holmes, who was created by one of the greatest writers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. However, few know that there was a whole confrontation between the author and the hero, a tough competition, during which the ingenious detective was mercilessly destroyed several times with a pen. Also, many readers do not know how diverse and full of adventures Doyle's life was, how much he did for literature and society as a whole. The unusual life of a writer named Arthur Conan Doyle, interesting biography facts, dates, etc. are presented in this article.

Childhood of the future writer

Arthur Conan Doyle was born on May 22, 1859, into an artist's family. Place of birth - Edinburgh, Scotland. Despite the fact that the Doyle family was in poverty due to the chronic alcoholism of the head of the family, the boy grew up smart and educated. Love for books was instilled from early childhood, when Arthur's mother Mary spent many hours telling the child various stories gleaned from literature. A variety of interests from childhood, many books read and erudition determined the further path that Arthur Conan Doyle went through. A short biography of the outstanding author is presented below.

Education and career choice

Rich relatives paid for the education of the future writer. He studied first at the Jesuit school, then was transferred to Stonyhurst, where the training was quite serious and was famous for its fundamental nature. At the same time, the high quality of education did not in any way compensate for the severity of being in this place - in the educational institution, cruel ones were actively practiced to which all children were subjected indiscriminately.

The boarding school, despite the difficult living conditions, became exactly the place where Arthur realized his craving for the creation of literary works and the ability to do this. At that time, it was too early to talk about talent, but even then the future writer gathered around him a group of peers, eager for a new story from a talented classmate.

By the time he graduated from college, Doyle had achieved a certain degree of recognition - he published a magazine for students and wrote many poems that were consistently highly praised by students and teachers. In addition to his passion for writing, Arthur successfully mastered cricket, and then, when he moved to Germany for a while, and other types of physical activity, in particular football and luge.

When he had to make a decision about what profession to get, he faced a lack of understanding from his family members. Relatives expected that the boy would follow in the footsteps of his creative ancestors, but Arthur suddenly became interested in medicine and, despite the objections of his uncle and mother, entered the Faculty of Medicine. It was there that he met Joseph Bell, a professor of medicine, who served as a prototype for the future image of the famous Sherlock Holmes. Bell, PhD, had a complex temperament and amazing intellectual ability that allowed him to accurately diagnose people by their appearance.

Doyle's family was large, and in addition to Arthur, six more children were raised in it. By that time, the father had practically no one to earn money, since the mother was completely and completely immersed in the upbringing of offspring. Therefore, the future writer studied most of the disciplines at an accelerated rate, and devoted the free time to part-time work as an assistant to the doctor.

After reaching the age of twenty, Arthur returns to writing attempts. From under his pen several stories are published, some of which are accepted for publication by well-known magazines. Arthur is encouraged by the opportunity to earn money through literature, and he continues to write and offer publishing houses the fruits of his labor, often quite successfully. Arthur Conan Doyle's first stories to be published were Secrets of the Sesass Valley and An American's Tale.

Medical biography of Arthur Conan Doyle: writer and physician

Arthur Conan Doyle's biography, family, environment, diversity and unexpected transitions from one activity to another are very exciting. So, having received in 1880 an offer to take the position of an onboard surgeon on a ship called "Hope", Arthur goes on a journey that lasted more than 7 months. Thanks to a new interesting experience, another story is born, called "The Captain of the Polar Star".

Thirst for adventure mixed with a craving for creativity and love for the profession, and after graduating from the university, Arthur Conan Doyle gets a job as a flight doctor on a ship that ply between Liverpool and the West African coast. However, as attractive as the seven-month trip to the Arctic turned out to be, hot Africa became so repulsive for him. Therefore, he soon left this ship and returned to measured work in England as a doctor.

In 1882, Arthur Conan Doyle begins his first medical practice in Portsmouth. At first, due to the small number of clients, Arthur's interests again shifted towards literature, and during this period such stories as "Blumensdijk Ravine" and "April Fool's Day" were born. It is in Portsmouth that Arthur meets his first great love - Elma Welden, whom he is even going to marry, but due to prolonged scandals, the couple decides to leave. All subsequent years, Arthur continues to rush between two occupations - medicine and literature.

Marriage and literary breakthrough

The fateful request of his neighbor Pike to see one of the patients with meningitis. He turned out to be hopeless, but observing him was the reason for meeting his sister named Louise, with whom Arthur had a wedding already in 1885.

After the marriage, the ambitions of the aspiring writers began to grow steadily. He had few successful publications in modern magazines, he wanted to create something big and serious that would touch the hearts of readers and enter the world of literature for centuries. Such a novel was "A Study in Crimson Tones", published in 1887 and for the first time presented to the world of Sherlock Holmes. According to Doyle himself, writing a novel was easier than getting him published. It took almost three years to find people willing to publish the book. The fee for the first large-scale creation was only 25 pounds.

In 1887, Arthur's rebellious disposition draws him into a new adventure - the study and practice of spiritualism. The new direction of interest inspires new stories, in particular about the famous detective.

Rivalry with a self-created literary hero

After Etude in Crimson Tones, a piece entitled The Adventures of Micah Clarke, as well as The White Squad, saw the light of day. However, Sherlock Holmes, sunk into the souls of both readers and publishers, asked for the pages again. An additional impetus for the continuation of the story about the detective was the acquaintance with Oscar Wilde and the editor of one of the most popular magazines, who persistently persuade Doyle to continue writing about Sherlock Holmes. This is how the "Sign of the Four" appears on the pages of the Lippincots Magazine.

In subsequent years, the throwing between professions becomes even more widespread. Arthur decides to start studying ophthalmology and travels to Vienna for training. However, after four months of efforts, he realizes that he is not ready to master the professional German language and spend time in the future on a new direction of medical practice. So he returns to England and publishes several more short stories dedicated to Sherlock Holmes.

The final choice of profession

After a serious illness from the flu, as a result of which Doyle almost died, he decides to stop practicing medicine forever and devote all his time to literature, especially since the popularity of his stories and novels at that time reached its peak. So the medical biography of Arthur Conan Doyle, whose books became more and more famous, came to an end.

The Strand publishers asks to write another series of stories about Holmes, but Doyle, feeling tired and annoyed by the annoying hero, asks for a fee of 50 pounds in the sincere hope that the publisher will reject such terms of cooperation. However, The Strand signs a contract for the corresponding amount and receives its six stories. The readers are delighted.

Arthur Conan Doyle sold the next six stories to the publisher for £ 1,000. Tired of "buying" for high fees and being offended by Holmes for the fact that his more significant creations are not visible behind his back, Doyle decides to "kill" his beloved detective. While working for The Strand, Doyle writes for the theater, and the experience inspires him much more. However, Holmes's "death" did not bring him the expected satisfaction. Further attempts to create a worthy play were defeated, and Arthur seriously thought about the question, can he create anything good at all, besides the story about Holmes?

During the same period, Arthur Conan Doyle is fond of lecturing on the topic of literature, which are very popular.

Arthur's wife Louise was ill a lot, and in this regard, traveling with lectures had to be stopped. In search of a more favorable climate for her, they ended up in Egypt, a stay in which was remembered for the carefree game of cricket, walks in Cairo and the injury that Arthur received as a result of falling from his horse.

The Resurrection of Holmes, or a Bargain with Conscience

Upon their return from England, the Doyle family is faced with material problems caused by a realized dream - the construction of their own home. To get out of a financial predicament, Arthur Conan Doyle decides to make a deal with his own conscience and resurrects Sherlock Holmes in the pages of a new play, which is enthusiastically received by the public. Then, in many of Doyle's new works, the presence of a detective he did not love is almost invisibly noticeable, with the right to exist which the writer still had to accept.

Late love

Arthur Conan Doyle was considered a highly moral person with strong principles, and there is a lot of evidence that he never cheated on his wife. However, he could not avoid falling in love with another girl - Jean Lecky. At the same time, despite a strong romantic attachment to her, they got married only ten years after they met, when his wife died of illness.

Jean inspired him to new hobbies - hunting and music, and also influenced the further literary activity of the writer, whose plots became less sharp, but more sensual and deep.

War, politics, social activity

Doyle's later life was marked by participation in the Anglo-Boer War, where he went to study the war in real life, but he was an ordinary field doctor who saved the lives of soldiers not from mortal combat wounds, but from the then raging typhus and fever.

The literary activity of the writer identified itself with the release of a new novel about Sherlock Holmes, The Dog of the Baskervilles, for which he received a new wave of readers' love, as well as accusations of stealing an idea from his friend Fletcher Robinson. However, they have never been supported by strong evidence.

In 1902, Doyle received a knightly title, according to some sources - for services in the Anglo-Boer War, according to others - for literary achievements. During the same period, Arthur Conan Doyle made attempts to realize himself in politics, which were suppressed by rumors about his religious fanaticism.

An important area of ​​Doyle's social activity was his participation in trial and post-trial processes as a defender of the accused. Based on the experience gained in the course of writing stories about Sherlock Holmes, he was able to prove the innocence of several people, which made a significant contribution to the popularity of his name.

Arthur Conan Doyle's active political and social position was expressed in the fact that he predicted many steps of the greatest powers in the framework of the First World War. Despite the fact that his opinion was perceived by many as the fruit of the writer's fantasy, most of the assumptions came true. It is also a historically recognized fact that it was Doyle who initiated the construction of the Channel Tunnel.

New landmarks: occult sciences, spiritualism

In World War I, Doyle took part in a volunteer detachment and continued to make his proposals to improve the military readiness of the country's troops. As a result of the war, many people close to him died, including a brother, a son from his first marriage, two cousins ​​and nephews. These losses led to the return of a keen interest in spiritualism, the propaganda of which Doyle devoted the rest of his life.

The writer died on July 7, 1930 from an attack of angina pectoris, this ended the impressive biography of Arthur Conan Doyle, full of surprises and incredible life turns. A photo of the writer adorns one of the walls of the famous London library, perpetuating the memory of him. Interest in the life of the creator of the image of Sherlock Holmes continues to this day. A short biography of Arthur Conan Doyle in English is regularly included in British literature textbooks.

😉 Greetings to the venerable audience on the site "Ladies and Gentlemen"! Friends, we will continue to study the success stories of great people. In the article "Arthur Conan Doyle: biography, interesting facts" about the main stages of the life and work of the writer.

Biography of Arthur Conan Doyle

Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (1859 - 1930) - famous English writer. The creator of more than seventy books: stories, novels, stories, poems. Works of adventure, sci-fi, humorous genres.

He was born in Father Charles Altamont Doyle - a talented artist, worked as a clerk. Due to his passion for alcohol and an unstable psyche, the family did not live well.

1868 year. The wealthy relatives sent Arthur to school in Hodder. At the age of eleven, he moves on to the next stage of education - a Catholic school in Stonehurst. The school taught seven subjects and practiced severe punishment.

The guy diversifies a difficult period of study by writing stories that will appeal to other students. He loved outdoor activities, especially cricket and golf. Sports activities accompanied him all his life, here you can add cycling, billiards.

The beginning of the creative path

1876 ​​- Arthur enters medical university, choosing a career as a doctor, despite the family's commitment to literature and art. Simultaneously with his studies, he worked in a pharmacy, financially helping the family. I read a lot and continued to write.

1879 - The story "The Mystery of the Sesass Valley" brought Doyle his first literary income. By this time, he becomes the mother's only support, as the sick father ends up in the hospital.

1880 - he is sent as a surgeon on a voyage on the ship "Nadezhda", which is engaged in whaling. Seven months of work earned him £ 50.

1881 - Becomes a bachelor of medicine, but practice was required to become a doctor.

1882 - worked as a doctor in Plymouth, then moved to Portsmouth, where his first practice appears. At first there was not much work, which gave him the opportunity to write for the soul.

Writing career

Doyle continues his literary career. Fame is brought to him by the published "Study in crimson tones". The characters Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson become heroes of new stories.

In 1891 Doyle said goodbye to medicine and immersed himself in the writer's work. Its popularity is gaining momentum after the release of the next work "The Man with the Split Lip". The magazine, which publishes stories about Sherlock Holmes, asks the author to write six more stories about this character, paying the sum of 50 pounds.

After some time, Arthur begins to feel weary about the cycle, believing that these works distract from writing other serious works, but he fulfills the contract for writing stories.

A year later, the magazine again asks him to write a series of stories about Sherlock. The author's royalty is £ 1,000. The fatigue associated with finding a plot for a new story prompts Arthur to "kill" the main character. After the end of the cycle about the famous detective, 20 thousand readers refuse to purchase the magazine.

In 1892 the play Waterloo appeared on the stage of theaters. The operetta "Jane Annie, or the Prize for Good Behavior", based on his second play, failed. Doubting his ability to write plays, Doyle agrees to lecture on literary topics throughout England.

• 1894 - Lectures on cities in the United States. In subsequent years, he wrote a lot, but pays special attention to the health of his wife Louise;
• 1902 - The Hound of the Baskervilles is published. At the same time, King Edward VII conferred the title of knight on Conan Doyle for his participation as a military doctor in the Boer War;
• 1910 - the next works "The Motley Ribbon" and others appear on the stage.

Over the next years, he continues to write literary works, political essays. Visits America, Holland and other countries. The most popular were works about Sherlock Holmes, although he himself considered historical novels to be his achievement.

Arthur Conan Doyle: biography (video)

Personal life

The writer was married twice. His first wife, Louise Hawkins, died of tuberculosis in 1906. A year later, Doyle married Jean Lecky, whom he had been secretly in love with since 1897. He was the father of five children.

In the capital of Scotland, Edinburgh, on Picardy Place.

As a child, Arthur read a lot, having completely versatile interests. His favorite author was Mine Reed, and his favorite book was The Scalp Hunters.

After Arthur was nine years old, wealthy members of the Doyle family offered to pay for his tuition. Two years later, he went to boarding school at Stonyhurst. Seven subjects were taught there: alphabet, counting, basic rules, grammar, syntax, poetry, rhetoric.

In his final year, Arthur published a college magazine and wrote poetry. In addition, he played sports, mainly cricket, in which he achieved good results. Then he went to Germany in Feldkirch to learn German, where he continued to play sports with enthusiasm: football, soccer on stilts, sledding. In the summer of 1876, Doyle returned home.

In October 1876, he became a student at the medical university. While studying, Arthur met many future famous authors such as James Barry and Robert Louis Stevenson, who also attended the university. But he was most influenced by 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, earning money in his free time from school. He worked as both a pharmacist and an assistant to various doctors.

Two years after starting his education, Doyle decided 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 the Chamber's Journal in September 1879.

During this time, his father's health deteriorated and he was admitted to a psychiatric hospital. Thus, Doyle became the sole breadwinner for his family.

In 1880, Arthur received the post of surgeon on the whaler "Hope" under the command of John Gray, who went to the Arctic Circle. This adventure found its place in his story "The Captain of the Pole Star".

In the fall of 1880, Conan Doyle returned to university studies.

In 1881, he graduated from the University of Edinburgh, where he received a bachelor's degree in medicine and a master's degree in surgery, and began looking for a job. The result of this search was the position of a ship's doctor on the ship "Mayuba", which sailed between Liverpool and the west coast of Africa, and on October 22, 1881, his next voyage began.

In July 1882, Doyle left for Portsmouth, where he opened his first practice. Initially, there were no clients, and Doyle had the opportunity to devote his free time to literature. He wrote the stories "Bones", "Blumensdike Ravine", "My friend is a murderer", which he published in the magazine "London Society" in the same 1882.

On August 6, 1885, Doyle married twenty-seven-year-old Louise Hawkins. After his marriage, Doyle decided to pursue literature professionally.

In 1884 he wrote the book Girdlestones Trading House. But the book did not interest the publishers. In March 1886, Conan Doyle began writing a novel that propelled him to popularity. At first it was called A Tangled Skein. Two years later, the novel was published in Beaton's Christmas Weekly 1887 under the title A Study in Crimson, which introduced readers to Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. The novel was published in a separate edition in early 1888 and was supplied with drawings by Doyle's father, Charles Doyle.

In February 1888, Doyle wrote The Adventures of Micah Clarke, which was published in February 1889 by Longman.

In January 1889, the Doyle had a daughter, Mary. Doyle left his practice in Portsmouth and went with his wife to Vienna, where he wanted to specialize in ophthalmology. Four months later, the Doyle couple returned to London, where Arthur opened his practice. During this time, he began writing short stories about Sherlock Holmes.

In May 1891, Doyle decided to leave medical practice for good. At the end of the same year, his sixth story about Sherlock Holmes was published. At the same time, the editorial staff of the magazine "Strand" ordered Doyle six more stories.

In 1892, Doyle wrote The Exiles. In November of the same year, he had a son, who was named Alleyn Kingely.
At this time, the magazine "Strand" again proposed to write a series of stories about Sherlock Holmes. Doyle set a condition of £ 1,000 for stories, and the magazine agreed to that amount.

From 1892 to 1896, Arthur traveled a lot around the world with his family, not forgetting to work: at this time he lectured at various universities and began work on the novel "Uncle Barnack". In May 1896 he returned to England. At the end of 1897 he wrote his first theatrical play, Sherlock Holmes.

In December 1899, the Boer War began, and Doyle volunteered there as a military doctor. Later, in 1902, he wrote the book The Great Boer War.

In 1902, Conan Doyle was knighted by King Edward VII for his services to the crown during the Boer War.
Then Doyle decided to get involved in politics, took part in local elections in Edinburgh, but was defeated. Then he finished work on another major work about the adventures of Sherlock Holmes - "The Dog of the Baskervilles."

On July 4, 1906, his wife Louise died, and on September 18, 1907, Doyle married again - to Jean Lecky. The Doyle family had a daughter, Jean, and sons, Denis and Adrian.

A few years after his marriage, Doyle staged on stage "Motley Ribbon", "Rodney Stone" (called "House of Terperly"), "Points of Destiny", "Brigadier Gerard".

On August 4, 1914, Doyle joined the volunteer squad, which was completely civilian and created in case of an enemy invasion of England. During World War I, Doyle lost many people close to him, including his brother Innes, who by his death rose to the rank of Adjutant General of the Corps and son of Kingsley by his first marriage, as well as two cousins ​​and two nephews.

In the last years of his life, Doyle became interested in the teaching of spiritualism, and in the spring of 1922, together with his family, he went on a trip to America to propagate this teaching. During the trip, he gave four lectures at New York's Carnegie Hall. In the spring of 1923, Doyle embarked on his second American tour, where he visited Chicago and Salt Lake City. In the fall of 1929, he embarked on his final tour of Holland, Denmark, Sweden and Norway. In the same 1929, his last book, The Maracot Deep and Other Stories, was published.
Arthur Conan Doyle passed away on July 7, 1930.

The material was prepared on the basis of information from open sources

An English writer of Irish descent who worked and wrote his works in England, is known all over the world. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle made an enormous contribution to English literature with the creation of his iconic hero Holmes. The entire life of a fictional character is known to his fans to the smallest detail, but what do we know about the writer himself?

Childhood of Arthur Ineischus

The Doilies gave their son a triple name, traditional for those times - Arthur Ignischus Conan. The future writer saw the light of day in a family of Irish immigrants. The Scottish Edinburgh became the birthplace of the great man, and the universe chose May 22, 1859 as his date of birth.

Doyle's family did not live in poverty. His grandfather was an excellent painter as well as a silk merchant. The parents raised the boy in the best Catholic traditions and managed to give him a good education.

Charles Doyle (father) worked as a local illustrator, and was so good at his work that it was his drawings that adorned the works of Lewis Carroll, as well as Dafoe. Stained-glass windows were also made according to Charles's sketches in a large temple in Glasgow.

Irish Mary Foley became the mother of the future writer, giving her husband seven more children. Mary was known as an educated woman. She devoted a lot of time to literature, and taught her children to long-term reading, as well as to adventure novels about knights.

It was to his mother that Doyle later addressed words of gratitude for his addiction to literature..

When Arthur became a teenager, his family's well-being was noticeably shaken. Charles, as the head of the family, understood that he should adequately provide for his offspring, but he suffered from creative failure, dreamed of the glory of a great artist and therefore drank a lot.

The green serpent killed Doyle's father. Several years of hard drinking led to the fact that the man's health deteriorated, and he died. After the death of the head of the family, Doyle's relatives took patronage over the widowed Mary and her children.

So Arthur was sent to study at Stonyhurst School. The Jesuit College was famous for its high educational standards, as well as strict discipline, which often resulted in the whipping of students.

Arthur was not only flogged for wrongdoing. He also could not find a common language with some of his classmates, for which he regularly received ridicule and punches. The young man was not given exact sciences at all. Therefore, the Moriarty brothers, his classmates, often ridiculed Arthur and fought with him.

Arthur's outlet in college was cricket. The boy played this game masterly and recklessly. Even in his school years, the young man was known as an excellent storyteller. He made up stories, and the children listened to him with open mouths in surprise.

Far from home, Doyle wrote long and detailed letters to his mother about what had happened to him during the day. So he comprehended the science of detailed and detailed presentation of the plot.

Literature and later life

At the age of six, Arthur Conan Doyle wrote the first story about a tiger and a traveler. Even then, the work of the young author was filled with pragmatism and realism unusual for children of his age. The tiger dined as a traveler and there was no happy ending.

In adulthood, the writer chose the profession of a doctor. The prerequisites for this choice were the stories of his mother's guest about how he had his own medical practice.

Doyle graduated from university and became an ophthalmologist. While studying at the university, Arthur quickly converged on his classmates Stevenson and Barry. These young people later also became famous writers.

During his student days, Arthur was seriously fond of the works of Poe and Garth. He studied in detail the style of the writers, and then he himself created his works "American History" and "The Mystery of the Sesass Valley."

Since 1881 and for 10 years, Doyle was engaged only in medical practice. Then he put aside his white robe for a pen and ink. In 1886, from under the light hand of a doctor and now a writer, "Etude in crimson tones" came out.

With this story, a new era in literature began. After all, now the world has recognized a new hero, whom Conan Doyle called Sherlock Holmes. Among writers and researchers, there is an opinion that the creator copied the image of the genius detective from the real doctor Joseph Bell.

Bell was Doyle's university teacher. He made a strong impression on many students. After all, this doctor had powerful logical thinking. He could give an accurate characterization of a person by his cigarette butts, shoes, or even dirt on his pant leg. Bell, adored by Doyle, was able to accurately distinguish truth from falsehood, was able to recognize the smallest details of the situation and build logical conclusions from them.

Sherlock Holm became such a popular character because he was shown as an ordinary person who does not possess mystical superpowers, but possesses a brilliant mind and developed flair, which is so necessary for a successful search.

"Scandal in Bohemia", as well as other 12 stories about the detective and his doctor friend, were included in a large collection about Sherlock Holmes and brought their creator unprecedented fame and good money.

After a long time working on his main character, the author was so tired of him that he decided to finish him off. However, Doyle's fans bombarded Doyle with threatening letters and demanding the return of his beloved hero. Doyle had to obey them.

Of great interest in Arthur's work is his second character, Watson. The military doctor, who never managed to find a place for himself in a peaceful life, agrees with Sherlock in his views on his work, but does not approve of the simple life of a detective. The accurate portrayal of both the antagonist and the friend, ready to come to the aid of the eccentric Holmes at any moment, was the perfect complement to the storyline of the great detective stories.

Doyle's personal life and activities

Outwardly, the renowned writer looked quite impressive and presentable. A powerful man went in for sports until old age. There are versions that it was Doyle who taught the Swiss to ski, and was also one of the first to use motorized transport.

During his life, the author managed to work both as a ship's doctor and as an employee on a dry cargo ship. In his youth, Arthur sailed to the shores of Africa. There he learned a lot of new and interesting things about the life and customs of other peoples, different from the British and other Europeans.

In the First World War, Doyle was eager to go to the front, but he was not taken. Then he began to send articles on military topics to the Times, which were invariably received and printed.

Doyle's first wife was Louise Hawkins. In this marriage, the couple had two children. Unfortunately, in 1906, Arthur's wife died of consumption. A year later, the writer was comforted in the arms of his old lover. The chosen one was named Jean Lecky. In this union, Doyle had three more offspring.

Arthur's last child, Adrian, became his father's personal biographer.

In adulthood, the writer turned from realism to spiritualism. He became interested in esotericism. I personally organized spectacular seances. The second wife fully shared the magical research of her husband, and was also a rather strong medium.

In addition to seances, Doyle was also related to the Freemasons. He entered and left their box several times at his own request.

Doyle needed communication with the dead in order to find out the answers to many questions, as well as to understand whether there is life after death. The writer's unusual hobby only enriched his worldview, without spoiling his sharp mind in the least.

Arthur Doyle's social life

Doyle had different relationships with other writers. During his youth and maturity, the author was not ranked among the classics of world literature, so some fellow writers looked down on him.

In 1893, Doyle's relative married the author Hornung. The writers were friends, although sometimes they argued among themselves, not agreeing in views.

Doyle talked with Kipling for some time, but later they disagreed on the influence of English culture on the inhabitants of Africa, and became distant from each other.

Arthur had a very tense relationship with Shaw. Bernard regularly criticized the main character Doyle, considering the writer's works as childish and frivolous. Doyle reciprocated Shaw and parried all his attacks with the same barbs.

Doyle was friends with H.G. Wells, as well as with university friends who retained common interests with the author and converged with him on political and cultural issues.

Analysis of the writer's creativity

The detective genre became the leading literary movement for Arthur Conan Doyle. If before the birth of the writer's works, the authors made their characters a little mystical and divorced from reality, then Doyle managed to create the image of Sherlock in such a way that he was perceived as a living and really existing person.

This literary technique was invented by the writer due to the fact that he paid great attention to small and almost imperceptible details. Reading about Holmes, one might think that such a person once lived on the next street, and his genius abilities were only the capabilities of his brain, which Sherlock managed to develop to incredible acuity.

The heroes of Doyle's novels are characters who can be characterized as strong-willed, ambitious, ambitious, lively, impetuous, inquisitive and persistent people. These qualities, in part, belong to the author of immortal works himself.

The last years and the death of the writer

Arthur Conan Doyle has lived a rich and original life. He remained an active person until his death. In the last years before leaving, the writer traveled all over the world.

While in Scandinavia, Doyle felt ill. Having recovered a little, he left there for his native England. There he tried to negotiate with the minister so that the adherents of seances would cease to be prosecuted according to the law, but his attempt was once again unsuccessful.

Today, a modest headstone over the grave of Arthur Conan Doyle is located in the New Forest. Prior to this, the writer was buried near his home..

After the death of the prose writer, his papers were discovered, among them were unfinished works, correspondence with influential people in Great Britain and personal letters.

Interesting facts about Arthur Conan Doyle

Fate has repeatedly presented Doyle with surprises, tested him for strength, but the bestselling author has always shown character and won many social battles of the time. There are several things to know about Arthur Conan Doyle:

• Doyle played in his youth on the football team under the pseudonym Smith;
• The writer received the title "sir" for his scientific work on the war in South Africa and its causes;
• The main topic of controversy for Shaw and Doyle was the sunken Titanic;
• The writer was not recruited into the army due to weight problems;
• It was Doyle who took part in the development of the military uniform of the British soldiers;
• According to historical records, Arthur died in his own garden with a flower in his hand;
• In dealing with people, the author always behaved politely and respectfully, not dividing people by class or wealth;
• Arthur Conan Doyle came up with the idea for the Channel Tunnel.

Even today England is proud that such a great creative figure as Arthur Doyle lived and worked on its land. This genius has made a huge contribution to literature, forensics and social life in Great Britain, for which he was awarded many awards. Sir Doyle had a hand in the development of many useful things, for example, he came up with the basis for body armor for the military. He left a huge mark on history, and his works continue to be filmed over and over again, as proof that they are outside of time and outside the only era in which they were created. Until the end of his life, the pragmatist and realist Doyle remained a little child at heart. He believed in fairies and mysticism, wanting to know that the otherworldly exists and can push the boundaries of existing reality.

Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (English Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle; May 22, 1859, Edinburgh, Scotland - July 7, 1930, Crowborough, Sussex) - Scottish and English physician and writer.

The best known are his detective stories about Sherlock Holmes, adventure and sci-fi about Professor Challenger, humorous stories about Brigadier Gerard, as well as historical novels ("The White Detachment").

In addition, he wrote plays ("Waterloo", "Angels of Darkness", "Lights of Destiny", "Colorful Ribbon") and poems (collections of ballads "Songs of Action" (1898) and "Songs of the Road"), autobiographical sketches ("Notes Stark Munroe ”), everyday novels (“ Duet, with the introduction of the chorus ”), was a co-author-librettist of the operetta“ Jane Annie ”(1893).

The real name of the writer is Doyle. After the death of his beloved uncle by the name of 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 writing pseudonym - Conan Doyle.

In Russian texts, there are also spelling variants of Conan Doyle (which is more consistent with the rules for transferring 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 his birth name (given name), Conan is his uncle's memory, Doyle (or Doyle) is his surname.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was born into an Irish Catholic family known for his 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 was passionate about books and had a great talent for storytelling.

From her, Arthur inherited his interest in knightly traditions, exploits and adventures. "A real love of literature, a penchant for writing comes from me, I believe, from my mother," - wrote Conan Doyle in his autobiography. - "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 College of Stonyhurst (Lancashire), from where the future writer brought hatred of religious and class prejudices, as well as physical punishment.

The few happy moments of those years for him were associated with letters to his mother: he did not part with the habit of describing in detail the current events of his life to her throughout his life.

In addition, at the boarding school, Doyle enjoyed playing sports, mainly cricket, and also discovered the talent of a storyteller, gathering around him peers who listened to stories on the go for hours.

In 1876, Arthur graduated from college and returned home: the first thing he had to do was rewrite his father's papers in his name, who by that time had almost completely lost his mind. The writer later described the dramatic circumstances of Doyle Sr.'s imprisonment in a psychiatric hospital in the story The Surgeon of Gaster Fell (1880).

Doyle's career in the arts (to which his family tradition was predisposed) opted for a career as a physician, largely influenced by 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, where Arthur Doyle went to pursue further education. Among the future writers he met here were James Barry and Robert Louis Stevenson.

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

In February 1880, Doyle spent seven months in Arctic waters as a ship's doctor aboard the whaling ship Hope, earning a total of £ 50 for his work. “I boarded this ship as a big, clumsy youth, and came down the ladder as a strong adult man,” he later wrote in his autobiography.

Impressions from the Arctic voyage 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 steamer Mayumba, cruising between Liverpool and the West Coast of Africa.

After receiving a university degree and a bachelor of medicine in 1881, Conan Doyle went into medical practice, first joint (with an extremely unscrupulous partner - this experience was described in the "Stark Munroe Notes"), then individual, in Plymouth.

Finally, in 1891, Doyle decided to make literature his main profession. In January 1884, Cornhill magazine published the story "The Message of Hebeccook Jephson." In those days he met his future wife Louise "Tui" Hawkins; the wedding took place on August 6, 1885.

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

In March 1886, Conan Doyle began, and in April he basically completed work on Etude in Crimson (originally supposed to be called A Tangled Skein, and the two main characters were Sheridan Hope and Ormond Saker).

Ward, Locke & Co bought the rights to the novel for £ 25 and printed it in the Beeton's Christmas Annual, 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 released. 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 staunch follower of spiritualism.

In February 1888 A. Conan Doyle completed work on the novel "The Adventures of Micah Clarke", which narrated about 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 that 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 was increasingly striving to gain recognition as the author of serious novels (primarily historical ones), as well as plays and poems.

The first serious historical work of Conan Doyle is considered to be the novel "The White Detachment". In it, the author turned to a critical stage in the history of feudal England, taking as a basis a real historical episode of 1366, when a lull came in the Hundred Years War and "white detachments" of volunteers and mercenaries began to appear.

Continuing the war in France, they played a decisive role in the struggle of the claimants for the Spanish throne. Conan Doyle used this episode for his artistic purpose: he revived the life and customs of that time, and most importantly, he presented chivalry in a heroic halo, which by that time was already in decline.

The White Squad 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 has always said that he considered it one of his best works.

With some admission, the novel "Rodney Stone" (1896) can be attributed to the category of historical ones: the action here takes place at the beginning of the 19th century, Napoleon and Nelson, the playwright Sheridan are mentioned.

Initially, this work was conceived as a play with the tentative 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 Fleet", "History of Boxing", etc.).

To the Napoleonic Wars, from Trafalgar to Waterloo, Conan Doyle dedicated Brigadier Gerard's Exploits and Adventures. The birth of this character apparently dates back to 1892, when George Meredith presented Conan Doyle with the three-volume Memoirs of Marbaud: the latter became the prototype of Gerard.

The first story of the new series, "The 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 The Strand Magazine, after which the author continued to work on the sequel in Davos.

From April to September 1895, The Exploits of Brigadier Gerard were published in The Strand. The 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 written out with great reliability.

“The spirit and flow of these stories is remarkable, the accuracy in keeping the names and titles in itself demonstrates the scale of your work. Few could find any errors here. And I, having a special nose for all sorts of mistakes, have not found anything with minor exceptions, "- wrote Doyle the famous British historian Archibald Forbes.

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

Sherlock Holmes

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 protagonist, who soon became the legendary detective-consultant, was Joseph Bell, a professor at the University of Edinburgh, famous for his ability to guess the character and past of a person in the smallest detail.

Over the course of two years, Doyle created story after story, and eventually began to feel weary about his own character. His attempt to "end" Holmes in a fight with Professor Moriarty ("Holmes's 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 Crimson Tones" (1887), "The Sign of Four" (1890), "The Dog of the Baskervilles", "The Valley of Terror" - and five collections of 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 Holmes' greatness, 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 Holmes differs from his predecessors: the combination of unusual qualities raised him above time, made him relevant at all times. The extraordinary popularity of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson gradually developed into a branch of new mythology, the center of which remains to this day an apartment in London at 221-b Baker Street.

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

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

At the end of the post-war debate, Conan Doyle launched a wide publicistic and (as they would say now) human rights activity. His attention was attracted by the so-called "Edalji case", in the center of which was a young Parsi who was convicted on a trumped-up charge (of injuring horses).