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Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle KStJ DL (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a British writer and medical doctor. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 when he published A Study in Scarlet, the first of four novels and more than fifty short stories about Holmes and Dr. Watson. The Sherlock Holmes stories are generally considered milestones in the field of crime fiction.
Doyle was a prolific writer; other than Holmes stories, his works include fantasy and science fiction stories about Professor Challenger and humorous stories about the Napoleonic soldier Brigadier Gerard, as well as plays, romances, poetry, non-fiction and historical novels. One of Doyle's early short stories, "J. Habakuk Jephson's Statement" (1884), helped to popularise the mystery of the Mary Celeste.
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Our ideas must be as broad as Nature if they are to interpret Nature. -Arthur Conan Doyle
Our ideas must be as broad as Nature if they are to interpret Nature. Arthur Conan Doyle
When a doctor does go wrong he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. Arthur Conan Doyle
I have frequently gained my first real insight into the character of parents by studying their children. Arthur Conan Doyle
The Return of Sherlock Holmes was published in 1905. In 1891, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was completely exasperated by the seemingly endless appetite of readers who welcomed each new Sherlock Holmes story with the greatest delight. He wrote to his mother confessing that he was “thinking of slaying Holmes... He takes my mind from better things.” His mother's famous reply, “You won't, you can't, you mustn't!” only echoed the voice of his readers. However, in 1893, Conan Doyle did the unthinkable; he finished off Holmes in the Reichenbach Falls in The Final Problem and thought he had done with the man for good.
His Last Bow was published in the Strand Magazine circa 1908 and included several other short stories as well. Even during Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's own lifetime, Holmes had acquired cult status. His deductive methods, brilliant powers of observation, eccentric habits, occasional dabbling in drugs, strange and exotic clients and his connections among the high and mighty across many countries and continents went on to attain legendary fame.
His Last Bow was published in the Strand Magazine circa 1908 and included several other short stories as well. Even during Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's own lifetime, Holmes had acquired cult status. His deductive methods, brilliant powers of observation, eccentric habits, occasional dabbling in drugs, strange and exotic clients and his connections among the high and mighty across many countries and continents went on to attain legendary fame.
Set during the Hundred Years’ War with France, The White Company tells the story of a young Saxon man who is learning what it is to be a knight. Raised by Cistercian Monks and rejected by a violent elder brother, Alleyn Edricson takes service with one of the foremost knights in the country. When Alleyn falls in love with the knight’s daughter, he must prove himself to be a courageous and honourable knight before he can win her hand. Alleyn and his friends set forth with the other men-at-arms to join Prince Edward in Bordeaux, from where they will take part in the Prince’s campaign into Spain. It is in Spain that Alleyn and others must prove themselves to be very valiant and hardy cavaliers.
The White Company is a historical romance set in the Middle Ages, with perhaps a little more cynicism than usual in the Victorian genre. Conan Doyle subsequently wrote a prequel, Sir Nigel.
The plot of The Lost World was not entirely new even when it was first published in 1912. The theme of an expedition to a remote region of the earth, hitherto undiscovered by civilization, was earlier portrayed in Jules Verne's 1864 novel Journey to the Center of the Earth. However, with The Lost World, Conan Doyle explores several other themes as well. The idea of civilization, theories about the origin of life on earth and the various motives that people who seek adventure may have are some of the interesting concepts encountered here.