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Arthur and Sherlock: Conan Doyle and the Creation of Holmes

di Michael Sims

Utenti	Recensioni	Popolarità	Media voti	Citazioni
187	6	145,401	(3.45)	2
" As a young medical student, Arthur Conan Doyle studied in Edinburgh under the vigilant eye of a diagnostic genius, Dr. Joseph Bell. Doyle often observed Bell identifying a patient's occupation, hometown, and ailments from the smallest details of dress, gait, and speech. Although Doyle was training to be a surgeon, he was meanwhile cultivating essential knowledge that would feed his literary dreams and help him develop the most iconic detective in fiction. Michael Sims traces the circuitous development of Conan Doyle as the father of the modern mystery, from his early days in Edinburgh surrounded by poverty and violence, through his escape to University (where he gained terrifying firsthand knowledge of poisons), leading to his own medical practice in 1882. Five hardworking years later -- after Doyle's only modest success in both medicine and literature -- Sherlock Holmes emerged in A Study in Scarlet. Sims deftly shows Holmes to be a product of Doyle's varied adventures in his personal and professional life, as well as built out of the traditions of Edgar Allan Poe, Émile Gaboriau, Wilkie Collins, and Charles Dickens -- not just a skillful translator of clues, but a veritable superhero of the mind in the tradition of Doyle's esteemed teacher. Filled with details that will surprise even the most knowledgeable Sherlockian, Arthur and Sherlock is a literary genesis story for detective fans everywhere. "--… (altro)

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Arthur Conan Doyle is most renowned as the inventor of Sherlock Holmes, the astute, determined and steadfast London detective whose many solved cases contribute to what we now consider the mystery genre in its infancy. Doyle's inspiration for his famously analytical protagonist came not from his own imagination but instead from a respected medical professor he studied under in Edinburgh. In this biography, author Michael Sims illustrates Doyle's life before and after his "Sherlock" fame.

I thought I initially heard about this book on the SYMHC podcast, but I'm not finding the episode now to confirm. It was interesting to learn of Doyle's background and of his desire to become a writer despite having been educated as a physician. There was one scene in which I took exception to Sims' choice of phrase, when he declared that "Arthur delivered at home their first child" — doctor notwithstanding, I'm pretty sure we know who did all of the work. Amusing side note: When the categories were released for Read Harder 2022 and the first one was "a biography of an author you admire," I was already in the middle of this book. I'm unsure about the term "admire," since I knew nothing about Doyle personally or as a writer, but I suppose I admire or respect him about as much as I do any other author, so SCORE! (

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ryner | Jan 14, 2022 |

Rather too much detail on the influences prompting Doyle to invent the Holmes character - sometimes interesting - Riding a bicycle for two with wife Touie, who caught the train home from their outing! (

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siri51 | Oct 31, 2021 |

This is an interesting biography / history of Conan Doyle’s life as a young man. The reader learns of the people and events that influenced and inspired him when he created his most famous character: Sherlock Holmes. There was the professor in medical school who had trained himself to keenly observe a patient’s demeanor, clothing, and general appearance and from those observable “clues” infer the man’s occupation, background, and even marital status. And there were the writings of Edgar Allen Poe, Wilkie Collins, Emile Gaboriau and others, on whose foundations Doyle built his own style.

I also found it interesting to learn of the publishing business in this era, and stunned to discover that Donan Doyle had to basically sell his copyright in order to get that first Holme’s mystery published. (

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BookConcierge | Jun 22, 2019 |

History of Conan Doyle ending with his reaching success with the Sherlock Holmes character. Heavy on interesting facts, light on creating the story of Conan Doyle. Significant detail about Doyle's father and his illness without any particular conclusion reached. Credit given to Professor Bell for the reasoned approach to detection. Credit also given to preceding fictional detective characters. The most fascinating aspect was Doyle's apparent need to be a successful popular writer. (

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MM_Jones | Jun 3, 2017 |

A great book. Sims writes astonishingly well about the early life of AC Doyle, and the difficulty in getting published in the 1880s. He writes about all of the magazines and papers that were exploding on both sides of the Atlantic. (

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annbury | Mar 17, 2017 |

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thingScore 75

For all its diligent research, Sims’s brief book covers much the same ground as Andrew Lycett in his similarly entitled Conan Doyle: The Man Who Created Sherlock Holmes (2007). If it has a fault, it lies in the quality of the prose. The title The Scarlet Letter, we are told, radiates “an artsy frisson of vice”, while the Dupin tales give off a “seductive reek of depravity”. Sims, an anglophile American with a taste for gas-lit murders, need not have cranked up the adjectives. Arthur and Sherlock remains an absorbing tribute to the world’s greatest investigator and his troubled maker.

aggiunto da andrewv128 | modificaThe Guardian, Ian Thomson (Mar 19, 2017)

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Edgar Award (Candidato – Critical/Biographical Work – 2018)

Macavity Award (Candidato – Saggistica – 2018)

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Arthur Conan Doyle

Sherlock Holmes

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"What clue could you have as to his identity?"
"Only as much as we can deduce."
"From his hat?"
"Precisely."
"But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered felt?"
"Here is my lens. You know my methods."
—Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson in "The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle"

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To George Gibson with admiration and affection

Incipit

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A shiny brass plate suspended from a wrought-iron railing along the street proclaimed

DR. CONAN DOYLE
SURGEON

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Gibson, George

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▾Descrizioni del libro

" As a young medical student, Arthur Conan Doyle studied in Edinburgh under the vigilant eye of a diagnostic genius, Dr. Joseph Bell. Doyle often observed Bell identifying a patient's occupation, hometown, and ailments from the smallest details of dress, gait, and speech. Although Doyle was training to be a surgeon, he was meanwhile cultivating essential knowledge that would feed his literary dreams and help him develop the most iconic detective in fiction. Michael Sims traces the circuitous development of Conan Doyle as the father of the modern mystery, from his early days in Edinburgh surrounded by poverty and violence, through his escape to University (where he gained terrifying firsthand knowledge of poisons), leading to his own medical practice in 1882. Five hardworking years later -- after Doyle's only modest success in both medicine and literature -- Sherlock Holmes emerged in A Study in Scarlet. Sims deftly shows Holmes to be a product of Doyle's varied adventures in his personal and professional life, as well as built out of the traditions of Edgar Allan Poe, Émile Gaboriau, Wilkie Collins, and Charles Dickens -- not just a skillful translator of clues, but a veritable superhero of the mind in the tradition of Doyle's esteemed teacher. Filled with details that will surprise even the most knowledgeable Sherlockian, Arthur and Sherlock is a literary genesis story for detective fans everywhere. "--

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