Arthur Conan Doyle. Biographical information. The Adventures of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's most famous works

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Biography of Arthur Conan Doyle

Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (1859 - 1930) is a famous English writer. Creator of more than seventy books: stories, novels, novellas, poems. Works of adventure, science-fiction, humorous genres.

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

1868 Wealthy relatives sent Arthur to study at school in Hodder. At the age of eleven, he moves to the next level of education - Catholic school in Stonyhurst. The school taught seven subjects and practiced harsh punishments.

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

The beginning of a creative journey

1876 ​​- Arthur enters medical university, choosing a career as a doctor despite the fact that the family devoted itself to literature and art. While studying, he worked in a pharmacy, helping his family financially. I read a lot while continuing to write.

1879 - the story “The Secret of the Sesassa Valley” brought Doyle his first income from literary creativity. By this time, he becomes his mother’s only support, as his father, who is ill, is admitted to the hospital.

1880 - he sets sail as a surgeon on the ship Nadezhda, which is engaged in whale fishing. Seven months of work brought him 50 pounds.

1881 - becomes a bachelor of medicine, but to become a doctor practice was necessary.

1882 - worked as a doctor in Plymouth, then moved to Portsmouth, where his first practice opened. At first there was little work, which gave him the opportunity to write for his soul.

Writing career

Doyle continues his literary activities. His fame comes from the publication of “A Study in Scarlet.” The characters Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson become heroes of new stories.

In 1891, Doyle said goodbye to medicine and plunged into the work of a writer. His popularity is gaining momentum after the release of his next work, “The Man with a Cut Lip.” A magazine that publishes stories about Sherlock Holmes asks the author to write six more stories about this character for a sum of 50 pounds.

After some time, Arthur begins to be burdened by the cycle, believing that these works distract from writing other serious works, but he fulfills the agreement to write stories.

A year later, the magazine again asks him to write a series of stories about Sherlock. The author's fee is £1,000. Fatigue associated with searching for a plot for a new story prompts Arthur to “kill” the main character. After the completion of the series about the famous detective, 20 thousand readers refuse to purchase the magazine.

In 1892, the play “Waterloo” was released on the stage. The operetta “Jane Annie, or the Prize for Good Conduct,” based on his second play, was a failure. Doubting his ability to write plays, Doyle agrees to give lectures on literary topics throughout England.

• 1894 - Gives lectures in cities across the United States. In subsequent years, he writes 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 awarded Conan Doyle the title of knight for his participation as a military doctor in the Boer War;
• 1910 - the next works “The Speckled Ribbon” and others appear on the stage.

Over the next years, he continued to write literary works and political essays. Visits America, Holland and other countries. The most popular were works about Sherlock Holmes, although he himself considered historical novels 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 Leckie, with whom he had been secretly in love since 1897. He was the father of five children.

An English writer of Irish descent, who worked and created his works in England, is known throughout the world. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle made a huge contribution to English literature by creating his iconic hero Holmes. The entire life of a fictional character is known to his fans down to the smallest detail, but what do we know about the writer himself?

Childhood of Arthur Igneishus

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

Doyle's family was not poor. His grandfather was an excellent artist and also 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 Defoe. Stained glass windows were also made according to Charles' sketches in a large temple in Glasgow.

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

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

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

The green snake killed Father Doyle. Several years of heavy drinking led to the man’s health deteriorating and he died. After the death of the head of the family, the Doyle 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 flogging of students.

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

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

While far from home, Doyle wrote long and detailed letters to his mother about what happened to him during the day. This is how he mastered the science of detailed and detailed presentation of the plot.

Literature and later life

At the age of six, Arthur Conan Doyle wrote his 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 on the 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 the guest to his mother about how he had his own medical practice.

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

During his student years, Arthur was seriously interested in the works of Poe and Hart. He studied the style of the writers in detail, and then himself created his works “American History” and “The Mystery of the Sasas Valley.”

From 1881 and for 10 years, Doyle was engaged only in medical practice. Then he put aside his white coat for pen and ink. In 1886, “A Study in Scarlet” came out from under the light hand of a doctor and now a writer.

This story began a new era in literature. After all, the world has now recognized a new hero, whom Conan Doyle named Sherlock Holmes. There is an opinion among writers and researchers that the creator copied the image of the brilliant detective from the real doctor Joseph Bell.

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

Sherlock Hill became such a popular character because he was shown as an ordinary person who does not have mystical superpowers, but has a brilliant mind and developed instincts, which are so necessary for successful investigation.

“A Scandal in Bohemia,” as well as 12 other 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 working on his main character for a long time, the author became so tired of him that he decided to kill him off. However, fans flooded Doyle with threatening letters and demands to return their beloved hero. Doyle had to obey them.

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

Doyle's personal life and activities

Outwardly, the famous writer looked quite impressive and presentable. The powerful man played sports until his old age. There are versions that it was Doyle who taught the Swiss how to ski, and was also one of the first to use motorized vehicles.

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.

During World War I, Doyle was eager to go to the front, but he was not taken. Then he began sending articles on military topics to The Times, which were invariably accepted and published.

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 consoled in the arms of his longtime lover. The chosen one's name was Jean Lekki. 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 began to get involved in esotericism. Personally organized spectacular spiritualistic seances. The second wife fully shared the magical research of her husband, and was also a fairly strong medium.

In addition to spiritualistic séances, Doyle was also involved with the Freemasons. He entered and left their lodge several times at his own request.

Communication with the dead was necessary for Doyle 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 in the least spoiling his sharp mind.

The Social Life of Arthur Doyle

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

In 1893, a relative of Doyle married the author Hornung. The writers were friends, although sometimes they argued among themselves, not seeing eye to eye.

Doyle communicated with Kipling for some time, but later they disagreed about the influence of English culture on the people of Africa, and grew apart.

Arthur had a very strained relationship with Shaw. Bernard regularly criticized Doyle's protagonist, considering the writer's works childish and frivolous. Doyle reciprocated Shaw's feelings and countered all his attacks with the same barbs.

Doyle was friends with Herbert Wells, as well as with university friends who retained common interests with the author and agreed with him on issues of politics and culture.

Analysis of the writer's creativity

The detective genre became the leading literary direction 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 device was invented by the writer due to the fact that he paid great attention to small and almost imperceptible details. Reading about Holmes, you might think that such a man once lived on the next street, and his genius abilities were only the capabilities of his brain, which Sherlock managed to develop to incredible sharpness.

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

Last years and death of the writer

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

While in Scandinavia, Doyle felt unwell. Having recovered a little, he left from there for his native England. There he tried to negotiate with the minister so that adherents of spiritualist séances would stop being prosecuted, but his attempt was once again unsuccessful.

Today, the modest gravestone of Arthur Conan Doyle is located in the New Forest. Before 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 more than once presented Doyle with surprises and tested his strength, but the bestselling author always showed character and won many social battles of that time. Here's what you need to know about Arthur Conan Doyle:

• Doyle played on the football team in his youth 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 point of contention between Shaw and Doyle was the sinking of the Titanic;
• The writer was not accepted into the army due to weight problems;
• It was Doyle who took part in the development of the military uniform of English soldiers;
• According to historical data, Arthur died in his own garden with a flower in his hand;
• When communicating with people, the author always behaved politely and respectfully, without dividing people by class or wealth;
• The idea of ​​the Channel Tunnel belongs to Arthur Conan Doyle.

Even today England is proud that such a great creative figure as Arthur Doyle lived and worked on its soil. This brilliant man made a huge contribution to literature, criminology 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 again and again, as proof that they are timeless 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 existed and could push the boundaries of existing reality.

Arthur Conan Doyle is an English writer, doctor, author of numerous adventure, historical, journalistic, science fiction and humorous works.

The great writer Arthur Conan Doyle was born and raised in a family of Irish Catholics. My father worked part-time as an architect and artist. Little Doyle's mother was a young 17-year-old girl with a passion for reading and a magical gift for storytelling. The family was quite poor, had no servants, the writer’s mother did all the housework, very often talking with her son. Since money was tight in the family, rich relatives offered to pay for little Doyle’s education. Soon, nine-year-old Arthur began receiving his primary education at Godder Preparatory School, where he had to study for seven years. He hated the order prevailing there: religious lessons and physical punishment (which little Arthur often received). It was here that he found his outlet in writing, sending letters with detailed stories about his life to his mother.

My literary debut happened in my 3rd year. His first story, “The Secret of the Sesas Valley,” was even published in a university magazine, and his work was published three times in a larger publication. During his studies, Arthur Conan Doyle worked as both a pharmacist and an assistant to various doctors in order to send money to his seven brothers and sisters.

From February 1880 to September, he served as a ship's doctor on board the whaling ship Nadezhda. After 2 years, he had a similar job on the ship "Mayumba". In 1881, after graduating from the University, he received a medical diploma and a bachelor's degree. I started a joint practice and then an individual one.

May 1891 becomes a turning point for Arthur Conan Doyle - he falls ill with the flu and is near death for several days. When the illness recedes, he realizes that he only wants to engage in literature and writing. To fulfill all his dreams, Arthur moves to London. Since 1884, Conan Doyle has been trying himself in different genres, creating one work after another.

In the late 80s, for fun, he tried to write the first detective stories about the amateur detective Sherlock Holmes. Surprisingly, these works instantly arouse the interest of readers. The author received a huge number of letters addressed to the detective. People believed that this was not a fictional, but a real person. Fearing becoming a “one-character writer,” Conan Doyle “dead” his hero in 1893. Readers did not like this very much; they were indignant. In 1899-1902, during the Boer War, having already become a popular writer at that time, Arthur Conan Doyle went to the front as a regimental doctor. Unfortunately, 1902 brought money problems, so the writer had to “resurrect” the detective, and new stories about Holmes continued to appear until 1927. In 1912, Conan Doyle published the science fiction story “The Lost World” (subsequently filmed several times). Conan Doyle also wrote many historical and fantasy stories and novels.

In 1895, the first marriage occurred, in which two wonderful children were born. After the death of his first wife from tuberculosis, Doyle decided on a second marriage in 1907, in which 3 children were born. Conan had been secretly in love with his second wife since they met in 1897.

During the First World War he wanted to go to the front, but he was refused. After which the writer delved into journalism, writing on military topics. The deaths of his son, two nephews and brother during the First World War left an indelible mark on Arthur's heart. Having broken with his previous literary circle, in 1917 he publicly renounced Catholicism. This was the beginning of the passion for spiritualism. The last major work was published in 1929.

At the end of his life, Arthur Conan Doyle traveled a lot in search of something new. He sailed to the shores of Greenland, Africa, Egypt, Holland, Denmark, Sweden and Norway. He visited countries and continents, hunted whales and crocodiles. At the same time, he did not forget to engage in journalism.

In 1930, already bedridden, he made his last journey. Rising from his bed, he went out into the garden, and then an unexpected heart attack occurred. He was found on the ground, clutching a white snowdrop. Arthur Conan Doyle died on Monday, July 7, 1930, surrounded by his family. He was buried in Minstead Hampshire Cemetery.

Interesting Facts:
Arthur Conan Doyle's father suffered from psychological disorders and uncontrollable cravings for alcohol.

Arthur's favorite children's book was "Scalp Hunters", and the writer.

The writer's university teacher, Dr. Joseph Bell, served as the prototype for Sherlock Holmes.

Doyle had a bad relationship with, who spoke about Sherlock Holmes as “a drug addict who does not have a single pleasant quality.”

In 1902, King Edward VII awarded Doyle a knighthood for services rendered to the Crown during the Boer War.

In his mature years, Arthur joined the Golden Dawn occult society, became president of the British College of Occult Sciences, and created the fundamental “History of Spiritualism.”

Conan Doyle's second wife was considered a powerful medium.

The last words of the writer before his death, which Arthur Conan Doyle said to his wife, whispered to her: “You are wonderful.”

On May 22, 1859, Sir Arthur Ignaceus Conan Doyle was born in Edinburgh (Scotland), a famous English writer, author of numerous adventure, detective, historical, journalistic, science fiction and humorous works, creator of the brilliant detective Sherlock Holmes.
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I gave birth to you, I will kill you! – Cossack ataman Taras Bulba says bitterly before shooting his son Andriy in the story of the same name by Nikolai Gogol. I think a similar thought more than once arose in the mind of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in relation to the hero he created - the unsurpassed master of deduction, Mr. Sherlock Holmes. Holmes's popularity in Great Britain reached such proportions that it overshadowed other aspects of the writer's literary activity - primarily historical novels, philosophical and journalistic works, to which he attached great importance. In the end, Sherlock Holmes got so fed up with his creator that Conan Doyle decided to send the detective to the next world. However, here the readers rebelled, and we had to urgently come up with plausible ways to resurrect the brilliant detective. However, sticking to the deductive method, let's go back to the beginning.
Arthur was the first son of seven surviving children of the Doyle family. Mother - Mary Foyley - came from an ancient Irish family, father - architect and artist Charles Doyle - was the youngest son of the first English cartoonist John Doyle. Unlike his brothers, who had a brilliant career (James was the chief artist of the humorous magazine Punch, Henry was the director of the National Art Gallery of Ireland), Charles Doyle eked out a rather miserable existence, doing low-paid, routine paperwork in Edinburgh. There was little joy from such service, his whimsical fantastic watercolors did not sell, and the naturally melancholic artist fell into depression, became addicted to wine, and was sent to a hospital for alcoholics, and then to a mental asylum. Mother fought poverty as best she could, replacing the lack of material wealth with stories about the glorious past of the ancestors of their family tree. “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,” one of the writer’s biographers later wrote. And he himself admitted: “A real love for literature, a penchant for writing, comes from my mother... 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.”
Fortunately, there were rich relatives. It was with their money that nine-year-old Arthur was sent to England, to a closed school, and then to the Jesuit college in Stonyhurst. After 7 years of study in an atmosphere of severe discipline, severe corporal punishment and ascetic conditions, which somewhat brightened up sports and a passion for literature, the time came to choose a profession. Arthur decided to study medicine - the doctor’s mission was fully consistent with his ideas about the worthy performance of duty and the code of honor instilled by his mother. He will be guided by this code all his life, which will win the respect of his contemporaries.
At the University of Edinburgh, which Doyle chose following the example of the young doctor Brian Waller who lived in their house, he met the future writers Robert Louis Stevenson and James Barry. Among the professors of the Faculty of Medicine, Joseph Bell especially stood out. At Bell's lecture, students flocked in droves: the deductive method with which the professor determined the profession, origin, personality traits and illness of the patient in the smallest detail seemed to them like something out of magic. This very popular surgeon at the university later served as the prototype for Sherlock Holmes for Conan Doyle. The writer transferred his sharp mind, eccentric manners, even Bell's physical features - an aquiline nose and close-set eyes - into the appearance of his brilliant detective.
To pay for his expensive education, Arthur constantly had to take on boring part-time jobs in a pharmacy. So, when, in his third year, a position as a ship’s surgeon on a whaling ship heading to Greenland came up, he didn’t think twice about it. True, he did not have to use his newly acquired medical skills, but Doyle was able to realize his long-standing romantic passion for travel, heroic adventures and mortal dangers - hunting whales along with the crew members. “I have become a grown man at 80 degrees north latitude,” he proudly told his mother, handing over the 50 pounds he had earned through dangerous labor. Later, impressions of the first Arctic voyage became the theme of the story “Captain of the Polar Star.” Two years later, Doyle again made a similar voyage - this time to the west coast of Africa on board the cargo ship Mayumba.
Having received a university diploma and a bachelor's degree in medicine in 1881, Conan Doyle began practicing medicine. The first joint experience of working with an unscrupulous partner was unsuccessful, and Arthur decided to open his own practice in Portsmouth.

At first, things went from bad to worse - patients were in no hurry to see a young doctor whom no one knew in the city. Then Doyle decided to become “visible” - he signed up for bowling and cricket clubs, helped organize the city football team, and joined the Portsmouth Literary and Scientific Society. Gradually, patients began to appear in his waiting room, and fees began to appear in his pocket. In 1885, Arthur married the sister of one of his patients. He was very worried that he could not help Jack Hawkins, who died of cerebral meningitis. Jack's thin, pale 27-year-old sister Louise evoked in him chivalrous feelings, a desire to protect and take under her wing. In addition, in a conservative provincial society, a married doctor is much more trustworthy. Doyle successfully combined medical practice and family life with writing. Actually, his baptism of fire in the literary field took place when he was still a medical student. The first story, “The Mystery of Sasas Valley,” created under the influence of his favorite writers Edgar Allan Poe and Bret Harte, was published by the university Chamber’s Journal, the second, “American History,” was published by the London Society magazine. Since then, Arthur has continued his writing experiments with varying degrees of intensity. One of the Portsmouth magazines bought two of his stories, and the prestigious Cornhill Magazine published the essay “The Message of Hebekuk Jephson”, paying the author as much as 30 pounds.
Inspired by success, Doyle tirelessly wrote articles and pamphlets for newspapers, and sent out his stories and novels to editorial offices and publishing houses. One of them – “A Study in Scarlet” – marked the beginning of the long-term epic of Sherlock Holmes. The idea of ​​writing a detective novel dawned on Conan Doyle when he was once again re-reading Edgar Poe, a writer who not only first coined the word “detective” in the story “The Gold Bug” (1843), but also made his hero detective Dupin the main character of the story. Sherlock Holmes became Doyle’s Dupin – “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.”
“A Study in Scarlet” wandered around the editorial offices for a long time until it caught the eye of the wife of one of the publishers. The novel was published, and soon after its publication in 1887, the new London magazine Strand ordered Doyle 6 more stories about the detective. And then the incredible began: Sherlock Holmes captivated the public so much that they perceived him as a real living person, in flesh and blood, awaiting with admiration new brilliant victories of his keen intellect in the fight against the criminal world. The Strand's circulation doubled, and on the day the next issue of the magazine was published, a huge line of people eager to learn about the new investigations of the independent amateur detective crowded the editorial office. More and more stories about Holmes were demanded from Doyle, his fame grew, his financial position strengthened, and in 1891 he decided to leave medical practice, move to London and make writing his main profession.

Doyle is full of plans and takes on the historical novel with inspiration. Now Sherlock Holmes, who made him famous, becomes a burden that binds writer's freedom. In addition, the readers went completely crazy - they bombarded him with letters addressed to the detective, sending him gifts - violin strings, pipes, tobacco, even cocaine; checks with large sums for fees, persuading them to take on solving some case. To put an end to this, Conan Doyle writes Holmes's Last Case, where the detective, who was persistently associated with the writer's alter ego, dies in a fight with Professor Moriarty. But that was not the case: a stream of letters poured into the editorial office, crowds gathered around the office with posters “Give us back Holmes!”, the most radical readers tied black mourning ribbons to their hats, and the writer himself received threatening calls at home every now and then. It was in vain that Doyle asked for obviously unreasonable fees, hoping that the Strand would back down - the publishers were ready to pay any money for new stories about Holmes and his faithful friend Doctor Watson.
Reluctantly, the writer agreed to resurrect his hero - largely because of his wife, for whose treatment fabulous sums were spent. Arthur could not forgive himself that, being a doctor, he did not notice the symptoms of tuberculosis in Louise. Experts gave her three months to live - thanks to ultra-expensive treatment in Davos, in Switzerland, Doyle managed to extend his wife’s life by 13 years. In 1897, the 37-year-old writer met Jean Leckie. Over the next 10 years, Arthur was torn between a sense of duty to his terminally ill disabled wife and love for a young beauty. Tormented by remorse, he suppressed his passion and only a year after Louise’s death married Jean.
Conan Doyle always rushed into the thick of things, trying to achieve the truth and defend it: he wrote articles, debated, fought for the release of innocent prisoners, took part in parliamentary elections, served as a surgeon during the Boer War, constantly developed proposals and innovations to improve the condition of the army During the First World War, he was a publicist and human rights activist. Doyle's historical novels, exploring a huge time span, had a resonance in society, and the science fiction stories "The Lost World" and "The Poison Belt" made a splash in those years. King Edward VII granted the writer a knighthood and the title of Sir.
When in 1916 an article appeared in a magazine devoted to occult sciences with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's public confession of having acquired a "spiritualist religion", it had the effect of a bomb exploding. Spiritualism had previously interested the writer, and when it turned out that his second wife Jean had the gift of a medium, the writer’s faith gained new breath. Now the death of his brother, son and two nephews at the front, which became a huge shock in Doyle’s life, did not seem something irreversible - after all, it was possible to communicate with them and establish contact. The sense of duty that always motivated this strong man gave him a new mission - to alleviate the suffering of people, to convince them that there is a way of communication between the living and the departed.
Doyle knew that his fame as a writer would attract people, and, without sparing himself, he crisscrossed the continents, giving lectures around the world. Faithful Holmes came to the rescue this time too - writing new stories about him brought in money, which the writer immediately used to finance his propaganda tours. Journalists made sophisticated mockery: “Conan Doyle has gone crazy! Sherlock Holmes lost his clear analytical mind and began to believe in ghosts." But Doyle, driven by a messianic impulse, did not care about his reputation, or the persuasion of his friends to come to his senses, or the ridicule of his ill-wishers: the main thing was to convey to people the teaching in which he so passionately believed. He devotes his fundamental work “History of Spiritualism”, the books “New Revelation” and “Land of Mists” to this topic.
It is not surprising that the 71-year-old writer, convinced of the posthumous existence of the individual, greeted his death on July 7, 1930 with the words: “I am setting off on the most exciting and glorious journey that has ever happened in my adventurous life.”
At the funeral in the Doyle garden, an upbeat atmosphere reigned: the writer's widow Jean was in a bright dress, a special train brought telegrams and flowers that carpeted the huge field next to the house. One of the telegrams sent read: “Conan Doyle is dead - long live Sherlock Holmes!”

World-famous literary critic, writer and poet V.V. Nabokov did not appreciate the work of Dostoevsky, was wary of Thomas Mann and Camus, and considered Galsworthy and Dreiser to be mediocrities. But he really loved Conan Doyle’s works. True, he once admitted that he read the writer in childhood, but over time their charm faded for him. Conan Doyle's adventure stories are more popular with teenagers. But this does not mean that he was not capable of creating complex, deep prose. It’s just that many of Conan Doyle’s works are not widely known.

The childhood of the creator of Sherlock Holmes

He was born on May 22, 1859, into an Irish Catholic family. From an early age the boy read a lot. Already at the age of six he wrote his first work. Conan Doyle was the son of an architect who suffered from alcohol addiction and made the life of his household members hell. Unpleasant memories from childhood left their mark on both the character and the work of the writer.

The future master of words lived in his father’s house for only four years. Charles Doyle was particularly cruel to his son. At times she went far beyond the strict Victorian upbringing. This prompted Mary Doyle to send Arthur to a closed school. But even before entering the educational institution, the boy spent some time with the family of his mother’s acquaintances.

Charlie and Mary Doyle experienced serious financial difficulties. The reason was the inappropriate behavior of the head of the family, who not only abused alcohol, but also had an extremely unbalanced psyche. Perhaps Godder's closed school became a salvation for little Arthur.

The future prose writer's least favorite subject was mathematics. An interesting fact from the biography of our hero: he had a very difficult relationship with his fellow students, the Moriarty brothers. Later, in one of his works, Conan Doyle endowed the negative character with this name, thereby taking revenge on the offenders. Now, for many fans of the writer and his famous hero Sherlock Holmes, the name Moriarty evokes only negative associations.

First literary experience

It is difficult to list all of Conan Doyle's works. The list of books by the English prose writer is quite extensive. It is impossible to list absolutely everything. Some works were not completed, others the author was unable to publish. Modern researchers claim that the first book was written in 1865, that is, when the author was only six years old.

Conan Doyle mentioned his debut work in the essay “Juvenalia”. It is known that there were only two characters in it: the tiger and the traveler. The first swallowed the second, which put the young author in a difficult position. How to end the story? Arthur Conan Doyle was not a romantic, he was a realist (although he was interested in the paranormal). Therefore, he could not resurrect his hero. This book was not completed. For many years it was kept in the family archive. It was removed from there only in 2004, and later sold at Christie's auction.

Doctor-writer

For some reason, among the masters of artistic expression there are many doctors. Anton Chekhov, Mikhail Bulgakov, and many others. Arthur Conan Doyle, like the above-mentioned authors, was lucky. After all, he was born in the middle of the 19th century. If Conan Doyle had been born fifty years earlier, he would have had to dig up corpses in the cemetery in order to practice anatomy, use alcohol instead of anesthesia, and perform many other unpleasant manipulations. Fortunately, it was in the middle of the 19th century that medicine made a huge leap towards progress. Doyle managed to combine his studies with his literary career.

Our hero was educated at the University of Edinburgh. A certain young doctor who rented a room in Mary Doyle’s house played a significant role in the choice of profession. Father by that time was almost completely The medical student's first story was published in a university magazine. This work is called "The Secret of the Sesassa Valley." It was created under the influence of the work of Edgar Allan Poe.

Travel to the Arctic

In 1880, one of Conan Doyle's acquaintances was offered a position as a doctor on a whaling ship. But for some reason he could not go. He proposed instead the candidacy of the future creator of works about Sherlock Holmes. By this time, Arthur had passed the winter exam and was looking for seasonal work.

He agreed to go on a long journey with great joy. Not because of the money (they paid well on the whaling ship), but also because of natural curiosity - a quality without which he, perhaps, would not have become a world-famous writer.

The ship was called "Nadezhda". He sailed from Peterhead to the Norwegian Sea. A medical student and aspiring writer spent seven months in Arctic waters. Earned £50. The impressions from this trip formed the basis of the work “Captain of the Polar Star.”

Literary creativity

Conan Doyle received his doctorate in 1881. For some time he practiced medicine, but already in 1891 he decided to devote himself entirely to literature. The list of works by Arthur Conan Doyle published in the eighties includes “The Stark Monroe Papers,” “The Message of Hebekuk Jephson,” and “Girdlestone Trading House.” "Study in Scarlet" was painted in 1886. Three years later, the writer’s third novel, “The Mystery of Clember,” was published.

Historical prose

Thanks to Soviet films based on the works of Conan Doyle, many in our country believe that this author wrote exclusively detective stories. His bibliography also includes historical novels. In the late eighties, Conan Doyle completed work on The Adventures of Micah Clark. The plot of this book is based on an uprising that occurred in England at the end of the 17th century.

Critics believe that the writer's first serious historical novel is The White Squad. In this work, the author reflected the realities of feudal England. Rodney Stone, a novel in which famous personalities are mentioned, including Napoleon, can also be classified as a historical genre.

Sherlock Holmes

The first story in the series about the all-knowing detective was published in 1891. The prototype of Sherlock Holmes is considered to be Joseph Bel, a professor of surgery who taught at the university where Conan Doyle received his medical education. This man knew how to guess to the smallest detail not only the character, but also the past of his interlocutor.

For several years, the writer composed stories about Sherlock Holmes, but over time he began to become weary of the hero who made him famous throughout the world. Once he even tried to put an end to the brilliant detective by writing a story about Holmes’s fight with Moriarty. As you know, the character had to be revived later. By that time, he was very fond of readers. The final story in the Sherlock Holmes series was The Hound of the Baskervilles, published in 1900. This work is recognized as a classic of the detective genre.