Teller of Tales: The Life of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - Hardcover

Stashower, Daniel

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0713993731 ISBN 13: 9780713993738

Publisher: Allen Lane, 2000

Synopsis

Arthur Conan Doyle was not only the most famous storyteller of his time but also an adventurer, doctor, family man and crusader. This beautifully written and witty biography describes his travels in the Arctic and Africa, his experiences in the Boer War, his unusual and complex family life and his spiritual crusade. This last Stashower approaches with sympathy rather than derision, noting that Conan Doyle attended his first spiritual lecture when he was only twenty-one. This biography will fascinate all Sherlock Holmes fans as well as providing an insight into a complex Edwardian hero whose friends included Harry Houdini and Geroge Bernard Shaw.

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Review:

Despite (or because of) the tremendous success of his Sherlock Holmes stories, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle always tended to play down their value and importance in his life. Just before his death in 1930, he drew a memorable sketch of his life's work. Conan Doyle portrayed events from his life as a series of packing cases being loaded onto a wagon and pulled by a flea-bitten workhorse. Perhaps the heaviest case of all, notes Daniel Stashower in his fascinating biographyTeller of Tales, is the one that reads "Sherlock Holmes". Stashower's intent is to show that Conan Doyle was not Sherlock Holmes and that his life consisted of much more than the now ridiculed spiritualism to which he devoted much of his later years. He succeeds to a surprising degree, convincing us that The White Company and Sir Nigel (forgotten novels that Conan Doyle thought were his best) are indeed worth reading. As for the spiritualism, Stashower meticulously places his subject's long fascination with it into a compassionate and fully researched social context. We come away certain that Conan Doyle (along with many other worthy citizens of the period) really believed in it. --Dick Adler

Synopsis:

More than a hundred years have passed since the creation of Sherlock Holmes, perhaps the most famous fictional character of all time. But while the legendary detective lives on in the popular imagination, the man who created him is often overlooked and frequently misunderstood. This fresh and compelling biography examines the extraordinary life and strange contrasts of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the struggling provincial doctor who became the most popular storyteller of his age. From his youthful exploits aboard a whaling ship to his often stormy friendships with such figures as Harry Houdini and George Bernard Shaw, Arthur Conan Doyle lived a life as gripping as one of his own adventures. Exhaustively researched and elegantly written, "Teller of Tales" sets aside many myths and misconceptions to present a vivid portrait of the man behind the legend of Baker Street, with a particular emphasis on the psychic crusade that dominated his final years - the work that Conan Doyle himself felt to be "the most important thing in the world". I have had a life which, for variety and romance, could, I think, hardly be exceeded, Conan Doyle once wrote.

About this edition

• Publisher: Allen Lane
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0713993731
• ISBN 13: 9780713993738
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 496