Arthur Conan Doyle
1859 - 1930
1° LII A and B - School Year 2019 - 2020
- Prof. Herzig
LIFE (1859 – 1930)
Arthur Conan Doyle was born on 22 May 1859 in Edinburgh into a prosperous Irish family. He trained
as a doctor, gaining his degree from Edinburgh University in 1881.
He worked as a surgeon on a whaling boat and also as a medical officer on a steamer travelling
between Liverpool and West Africa.
He then settled in Portsmouth on the English south coast and divided his time between medicine and
writing.
Sherlock Holmes made his first appearance in 'A Study of Scarlet', published in 'Beeton's Christmas
Annual' in 1887 . It was the first of 60 stories that Doyle would pen about Sherlock Holmes over the
course of his writing career. Its success encouraged Conan Doyle to write more stories involving
Holmes but, in 1893, Conan Doyle killed off Holmes, hoping to concentrate on more serious writing. A
public outcry later made him resurrect Holmes.
In addition, Conan Doyle wrote a number of other novels and various non-fictional works. These
included a pamphlet justifying Britain's involvement in the Boer War, for which he was knighted.
Conan Doyle also twice ran unsuccessfully for parliament. In later life he became very interested in
spiritualism.
Conan Doyle died of a heart attack on 7 July 1930.
1° LII A and B - School Year 2019 - 2020 - Prof. Herzig
As the world’s first and only
“consulting detective,” Sherlock
Holmes pursued criminals
throughout Victorian and
Edwardian London, the south of
England, and continental Europe.
SHERLOCK HOLMES
Conan Doyle modeled Holmes’s methods
and mannerisms on those of Dr. Joseph
Bell, who had been his professor at the
University of Edinburgh Medical School.
In particular, Holmes’s uncanny ability to
gather evidence based upon his honed
skills of observation and deductive
reasoning paralleled Bell’s method of
diagnosing a patient’s disease.
His detecting abilities become clear, though
no less amazing, when explained by his
companion, Dr. John H. Watson, who
recounts the criminal cases they jointly
pursue.
1° LII A and B - School Year 2019 - 2020 - Prof. Herzig
A SCANDAL IN BOHEMIA
SETTING : VICTORIAN LONDON
CLIMAX : SHERLOCK HOLMES DISCOVERS WHERE IRENE ADLER
HAS HIDDEN THE PHOTO
ANTAGONIST : IRENE ADLER
POINT OF VIEW : JOHN WATSON
1° LII A and B - School Year 2019 - 2020 - Prof. Herzig
A SCANDAL IN BOHEMIA : KEY POINTS
• A Scandal in Bohemia (1891) was the short story that transformed
Sherlock Holmes into one of the most recognizable fictional
characters in all fiction and was first published in the Strand magazine
• Several plot features bear a close resemblance to Poe’s story The
Purloined Letter .
• Sherlock Holmes usually solves his cases through the use of the most
logical methods but in this story he uses disguises and trickery
• Irene Adler outsmarts Sherlock Holmes. She is not the typical
Victorian Lady either : she is a career woman and marries for love.
1° LII A and B - School Year 2019 - 2020 - Prof. Herzig
Sources :
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/conan_sir_arthur_doyl
e.shtml
• https://www.biography.com/writer/arthur-conan-doyle
• https://study.com/academy/lesson/a-scandal-in-bohemia-themesanalysis.html
• https://interestingliterature.com/2017/02/a-summary-and-analysisof-sir-arthur-conan-doyles-a-scandal-in-bohemia/
1° LII A and B - School Year 2019 - 2020 - Prof. Herzig