What genres did Arthur Conan write? Marriage and literary breakthrough. Rivalry with a self-created literary hero

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was born into an Irish Catholic family known for its achievements in art and literature. The name Conan was given to him in honor of his father's uncle, artist and writer Michel Conan. Father - Charles Altamont Doyle, an architect and artist, at the age of 23 married 17-year-old Mary Foley, who passionately loved books and had a great talent as a storyteller. From her, Arthur inherited his interest in knightly traditions, exploits and adventures. " True love to literature, my penchant for writing comes, I believe, from my mother,” Conan Doyle wrote in his autobiography. - " Vivid images The stories she told me in early childhood completely replaced in my memory memories of specific events in my life in those years.” The family of the future writer experienced serious financial difficulties - solely because of the strange behavior of his father, who not only suffered from alcoholism, but also had an extremely unbalanced psyche. Arthur's school life was spent at Godder Preparatory School. When the boy was 9 years old, wealthy relatives offered to pay for his education and sent him for the next seven years to the Jesuit closed college Stonyhurst (Lancashire), from where the future writer suffered hatred of religious and class prejudice, as well as physical punishment. The few happy moments of those years for him were associated with letters to his mother: he did not give up the habit of describing in detail to her the current events of his life for the rest of his life. In addition, at the boarding school, Doyle enjoyed playing sports, mainly cricket, and also discovered his talent as a storyteller, gathering peers around him who spent hours listening to stories he made up on the go. In 1876, Arthur graduated from college and returned home: the first thing he had to do was rewrite the papers of his father, who by that time had almost completely lost his mind, in his name. The writer subsequently told about the dramatic circumstances of Doyle Sr.’s imprisonment in a psychiatric hospital in the story “The Surgeon of Gaster Fell” (1880). Art studies (to which he was predisposed family tradition ) Doyle chose a medical career - largely under the influence of Brian C. Waller, a young doctor to whom his mother rented a room in the house. Dr. Waller was educated at the University of Edinburgh: Arthur Doyle went there to receive further education. Future writers he met here included James Barry and Robert Louis Stevenson. A. Conan Doyle, 1893. Photo portrait by G. S. Berro As a third-year student, Doyle decided to try his hand at the literary field. His first story, The Mystery of Sasassa Valley, influenced by Edgar Allan Poe and Bret Harte (his favorite authors at the time), was published by the university's Chamber's Journal, where Thomas Hardy's first works appeared. That same year, Doyle's second story, The American Tale, appeared in the London Society magazine. From February to September 1880, Doyle spent seven months as a ship's doctor in Arctic waters aboard the whaling ship Hope, receiving a total of 50 pounds for his work. “I boarded this ship as a big, clumsy youth, and came down the gangplank as a strong, grown man,” he later wrote in his autobiography. Impressions from the Arctic journey formed the basis of the story “Captain of the Pole-Star”. Two years later he made a similar voyage to the West Coast of Africa aboard the Mayumba, which sailed between Liverpool and the West Coast of Africa. Having received a university diploma and a bachelor's degree in medicine in 1881, Conan Doyle began practicing medicine, first jointly (with an extremely unscrupulous partner - this experience was described in The Notes of Stark Munro), then individually, in Portsmouth. Finally, in 1891, Doyle decided to make literature his main profession. In January 1884, Cornhill magazine published the story "The Message of Hebekuk Jephson." During those same days, he met his future wife, Louise "Tuya" Hawkins; the wedding took place on August 6, 1885. In 1884, Conan Doyle began work on Girdlestone Trading House, a social and everyday novel with a crime-detective plot (written under the influence of Dickens) about cynical and cruel money-grubbing merchants. It was published in 1890. In March 1886, Conan Doyle began, and by April had largely completed, work on A Study in Scarlet (originally titled A Tangled Skein, with the two main characters named Sheridan Hope and Ormond Sacker). Ward, Locke & Co. bought the rights to the novel for £25 and published it in Beeton's Christmas Annual in 1887, inviting the writer's father Charles Doyle to illustrate the novel. In 1889, Doyle's third (and perhaps strangest) novel, The Mystery of Cloomber, was published. The story of the "afterlife" of three vengeful Buddhist monks - the first literary evidence of the author's interest in paranormal phenomena - subsequently made him a staunch follower of spiritualism.

His last words before his death were addressed to his wife. He whispered, "You are wonderful."

Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle was born on May 22, 1859 in the capital of Scotland, Edinburgh, on Picardy Place, in the family of an artist and architect. His father Charles Altamont Doyle married at the age of twenty-two to Mary Foley, a young woman of seventeen in 1855. Mary Doyle had a passion for books and was the main storyteller in the family, and Arthur later remembered her very touchingly. Unfortunately, Arthur's father was a chronic alcoholic and therefore the family was sometimes poor, although he was, according to his son, a very talented artist. As a child, Arthur read a lot, having completely varied interests. His favorite author was Mayne Reid, and his favorite book was "Scalp Hunters".

After Arthur reached the age of nine, wealthy members of the Doyle family offered to pay for his education. For seven years he had to go to the Jesuit boarding school in England at Hodder - preparatory school for Stonyhurst (a large boarding Catholic school in Lancashire). Two years later he moved from Arthur Hodder to Stonyhurst. Seven subjects were taught there: the alphabet, counting, basic rules, grammar, syntax, poetry, and rhetoric. The food there was rather meager and did not have much variety, which nevertheless did not affect health. Corporal punishment was severe. Arthur was often exposed to them at that time. The instrument of punishment was a piece of rubber, the size and shape of a thick galosh, which was used to hit the hands.

It was during these difficult years at boarding school that Arthur realized that he had a talent for writing stories, so he was often surrounded by a congregation of delighted young students listening to the amazing stories he made up to entertain them. On last year teaching, he publishes a college magazine and writes poetry. In addition, he was involved in sports, mainly cricket, in which he achieved good results. He goes to Germany to Feldkirch to study German, where he will continue to play sports with passion: football, stilt football, sledding. In the summer of 1876, Doyle was traveling home, but on the way he stopped in Paris, where he lived for several weeks with his uncle. Thus, in 1876, he was educated and ready to face the world and wished to make up for some of the shortcomings of his father, who had by then become insane.

The traditions of the Doyle family dictated that he follow an artistic career, but still Arthur decided to take up medicine. This decision was made under the influence of Dr. Brian Charles, a young boarder whom Arthur's mother took in to help make ends meet. Dr. Waller was educated at the University of Edinburgh, and so Arthur decided to study there. In October 1876, Arthur became a student at the medical university, having previously encountered another problem - not receiving the scholarship he deserved, which he and his family so needed. While studying, Arthur met many future authors, such as James Barry and Robert Louis Stevenson, who attended the university. But his greatest influence was one of his teachers, Dr. Joseph Bell, who was a master of observation, logic, inference and error detection. In the future, he served as the prototype for Sherlock Holmes.

While studying, Doyle tried to help his family and earned money in his free time from studying, which he found through more accelerated study of disciplines. He worked both as a pharmacist and as an assistant to various doctors...

Doyle reads a lot and two years after the start of his education, Arthur decided to try his hand at literature. In 1879 he writes short story The Mystery of Sasassa Valley in Chamber's Journal. In the same year, he published his second story, The American Tale, in the London Society magazine and realized that this way he too could make money. His father's health deteriorated and he was placed in a psychiatric hospital, so Thus, Doyle becomes the sole breadwinner of his family. Twenty years old, while studying in his third year at university, in 1880, Doyle was offered the position of surgeon on the whaler Nadezhda under the command of John Gray in the Arctic Circle. At first, the Nadezhda stopped near the shores of the island. Greenland, where the crew proceeded to hunt seals. The young medical student was shocked by the brutality of this. But at the same time, he enjoyed the camaraderie on board the ship and the subsequent whale hunt. This adventure found a place in his first story. seas, the frightening story of Captain of the Pole-Star. Without much enthusiasm, Conan Doyle returned to his studies in the fall of 1880, sailing for a total of 7 months, earning about 50 pounds.

In 1881, he graduated from the University of Edinburgh, where he received a bachelor's degree in medicine and a master's degree in surgery, and began to look for a place to work. The result of this was a position as a ship's doctor on the ship "Mayuba", which sailed between Liverpool and the west coast of Africa and on October 22, 1881, the next voyage began. While swimming he found Africa as disgusting as the Arctic was seductive. Therefore, he leaves the ship and moves to England to Plymouth, where he works together with a certain Cullingworth, whom he met during his last courses of study in Edinburgh, namely from the end of spring to the beginning of summer of 1882, for 6 weeks. (These first years of practice are well described in his book “Letters from Stark Monroe.”) But disagreements arose and after them Doyle left for Portsmouth (July 1882), where he opened his first practice, located in a house for 40 pounds per annum, which began to bring income only by the end of the third year. Initially, there were no clients and therefore Doyle had the opportunity to devote his free time to literature. He writes stories: “Bones”, “Bloomensdyke Ravine”, “My Friend is a Murderer”, which he published in the magazine “London Society” in the same 1882. In order to somehow help his mother, Arthur invites his brother Innes to stay with him, who brightens up the gray everyday life of a novice doctor from August 1882 to 1885 (Innes goes to study at a boarding school in Yorkshire). During these years, the young man is torn between literature and medicine. During his medical practice, there were also deaths of patients. One of them is the death of the son of a widow from Gloucestershire. But this incident allows him to meet her daughter Louise Hawkins (Hawkins), whom he marries in August 1885.

After his marriage, Doyle was actively involved in literature and wanted to make it his profession. It is published in Cornhill magazine. His stories appear one after another: “The Message of Hebekuk Jephson”, “The Long Oblivion of John Huxford”, “The Ring of Thoth”. But stories are stories, and Doyle wants more, he wants to be noticed, and for this he needs to write something more serious. And so in 1884 he wrote the book “Girdlestones Trading House”. But to his great regret, the book was never published. In March 1886, Conan Doyle began writing a novel that would lead to his popularity. It was originally called A Tangled Skein. Two years later, this novel was published in Beeton's Christmas Annual for 1887 under the title A Study in Scarlet, which introduced readers to Sherlock Holmes (prototypes: Professor Joseph Bell, writer Oliver Holmes ) and Dr. Watson (prototype Major Wood), who soon became famous. As soon as Doyle sent this book, he began a new one, and at the beginning of 1888 he finished Mickey Clark, which was published in February 1889 by Doyle. meets Oscar Wilde and rides the wave positive feedback“The White Squad” writes about “Mickey Clark” in 1889.

Despite his literary success and thriving medical practice, the harmonious life of the Conan Doyle family, expanded by the birth of his daughter Mary, was turbulent. At the end of 1890, under the influence of the German microbiologist Robert Koch and even more Malcolm Robert, he decides to leave his practice in Portsmouth and goes with his wife to Vienna, leaving his daughter Mary with her grandmother, where he wants to specialize in ophthalmology in order to later find work in London, but faced with a specialized German language and after studying for 4 months in Vienna he realizes that his time was wasted. During his studies, he wrote the book “The Acts of Raffles Howe”, in Doyle’s opinion “... not a very significant thing...” In the spring of the same year, Doyle visited Paris and hastily returned to London, where he opened a practice on Upper Wimpole Street. The practice was not successful (there were no patients), but at that time they wrote short stories, in particular, for the Strand magazine he writes stories about Sherlock Holmes." With the help of Sidney Paget, the image of Holmes is created and the stories are published in The Strand magazine. In May 1891, Doyle falls ill with the flu and is dying for several days. When he recovered, he decided to leave medical practice and devote himself to literature. This happened in August 1891.

In 1892, while living in Norwood, Louise gave birth to a son, they named him Kingsley (Kingsley). Doyle writes the story “Survivor of '15,” which is successfully staged in many theaters. Sherlock Holmes continued to weigh on Doyle and a year later, in 1993, after his trip with his wife to Switzerland and a visit to the Reichenbach Falls, despite everyone's requests, the surprisingly prolific but very impulsive author decided to get rid of Sherlock Holmes. As a result, twenty thousand subscribers refused to subscribe to The Strand magazine, and Doyle writes the best novels, in his opinion: “Exiles”, “The Great Shadow”. Now freed from his medical career and from the fictional hero who oppressed him and obscured what he considered more important. Conan Doyle absorbs himself into more intense activity. This frenzied life may explain why the previous doctor was oblivious to his wife's serious deterioration in health.

Over time, he finally learned that Louise was diagnosed with tuberculosis (consumption) and assumes that their joint trip to Switzerland was the reason for this. Although she was given only a few months, Doyle began his belated departure and managed to delay her death for 10 years, from 1893 to 1906. He and his wife move to Davos, located in the Alps. In Davos, Doyle is actively involved in sports and begins writing stories about Brigadier Gerard, based mainly on the book “Memoirs of General Marbot”. He had long been attracted to Spiritualism, his joining the Society for Psychical Research being seen as a public statement of his interest and belief in the occult. Doyle is invited to give a series of lectures in the United States. In the late autumn of 1894, together with his brother Innes, who by that time was graduating from a private school in Richmond, the Royal Military School in Woolwich, became an officer, and went to lecture in more than 30 cities in the United States. These lectures were a success, but Doyle himself was very tired of them. At the beginning of 1895, he returned to Davos to his wife, who by that time was feeling well. At the same time, The Strand magazine began publishing the first stories from Brigadier Gerard and immediately the magazine's number of subscribers increased.

In May 1914, Sir Arthur, along with Lady Conan Doyle and the children, went to inspect the Jesier Park National Forest in the northern Rocky Mountains (Canada). On the way, he stops in New York, where he visits two prisons: Toombs and Sing Sing, where he examines the cells, the electric chair, and talks with prisoners. The author found the city unfavorably changed in comparison with his first visit to it twenty years earlier. Canada, where they spent some time, was found charming and Doyle regretted that its pristine grandeur would soon be gone. While in Canada, Doyle gives a series of lectures. They arrived home a month later, probably because for a long time, Conan Doyle had been convinced of the impending war with Germany. Doyle reads Bernardi's book "Germany and the Next War" and understands the seriousness of the situation and writes a response article, "England and the Next War", which was published in the Fortnightly Review in the summer of 1913. He sends numerous articles to newspapers about the upcoming war and military preparedness for it. But his warnings were regarded as fantasies. Realizing that England is only 1/6 self-sufficient, Doyle proposes to build a tunnel under the English Channel to provide itself with food in case of a blockade of England by German submarines. In addition, he proposes to provide all sailors in the navy with rubber rings (to keep their heads above water) and rubber vests. Few people listened to his proposal, but after another tragedy at sea, the mass implementation of this idea began. Before the start of the war (August 4, 1914), Doyle joined a detachment of volunteers, which was entirely civilian and was created in the event of an enemy invasion of England. During the war, Doyle also makes proposals for the protection of soldiers and as such he proposes something similar to armor, that is, shoulder pads, as well as plates that protect the most important organs. During the war, Doyle lost many people close to him, including his brother Innes, who by his death had risen to the rank of adjutant general of the corps, Kingsley's son from his first marriage, two cousins ​​and two nephews.

On September 26, 1918, Doyle travels to the mainland to witness the battle that took place on September 28 on the French front. After such an amazingly full and constructive life, it is difficult to understand why such a person retreated into the imaginary world of science fiction and spiritualism. The difference was that Conan Doyle was not a man who was satisfied with dreams and wishes; he needed to make them come true. He was manic and did it with the same dogged energy that he showed in all his endeavors when he was younger. As a result, the press laughed at him and the clergy did not approve of him. But nothing could hold him back. His wife does this with him.

After 1918, due to his deepening involvement in the occult, Conan Doyle wrote little fiction. Their subsequent trips to America (April 1, 1922, March 1923), Australia (August 1920) and Africa, accompanied by their three daughters, were also similar to psychic crusades. As the years passed, having spent up to a quarter of a million pounds in pursuit of his secret dreams, Conan Doyle was faced with the need for money. In 1926 he wrote The Land of Mist, The Disintegration Machine, When The World Screamed. In the fall of 1929, he went on his last tour of Holland, Denmark, Sweden and Norway. He was already sick with Angina Pectoris.

In 1930, already bedridden, he made his last journey. He rose from his bed and went into the garden. When he was found, he was on the ground, one of his hands was squeezing it, the other was holding a white snowdrop. Arthur Conan Doyle died on Monday, July 7, 1930, surrounded by his family. His last words before his death were addressed to his wife. He whispered, "You are wonderful." He is buried in Minstead Hampshire Cemetery.

On the writer’s grave are carved the words bequeathed to him personally:

"Don't remember me with reproach,

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