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    Arthur Conan Doyle, A Life
    Arthur Conan Doyle, A Life
    Arthur Conan Doyle, A Life
    Audiobook (abridged)2 hours

    Arthur Conan Doyle, A Life

    Written by Hesketh Pearson

    Narrated by Tim Pigott-Smith

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Conan Doyle (1859–1930) will always be remembered for the character of Sherlock Holmes, but he was a prolific writer – of short stories, of science fiction and historical fiction – including The Exploits of Brigadier Gerard. In his comprehensive biography, Pearson considers how his life is reflected in his books – including his background as a doctor and his enduring (and public) belief in spiritualism.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherNaxos Audiobooks
    Release dateDec 1, 2001
    ISBN9789629547301
    Arthur Conan Doyle, A Life
    Author

    Hesketh Pearson

    Born in 1887 at Hawford, Worcesterhire, Hesketh Pearson was educated at Bedford Grammar School, then worked in a shipping Office and spent two years in America before beginning a career as an actor in 1911. Until 1931 he worked successfully in the theatre, which provided many insights for his subsequent writing career. Pearson’s early works included ‘Modern Men and Mummers’ which consisted of sketches of well-known figures in the theatre, and also short stories in ‘Iron Rations’. ‘Doctor Darwin’, a biography of Darwin which was published in 1930, was widely acclaimed and established him as one of the leading popular biographers of his day. Subsequently he concentrated on his writing full-time. However, for a period of some seven years he was in the doldrums, following an unsuccessful attempt to get the title ‘Whispering Gallery’ published. He nonetheless persisted, and subsequently had published several important biographies of major figures, such as Conan Doyle, Gilbert and Sullivan and George Bernard Shaw. His skill and expertise was widely recognised, such that for example he was able to gain the co-operation of Shaw, who both contributed and later wrote a critique of his biography, and the executors of Conan Doyle’s estate who gave Pearson unprecedented access to private papers. Pearson was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He died in 1964. His biographies have stood the test of time and are still regarded as definitive works on their subjects.

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    Reviews for Arthur Conan Doyle, A Life

    4/5

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    • 3/5
      Not quite what I expected, I don't think. I knew this wasn't going to be a typical biography, just based on the slimness of the volume, but it sat on the TBR shelves for a few years because I really have to be in the mood for the tedium that comes with biographies.  However, Pearson skipped the tedious bits and instead, this is more an overview of Conan Doyle's life.  In that it's a great 'first look' at this magnificent author's life.My problem, and hence the three stars, is that it's truly a mystery whether Pearson even liked Conan Doyle.  This is not an unbiased look at a literary titan's life - it's totally biased.  But which way?  Throughout the text, Pearson is extolling Doyle's genius, praising his ability to write gripping tales, and at the same time calling him simple whenever he can.  He uses the word 'simple', and I could give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he means 'free from guile' - which Doyle was - but he takes snipes at him in other ways too that makes me wonder.  Pearson continued to irritate me the further along in the text I went; he went off on a long diatribe about the difference between having an imagination and being fanciful.  Apparently, Shakespeare had imagination, but Doyle was merely fanciful, as, apparently, was Edgar Allan Poe.  He also kept referring to "the war of 1914-1918", or "the 1914-1918 war", refusing to call it World War I, or even the Great War.  This bugged me more than it should have.But the part that pissed me off the most was the last chapter where he tackles the elephant in the room - Doyle's embracement of spiritualism.  It is, to put it mildly, extremely unsympathetic, unbiased and, frankly screw mildly, the man was sneering and contemptuous and couldn't have written it more condescendingly if he tried.  He made me want to thump him right between the eyes for his extraordinary poor form.  I could rant about this for ages, but I'll save time and just say, the last chapter cost him a star and a half.It's an easy and informative read, but unless you can tolerate an author who talks out of both sides of their mouth in a completely biased fashion, there are probably better biographies of Conan Doyle out there.