MARC Record from Library of Congress

LEADER: 03036cam a22003497a 4500
001 2012358675
003 DLC
005 20130209090807.0
008 111208s2011 enka 000 f eng d
010 $a 2012358675
016 7 $a015825905$2Uk
020 $a9780712358415
020 $a0712358412
035 $a(OCoLC)ocn712117494
040 $aBTCTA$beng$cBTCTA$dYDXCP$dUKMGB$dBWK$dJHE$dNLE$dBWX$dZCU$dCDX$dBDX$dTOH$dDLC
042 $alccopycat
050 00 $aPR4622$b.N37 2011
082 04 $a823.912$222
100 1 $aDoyle, Arthur Conan,$d1859-1930.
245 14 $aThe narrative of John Smith /$cArthur Conan Doyle ; edited and with an introduction by Jon Lellenberg, Daniel Stashower and Rachel Foss.
260 $aLondon :$bBritish Library,$c2011.
300 $a138 p. :$bill. ;$c20 cm.
500 $a"This text has been published from an untitled manuscript that was among the Conan Doyle papers sold at aution in 2004 and acquired by the British Library."--P. [121].
500 $a"His unpublished first novel."--Dustjacket.
520 $aArthur Conan Doyle wrote The Narrative of John Smith in 1883 when he was just 23, living in Portsmouth and struggling to establish himself as a doctor and a writer. By that time he had succeeded in getting a number of short stories published in leading magazines of the day, such as Blackwood's, All the Year Round, London Society and the Boy's Own Paper. But, as was the accepted practice of literary journals of the time, his stories were published anonymously and Conan Doyle realised that to make his name as a writer he would have to write a novel. That novel, the first he ever wrote, and published here for the first time, is The Narrative of John Smith. More a string of ruminations than a novel, it is however of considerable biographical importance and has exceptional value as a window into the mind of the creator of Sherlock Holmes. Many of the themes and tropes of his later writing, including his first Sherlock Holmes story A Study in Scarlet (published in 1887), can be clearly seen. Via the protagonist, John Smith, a 50-year-old man confined to his room by an attack of gout, Conan Doyle sets down his thoughts and opinions on a range of subjects - literature, science, religion, war, education - with no detectable shyness or diffidence, full of bravado in the face of little professional success at that time. Although it has little in the way of plot it stands as a fascinating record of an early attempt at writing by a man who was on his way to being one of the best-known authors in the world.
650 0 $aMiddle-aged men$zGreat Britain$vFiction.
700 1 $aLellenberg, Jon L.
700 1 $aStashower, Daniel.
700 1 $aFoss, Rachel.
856 42 $3Contributor biographical information$uhttp://www.loc.gov/catdir/enhancements/fy1208/2012358675-b.html
856 42 $3Publisher description$uhttp://www.loc.gov/catdir/enhancements/fy1208/2012358675-d.html
856 41 $3Table of contents only$uhttp://www.loc.gov/catdir/enhancements/fy1208/2012358675-t.html