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Chapter Eight : Sir Arthur Conan Doyle single work   biography  
Issue Details: First known date: 2009... 2009 Chapter Eight : Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'As Sir Arthur Doyle set sail on the RMS Naldera from England to Fremantle, the Presbyterians of Australia sent up fervent prayers to heaven that he'd be shipwrecked and drowned. And yet Conan Doyle was a famous author, loved around the world for his creation of Sherlock Holmes. Australians should have been welcoming him with warmth, eager to hear about the great fictional detective and the mysteries he'd solved. Why were some of them hoping he would never reach these shores?'

Notes

  • Includes photographic portrait of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle with his Australian lecture tour agent Carlyle Smythe.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Brief Encounters : Literary Travellers in Australia 1836-1939 Susannah Fullerton , Sydney : Pan Macmillan Australia , 2009 Z1592655 2009 selected work biography travel

    'Throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, countless distinguished writers made the long and arduous voyage across the seas to Australia. They came to give lecture tours and make money, to sort out difficult children sent here to be out of the way; for health, for science, to escape demanding spouses back home, or simply to satisfy a sense of adventure.

    In 1890, for example, Robert Louis Stevenson and his wife Fanny arrived at Circular Quay after a dramatic sea voyage only to be refused entry at the Victoria, one of Sydney's most elegant hotels. Stevenson threw a tantrum, but was forced to go to a cheaper, less fussy establishment. Next day, the Victoria's manager, recognising the famous author from a picture in the paper, rushed to find Stevenson and beg him to return. He did not.

    In Brief Encounters, renowned author and speaker Susannah Fullerton examines a diverse array of writers including Charles Darwin, Rudyard Kipling, Stevenson, Anthony Trollope, Mark Twain, Arthur Conan Doyle, DH Lawrence, Joseph Conrad, HG Wells, Agatha Christie and Jack London to discover what they did when they got here, what their opinion was of Australia and Australians, how the public and media reacted to them, and how their future works were shaped or influenced by this country.' (Publisher's website)

    Sydney : Pan Macmillan Australia , 2009
    pg. 234-269
Last amended 26 Aug 2009 08:41:12
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