ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE (1859-1930), one of the greatest Scottish authors, transformed the art of fiction. Author of numerous novels and short stories, including A Study in Scarlet, The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Sign of the Four, and The Final Problem, he is considered to be a literary colossus, and a central figure in the development of the modern detective novel.
ANTON CHEKHOV (1860–1904) was a Russian author and physician, considered to be among the greatest writers in history. His career produced numerous classics including The Cherry Orchard, The Seagull, Uncle Vanya, and Three Sisters. After his death, Chekhov's fame spread further. Constance Garnett's translations won him an international readership and the admiration of writers such as James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, and Katherine Mansfield.
WILKIE COLLINS (1824-1889) was an English novelist, playwright, and author of short stories. His best-known works are The Woman in White, The Moonstone, and Armadale. Alongside Edgar Allan Poe in America, Britain's Wilkie Collins is regarded as the inventor of the modern detective story.
EDGAR ALLAN POE (1809-1849) has yet to be surpassed as the greatest practitioner of the classic horror tale. Since their first publication in the 1830s and 1840s, Poe's grotesque and sublime tales of mystery and madness have established themselves as classics of short fiction.
Poe takes his place as the first postmodern thinker, a precursor of such figures as Pynchon, Borges, and William Gibson.
--Errol Morris
