The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes

by Arthur Conan Doyle, Jarlath Killeen, Darryl Jones

Overview

"I never can resist a touch of the dramatic."

The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes is now best remembered for its concluding story in which the great detective appears to plunge to his death into the waters at the bottom of the Reichenbach Falls, locked in a struggle with his nemesis, Professor Moriarty. However, the collection also brings the reader back to the beginnings of Holmes' career, involving a mutiny at sea and a treasure hunt in a Sussex country house, and a first encounter with Holmes' older brother Mycroft, of whom Holmes says, "If the art of the detective began and ended in reasoning from any armchair, my brother would be the greatest criminal agent that ever lived". This collection includes some of the detective's greatest cases, such as 'Silver Blaze' and 'The Naval Treaty', and even one case which Holmes fails to solve.

Edited with an introduction by Jarlath Killeen, this volume examines Holmes as a safeguard against social breakdown and chaos, as well as an agent of justice and goodness against the forces of evil. It also situates the collection in the growth of life writing in the period, and explores the ways in which Holmes became increasingly 'real' to readers as more details about his personality and biography are revealed in the stories.

ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780198863120
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	06/09/2023
Series:	Oxford World's Classics Series
Edition description:	2nd ed.
Pages:	368
Sales rank:	581,200
Product dimensions:	7.40(w) x 5.10(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Arthur Conan Doyle

Jarlath Killeen studied at Trinity College Dublin, and University College Dublin, writing his doctoral thesis on Catholicism in the work of Oscar Wilde. He has been a lecturer in English literature at University College Dublin, the University of Keele, and Trinity College Dublin, where he took up a position in the School of English in 2006. He has published extensively on Oscar Wilde, Bram Stoker, and British and Irish Gothic literature and culture.

Darryl Jones is Professor of English at Trinity College Dublin, where he teaches nineteenth-century literature and popular fiction. He has written and edited many works, including the Oxford World's Classics editions of M. R. James's Collected Ghost Stories (2013), Arthur Conan Doyle's Gothic Tales (2018), H. G. Wells's The War of the Worlds (2017), and The Island of Doctor Moreau (2017).

Date of Birth:

May 22, 1859

Date of Death:

July 7, 1930

Place of Birth:

Edinburgh, Scotland

Place of Death:

Crowborough, Sussex, England

Education:

Edinburgh University, B.M., 1881; M.D., 1885

Table of Contents

IntroductionNote on the TextSelect BibliographyChronologyTHE MEMOIRS OF SHERLOCK HOLMESSilver BlazeThe Cardboard BoxThe Yellow FaceThe Stockbroker's ClerkThe 'Gloria Scott'The Musgrave RitualThe Reigate SquireThe Crooked ManThe Resident PatientThe Greek InterpreterThe Naval TreatyThe Final ProblemExplanatory Notes

Editorial Reviews

Sherlock Holmes is the very foundation stone of the edifice that is crime fiction.”

Times (London)

He is unique in simultaneously bringing down the curtain on an era and raising one on another, ushering in a genre of writing that... has never been surpassed. His own life, as footballer... eye surgeon, champion of injustice and investigator into the paranormal, is the stuff of legend. Personally, I would walk a mile in tight boots to read his letters to the milkman—Stephen Fry, The Arthur Conan Doyle Collection

From the Publisher