The Narrative of John Smith

About this book

Before there was the astute detective Sherlock Holmes and his capable compatriot Watson there was the opinionated Everyman John Smith. In 1883 when he was just twenty-three Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote The Narrative of John Smith while he was living in Portsmouth and struggling to establish himself as both a doctor and a writer. He had already succeeded in having a number of short stories published in leading magazines of the day such as Blackwoods All the Year Round London Society and the Boys Own Paperbut as was the accepted practice of literary journals of the time his stories had been published anonymously. Thus Conan Doyle knew that in order to truly establish his name as a writer he would have to write a novel. That novelthe first he ever wrote and only now published for the first timeis The Narrative of John Smith. Many of the themes and stylistic tropes of his later writing including his first Sherlock Holmes story A Study in Scarletpublished in 1887can be clearly seen. More a series of ruminations than a traditional novel The Narrative of John Smith is of considerable biographical importance and provides an exceptional window into the mind of the creator of Sherlock Holmes. Through John Smith a fifty-year-old man confined to his room by an attack of gout Conan Doyle sets down his thoughts and opinions on a range of subjectsincluding literature science religion war and educationwith no detectable insecurity or diffidence. His writing is full of bravado. Though unfinished The Narrative of John Smith stands as a fascinating record of the early work of a man on his way to being one of the best-known authors in the world. This book will be welcomed with enthusiasm by the numerous Conan Doyle devotees.