Julian Barnes: Arthur & George
September, 2014
Great story, simply and compellingly told.
Base on the case of George Edalji and Arthur Conan Doyle’s involvement. Certainly, the book became much more interesting upon the realization that Arthur was the A.C. Doyle and the unfolding drama based on true events.
Aside: The book reproduces an anecdote recorded by Doyle, told by Wilde at a dinner party they both attended:
We were dicussing the cynical maximum that the good fortune of our friends made us discontented. ‘The devil’, said Wilde, ‘was once crossing the Lybian Desert, and he came upon a spot where a number small fiends were tormenting a holy hermit. The sainted man easily shook off their evil suggestions. The devil watch their failure and then he stepped forward to give them a lesson. “What you do is too crude,” said he. “Permit me for one moment.” With that he whispered to the holy man, “Your brother has just been made Bishop of Alexandria.” A scowl of malignat jealousy at once clouded the serene face of the hermit. “That,” said the devil to his imps, “is the sort of thing which I should recommend”.’
This anecdote can be found in Doyle’s autobiography1 which is preceeded by another gem:
[Wilde] towered above us all, and yet he had the art of seeming to be interested in all we could say. He had the delicacy of feeling and tact, for the monologue man, however clever, can never be a gentleman at heart. He took as well as he gave, but what he gave was unique. He had a curious precision of statement, a delicate flavour of humour, and a trick of small gestures to illustrate his meaning, which were peculiar to himself. The effect cannot be reporduced, but in dicussing the wars of the future he said: ‘A chemist from each side will approach the frontier with a bottle’ – his upraised hand and precise face conjuring up a vivid and grotesque picture.