If you’re reading this blog, I think I can safely assume that you enjoy reading in general. So, from time to time, I may recommend a book just for the fun of it, regardless of whether or not it has any connection with speechwriting.
Today, I am recommending a recently-published novel, Arthur & George, by English writer Julian Barnes (Alfred A. Knopf, 400 pages, $24.95).
The “Arthur” of the title is Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes. “George” is one George Edalji, a young, half-Indian solicitor who is the victim of race prejudice when is he wrongfully convicted of mutilating some livestock. The novel describes how the lives of these two very different men intersect when Arthur takes up the cause of clearing George’s name. (This incident was successfully dramatized several decades ago as part of a PBS series called, “The Edwardians.”)
Arthur & George is a novel for thinking people who enjoy elegant writing. Barnes illuminates many little-known aspects of Conan Doyle’s career, such as his service as a medical officer during the Boer War, his zest for skiing and cricket, his platonic affair with a much younger woman and his increasing absorption in spiritualism.
Savor the scene at Buckingham Palace, where Edward VII has just conferred his first batch of knighthoods. The newly-dubbed writer, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, discusses spiritualism with the newly-dubbed scientist, Sir Oliver Lodge. (Lodge has created a stir by retiring from the presidency of the Physical Society to become president of the Psychical Society.)
“You know what they say, Doyle, the scoffers? They say: from the study of protoplasm to the study of ectoplasm. And I reply: then remember all those who did not believe in protoplasm at the time.”
Arthur chuckles: “And may I ask where you currently stand?”
“Where I stand? I have been researching and experimenting for nearly twenty years now. There is still much work to be done. But I would conclude, on the basis of my findings so far, that it is more than possible – indeed probable – that the mind survives the physical dissolution of the body.”
“You give me great heart.”
“We may soon be able to prove,” continues Lodge with a collusive twinkle, “that it is not just Mr. Sherlock Holmes who is able to escape evident and apparent death.”
This is a marvelous book if you want something a little more stimulating than the usual light summer fare
