INTERNET RESEARCH – Pre 19th Century prose
1. Find a definition for the word ‘genre’.
A style or category of art, music or literature.
2. We are focusing on ‘mystery genre’ – what elements would you
expect to be included in this type of fictional writing?
Disappearance and mysterious sightings.
3. What do you think makes a good mystery?
I think, good mystery is crime and suspects with a twist.
4. Research the author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Find out as much as you
can about him and make notes in the box below.
[eg. born (when and where?), died, background/upbringing, family life,
occupation, famous for, greatest work, why remembered…)
SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE BIOGRAPHY:
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was born in Edinburgh on May 22 1859. The Doyle family
were strict Irish-catholics. His father (Charles Altamont Doyle) was a moderately
successful artist who raised an amazing son which was Arthur Conan Doyle! At the age
of twenty-two, his dad had married a young lady, who was seventeen, she would read
Arthur stories as she had a passion for books. She was a master storyteller! Arthur then
picked up her love for books! In his Autobiography he also mentioned, “In my early
childhood, as far as I can remember anything at all, the vivid stories she would tell me
stand out so clearly that they obscure the real facts of my life.” Only after Arthur
reached his ninth birthday, some wealthy family members offered to pay for his studies
at school! As he travelled to England, he was in tears for most of the way! When he had
finally arrived, he then spent seven years there! Arthur had hated it there as he hated
his studies and punishment because of how brutal they were. By 1876, he had graduated
at the age of seventeen, Arthur was ready and willing to face the world. A time skip to
26 years later, he had wrote his first book named, ‘The Surgeon Of Gaster Fell’ and
applied into collage as he wanted to carry out his medical career. His teacher, Dr
Joseph Bell was an expert at deduction and mysteries, all these qualities were found to
also be the persona of Sherlock Holmes. Doyle was found clutching his chest in the hall
of Windlesham Manor on the seventh of July 1930 he died of a heart attack at the age
seventy-one
5. What can you discover about the characteristics of Sherlock Holmes?
SHERLOCK HOLMES: Holmes has essentially an obsessive personality. He
works compulsively on all his cases and his deductive powers are
phenomenal! He can get engulfed in periods of depression between case and
is known to take cocaine when he cannot stand the lack of activity. He has an
in depth knowledge of music and plays on a Stradivarius that he bought for a
song in Tottenham. He is also known to run chemistry in his spare time.