Complete Brigadier Gerard (Canongate) [Paperback]

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Author)

Book Description

Series: Canongate | Publication Date: January 16, 2002

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's reputation has been swallowed by that of his domineering offspring Sherlock Holmes. But, in one of the finest series of historical short stories in literature, Doyle created Brigadier Etienne Gerard, a marvelous hero set against a backdrop of the Europe of Napoleon.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"In its pages you will find adventure, action, romance, love and self-sacrifice, hair's-breadth escape and reckless courage, gallantry, panache and a droll, backhand humor that rivals that of P.G. Wodehouse. You will also find yourself, even more than with the celebrated stories of Holmes and Watson, in the hands of an indisputable artist. For more than any other adventure stories I know, these stories have a power to move the reader. . . . unjustly forgotten tales by a great master."  —Michael Chabon for NPR's You Must Read This

"The Brigadier Gerard stories display all the narrative gusto of Doyle's more famous Sherlock Holmes, together with an irresistible warmth and humour."  —Philip Pullman

"Of course I read every Sherlock Holmes story, but the works I like even more than the detective stories are his great historical stories."  —Winston Churchill

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

About the Author

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) was born in Edinburgh. Educated by the Jesuits at Stonyhurst, Doyle entered the medical school at Edinburgh University in 1876, working as a doctor's assistant at times to help pay the fees. He graduated in 1881 and, after Greenland and African voyages as a ship's doctor, went into practice at Southsea, Portsmouth. Conan Doyle had started to write while he was a medical student, and at twenty he had a story published in Chamber's journal. Sherlock Holmes first appeared in A Study in Scarlet (1887), and from 1891 he featured regularly in stories for the Strand Magazine. To replace Holmes, Conan Doyle created Etienne Gerard, a young French cavalry officer from the time of the Napoleonic Wars, whose memoirs were collected as The Exploits of Brigadier Gerard (1896) and its sequel, Adventures of Gerard. Knighted n 1902, Conan Doyle produced more than 60 books in the course of his career, including songs, poetry and historical fiction in the spirit of Scott. But his greatest literary achievement lay in his short stories, unrivalled in the mingling of character, action and atmosphere, whether Holmesian or Gerardine. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Canongate U.S. (January 16, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0862415349
• ISBN-13: 978-0862415341
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,218,642 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars BRAVO ETIENNE GERARD, October 11, 2000

By 

Jeffrey R. Bednar (kaneohe, hawaii United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Complete Brigadier Gerard (Canongate) (Paperback)

How Sir Arthur Conan Doyle can write a character that is irritatingly arrogant yet, charmingly loyal and naive is beyond me. The depth of Gerard's character rivals even the great Sherlock Holmes. Just as with his more famous counterpart(Holmes), Gerard is not just a hero(although there can be no questioning his bravery),he can also be a clown,(without ever realizing it)a ladies man, the greatest swordsman in the Grande' Armee(or at least so he tells us). With exciting short stories we venture through Gerard's career as a cavalry officer. He quite often bumbles his way into situations an officer of his rank should never allow himself into yet, it is these situations once gotten out of(after much daring and a little bit of luck)that build not only his career but, the readers passion for his character. These stories are an excellent companion to the more famous Sherlock Holmes stories. Where have all the writers with skills like Doyle's gone?

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Vive L'Gerard, April 30, 2000

By 

Paul McGrath (Sacramento, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Complete Brigadier Gerard (Canongate) (Paperback)

Everybody knows about Arthur Conan Doyle and his famous Sherlock Holmes stories, but I suspect a lot of people don't know that he was also an outstanding writer of historical fiction. Sir Nigel and The White Company are two examples that come immediately to mind. Both are superb novels about English knights and soldiers in the 13th and 14th centuries. And this one, Brigadier Gerard, is a collection of stories written in the first person by a fictional French cavalry officer during the Napoleanic wars.

If you're looking for a historical overview of Napoleon's achievements, this is not the place for it. What you do get, though, is a series of singular adventures which take place in the villages, cafes, forests and fields of the Europe visited by invading French armies. There is Gerard's trip of revenge to the "Castle of Gloom" in Austria. His ear is chopped off in a Venetian dungeon. He is captured by guerrillas in Portugal, and manages to escape from a hideous death. He is double-crossed by a beautiful vixen in Germany. There is his murderous midnight meeting with Napoleon. And yes, he is present at Waterloo, but spends the battle in the second-floor loft of an inn, after the first floor is commandeered by enemy wounded.

The book is loaded with interesting tidbits of military folklore. He recognizes a ford in the river, for example, by noticing the placement of two buildings on either side of it. Here is his comment on travelling through enemy territory: "I should not have feared to ride by the road through the wood, for I have learned in Spain that the safest time to pass through a guerrilla country is after an outrage."

And Gerard himself is as enjoyable a character as we could wish for in relating these tales. He will tell you that he is unfailingly handsome, loyal and brave, but he does have his foibles. He doesn't seem to realize that he is a bit of a braggart, and he's often not quite as smart as he thinks he is. However, it is Doyle's triumph that we look upon Gerard's weaknesses with fondness, rather than contempt, or disbelief. For Gerard, more than anything, is honest. He recounts his failures as well as his successes, and there is a great sense of pathos when we often hear the regret in his voice recounting specific events in his life. Here he is, for example, reflecting on an old love: "Etienne Gerard has his sword, his horse, his regiment, his mother, his Emperor and his career. A debonair Hussar has room in his life for love, but none for a wife. So I thought then, my friends, but I did not see the lonely days when I should long to clasp those vanished hands, and turn my head away when I saw an old comrades with their tall children standing around their chairs."

This book has everything: adventure, romance, military lore, horses, swords, beautiful women and blood. If you like Flashman or Hornblower, you will love this.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Conan Doyle at his best., September 18, 2002

By 

Boris Zubry "Boris Zubry" (Princeton, NJ United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Complete Brigadier Gerard (Canongate) (Paperback)

This work of Sir Conan Doyle clearly shows that detective stories did not limit his interests. An excellent adventure and a well written one. What else do we need in a good book? This is very solid five stars.