2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Rare tales on unmentionable subjects, November 13, 2011
This review is from: Round the Red Lamp and Other Medical Writings (Paperback)
Arthur Conan Doyle was a mediocre medico, much better at storytelling than doctoring. But his medical experience was a goldmine of fictional inspiration. There are 37 doctors in the Sherlock Holmes tales. Doyle also wrote a good number of non-Holmes stories with medical themes and collected them in Round the Red Lamp.
The critics were appalled. The stories touched on childbirth, venereal disease, prostitution, mutilation, adultery and other subjects considered unfit for fiction. Doyle's very Victorian prose was so circumspect that we twenty-first-century readers might sometimes miss the unsavory subtext, but contemporary critics did not.
Happily, the Valancourt edition has notes following each story explaining its significance to nineteenth-century readers. Otherwise we might not realize, for example, that certain symptoms point to hereditary syphilis.
The stories range from mildly entertaining to masterful. I was delighted by the story about the medical student and the malevolent mummy. I loved the story with the woman doctor who steals the practice of a male doctor. Another favorite is not a story at all but a record of a chat among doctors sitting around the fireplace, "all smoking and arguing" and reminiscing about their most peculiar cases.
I found Doyle to be a thoroughly engaging writer in these stories - his characters lively, his atmosphere palpable and his tone ironic, sentimental, comic and grim by turns. He also has an amusing way of peppering the speech of doctors with obtuse medical jargon.
These stories give us a fascinating picture of a bygone era of medicine - when surgery could be somewhat slapdash, GPs made house calls at all hours and arsenic was prescribed for acne!
I strongly recommend the Valancourt edition. The insightful introduction and notes really added to my enjoyment of this unusual and very fun book.
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0 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Free SF Reader, October 8, 2007
This review is from: Round the Red Lamp and Other Medical Writings (Paperback)
Although this is not Holmes, or even Challenger, there are still some worthwhile stories. You even get science fiction tales and horror stories from Athur Conan Doyle in this collection, so probably something for everyone, even if his bunch is supposed to be of a medical sort of bent or genre, in general. There is even a mummy!
As far as that goes, an odd collection indeed, some really mundane and trivial doctor stories, with some horror stories thrown in.
Round the Red Lamp : BEHIND THE TIMES - Arthur Conan Doyle
Round the Red Lamp : HIS FIRST OPERATION - Arthur Conan Doyle
Round the Red Lamp : A STRAGGLER OF '15 - Arthur Conan Doyle
Round the Red Lamp : THE THIRD GENERATION - Arthur Conan Doyle
Round the Red Lamp : A FALSE START - Arthur Conan Doyle
Round the Red Lamp : THE CURSE OF EVE - Arthur Conan Doyle
Round the Red Lamp : SWEETHEARTS - Arthur Conan Doyle
Round the Red Lamp : A PHYSIOLOGIST'S WIFE - Arthur Conan Doyle
Round the Red Lamp : THE CASE OF LADY SANNOX - Arthur Conan Doyle
Round the Red Lamp : A QUESTION OF DIPLOMACY - Arthur Conan Doyle
Round the Red Lamp : A MEDICAL DOCUMENT - Arthur Conan Doyle
Round the Red Lamp : LOT NO. 249 - Arthur Conan Doyle
Round the Red Lamp : THE Los AMIGOS FIASCO - Arthur Conan Doyle
Round the Red Lamp : THE DOCTORS OF HOYLAND - Arthur Conan Doyle
Round the Red Lamp : THE SURGEON TALKS - Arthur Conan Doyle
Long time doctor.
2.5 out of 5
A not quite growth removal.
2.5 out of 5
Old wives' tales of war.
2.5 out of 5
Doctor's advice shortlived.
3 out of 5
A doctor in need of money.
2.5 out of 5
Birth issues.
2.5 out of 5
A medical walker finds a patient.
3 out of 5
Marriage and Melbourne.
2.5 out of 5
A poisoned lip requires surgery.
3 out of 5
Politics and marriage.
2.5 out of 5
Chronicling the docs.
2.5 out of 5
Mummies are scary when they don't stay in the same place.
3.5 out of 5
Electrocution execution measurement trail means reversal of intention.
3.5 out of 5
An established country doctor finds a woman who ends up being more interested in research than him.
2.5 out of 5
Work on it too hard it might kill you.
3 out of 5
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