The Duello in France E-Book

Arthur Conan Doyle

• Herausgeber: Al-Mashreq eBookstore
• Kategorie: Sachliteratur, Reportagen, Biografien
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 23

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2025

Beschreibung

The Duello in France is Arthur Conan Doyle's sharp, insightful, and historically rich exploration of one of Europe's most romanticized and dangerous customs: the duel. In this autobiographical essay, Doyle delves into the tradition of French dueling with both fascination and critique, offering a vivid narrative informed by personal study and cultural observation. With the precision of a historian and the flair of a novelist, he recounts gripping real-life duels, exposes their often absurd codes of honor, and reflects on how this lethal ritual persisted in a supposedly civilized society. More than a historical account, this is Doyle in his element—dissecting human behavior, honor, and ego through the lens of a bygone European institution. As much a meditation on masculinity and violence as it is a cultural essay, The Duello in France is a compelling and elegant piece of nonfiction from one of literature's most versatile minds.

Leseprobe

The Duello in France

Autobiographical Writings

By: Arthur Conan Doyle

Prepared and edited by: Rafat Allam

Copyright © 2025 by Al-Mashreq eBookstore

First published in The Cornhill Magazine, Vol. XV, 1890

No part of this publication may be reproduced whole or in part in any form without the prior written permission of the author

Table of Contents

The Duello in France

1

2

3

Arthur Conan Doyle

Early Life and Education

Medical Studies and Early Career

The Birth of Sherlock Holmes

Other Literary Works

Personal Life

Spiritualism and Later Life

Honours and Legacy

Landmarks

Table of Contents

Cover

1

THERE is a clause in one of the innumerable codes of law drawn up in France for the purpose of checking, or at least regulating, the practice of duelling, which proclaims it to be illegal to fight a duel on any question which may not be assessed at the money value of twopence-halfpenny. This limitation, modest as it appears, seems to have been too drastic for the tastes of the people to whom it was addressed, and the long roll of the single combats of the past contain many which could not possibly trace their origin to any question so weighty. The blend of the many high-spirited nations which go to make up the French people, of the Gaul, the Armorican, the Frank, the Burgundian, the Norman, the Goth, has produced a race who appear to have the combative spirit more highly developed than any other European nation. In spite of the incessant wars which make up the history of France, the record of private combat and bloodshed is an unbroken one, stretching back in a long red stream through the ages, sometimes narrow, sometimes broad, occasionally reaching such a flood as can only be ascribed to a passing fit of universal homicidal mania. Recent events have shown that this national tendency is still as strong as ever, and that there is every prospect that the duello, when driven from every other European country, may still find a home among a gallant people, whose solicitude for their honour makes them occasionally a trifle neglectful of their intelligence.