- Paperback: 312 pages
- Publisher: Canongate Books Ltd (17 Jan 1998)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0862415349
- ISBN-13: 978-0862415341
- Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.7 x 2.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 556,980 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
The Complete Brigadier Gerard
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Product Description
Review
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
Brigadier Gerard is, after Holmes and Watson, Conan Doyle's most successful literary creation.
--Julian Symons --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
Brigadier Gerard is, after Holmes and Watson, Conan Doyle's most successful literary creation.
--Julian Symons --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
Product Description
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.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A French Flashman bigod!!,
By
This review is from: The Complete Brigadier Gerard Stories (Canongate Classics) (Paperback)
I say a French Flashman...it would probably be more appropriate to describe George MacDonald Fraser's Flashman as an English Gerard, given that this character preceded our favourite poltroon (at least GMF's version of him) by a good seventy years. Many of the features that we might attribute to Harry Flashman, we find first belonging to Etienne Gerard: the cavalry whiskers, the way with the ladies, the good looking, and dashing officer.I have never been a huge fan of the Sherlock Holmes novels and that is indeed all I have associated Arthur Conan Doyle with until recently - what a fool I've been. Etienne Gerard, for me at least, outstrips Holmes at every turn. ACD has created in Gerard a character that by all rights should be up there with the greats of literary fiction...I would say that it is only due to the huge popularity of Sherlock Holmes that this is not the case. It could be argued that ACD took a risk basing his hero on a Frenchman of Napoleon's army rather than on a British officer, but it works every time. The humour is there as Gerard embarks on an impromptu fox hunt with a host of British officers with ACD managing to poke fun at both the French and British in the same few sentences. This is a common theme throughout the collection and is superbly pulled off by this wonderful author. On the flip side you can really feel your self feeling sympathy - even sadness for the French during the retreat from Waterloo as Gerard narrates in emotional style. This edition, as the title suggests contains the complete collection of Gerard short stories and is a must have for any fans of the Flashman or Sharpe novels, indeed anyone who is interested a good novel with excellent characterisations.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
BRIGADIER GERARD,
By
This review is from: The Complete Brigadier Gerard Stories (Canongate Classics) (Paperback)
If Conan Doyle had not written his sherlock Holmes stories his historical works would receive more attention. They are all well researched, well written and very readable. Brigader Gerard is, by his own estimation, the bravest and most dashing of French Hussars. He is probably also the most vaingloriuos,self-opinionated but not the most intelligent of Napoleon's officers. His exploits are both exciting and amusing.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Good Soldier Svejk meets Biggles,
By
This review is from: The Complete Brigadier Gerard Stories (Canongate Classics) (Paperback)
Though Sherlock Holmes was by a large margin the most successful fictional creation of Arthur Conan Doyle, he was keen to write of other characters. Popular demand meant the death of Sherlock Holmes in 1893 turned out not to be death after all, but in the Holmes-free years immediately after 1893 Conan Doyle created a new character - the Napoleonic French cavalry officer, Brigadier Etienne Gerard.
Gerard is both lovable and ridiculous. He is hugely full of his own self-importance, despite his apparent modesty at times, and a smattering of knowledge of the Napoleonic Wars will help the reader identify the far from modest comparisons Gerard makes between himself and major military figures of the era. Unlike Holmes, Gerard frequently fails in his tasks which are the sort of escapades typical of classic Boy's Own adventures (think "swashbuckling", "heroic" and "dastardly") - and indeed the female characters are either weak and incidental or cunningly manipulative. The military setting makes the stories a gentle version of Good Soldier Svejk meets Biggles, though without the latter's derogatory attitudes towards the non-English. In fact, both praise and mockery is meted out to the English, French and other nationalities. Gerard may be laughable, but he is also brave and well-intentioned. The plots have some twists, many of which revolve around Gerard not being aware of how others are manipulating him - and therefore the twists are not hard for an experienced reader of such stories to spot. Even so, the they make for an enjoyable canter and the character was sufficiently successful at the time for George Bernard Shaw to have deliberately copied and caricatured him in the form of Mendoza in Man and Superman. Reading these stories is light, enjoyable fun - and so they are a good choice as long as you are not looking for fiction that is of a serious intent.
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