What do you think?
Rate this book
เรื่องเล่าแต่เก่าก่อน
เรื่องเล่าแต่เก่าก่อน 8 เรื่องสั้นรหัสคดีในช่วงก่อนการเขียนเชอร์ล็อค โฮล์มส์
รวมเรื่องสั้นชุด "เรื่องเล่าแต่เก่าก่อน" เล่มนี้ มุ่งสืบหาเบาะแสอันเป็นหวอดกำเนิดนักสืบสำคัญจากร่องรอยที่ "อาร์เธ่อร์ โคนัน ดอยล์" ได้สร้างไว้ โดยตรวจสอบจากรหัสคดีที่เขาเขียนขึ้นก่อน "สืบคดีสีเลือด" อันเป็นปฐมบทแห่งบุพคัมภีร์
ผลงานเรื่องสั้นในช่วงทศวรรษแรกของดอยล์จำนวนเกือบ 30 เรื่อง แม้ส่วนใหญ่จัดเป็นนิยายสยองขวัญและผจญภัย แต่ที่เป็นนิยายรหัสคดีก็มีอยู่ในปริมาณหนึ่งต่อสอง ใน "เรื่องเล่าแต่เก่าก่อน" มีเรื่องสั้น 2 เรื่องที่องค์ประกอบย่อยของแต่ละเรื่องสามารถใช้เป็นหลักฐานอ้างอิงได้ว่า เป็นการปูพื้นสู่การเขียนนิยาย "เชอร์ล็อค โฮล์มส์"
ผู้บรรยายเรื่อง "ความทรงจำของกัปตันวิลกี้" ได้กล่าวชื่นชมทักษะในการนิรนัยของ นพ.โจเซ้ฟ เบลล์ แม้จะไม่ได้เอ่ยชื่อตรงๆ แต่วลี "ศาสตราจารย์แห่งเอดินบะระห์ผู้ช่ำชองศิลปะแขนงนี้" ไม่อาจตีความเป็นคนอื่นได้นอกจากผู้ซึ่งเป็นแรงบันดาลใจให้ดอยล์นำบุคลิกและคุณสมบัติหลายประการมาหลอมรวมเป็นนักสืบเอกแห่งถนนเบเก้อร์
สองหนุ่มคู่หูใน "ครอบครัวของลุงเจเรมี่" มีทั้งส่วนที่เหมือนกันและกลับข้างกันกับคู่หูในบุพคัมภีร์ การสร้างตัวเอกฝ่ายหญิงให้เธอเป็นสาวงามทรงเสน่ห์แต่จิตใจเหี้ยมหาญมุ่งมั่น คือต้นแบบของไอรีน แอ๊ดเล่อร์ที่ดอยล์สร้างขึ้นเป็นขวัญใจนักสืบผู้ยิ่งใหญ่ของเขา
รวมเรื่องสั้นชุด "เรื่องเล่าแต่เก่าก่อน" เล่มนี้ มุ่งสืบหาเบาะแสอันเป็นหวอดกำเนิดนักสืบสำคัญจากร่องรอยที่ "อาร์เธ่อร์ โคนัน ดอยล์" ได้สร้างไว้ โดยตรวจสอบจากรหัสคดีที่เขาเขียนขึ้นก่อน "สืบคดีสีเลือด" อันเป็นปฐมบทแห่งบุพคัมภีร์
ผลงานเรื่องสั้นในช่วงทศวรรษแรกของดอยล์จำนวนเกือบ 30 เรื่อง แม้ส่วนใหญ่จัดเป็นนิยายสยองขวัญและผจญภัย แต่ที่เป็นนิยายรหัสคดีก็มีอยู่ในปริมาณหนึ่งต่อสอง ใน "เรื่องเล่าแต่เก่าก่อน" มีเรื่องสั้น 2 เรื่องที่องค์ประกอบย่อยของแต่ละเรื่องสามารถใช้เป็นหลักฐานอ้างอิงได้ว่า เป็นการปูพื้นสู่การเขียนนิยาย "เชอร์ล็อค โฮล์มส์"
ผู้บรรยายเรื่อง "ความทรงจำของกัปตันวิลกี้" ได้กล่าวชื่นชมทักษะในการนิรนัยของ นพ.โจเซ้ฟ เบลล์ แม้จะไม่ได้เอ่ยชื่อตรงๆ แต่วลี "ศาสตราจารย์แห่งเอดินบะระห์ผู้ช่ำชองศิลปะแขนงนี้" ไม่อาจตีความเป็นคนอื่นได้นอกจากผู้ซึ่งเป็นแรงบันดาลใจให้ดอยล์นำบุคลิกและคุณสมบัติหลายประการมาหลอมรวมเป็นนักสืบเอกแห่งถนนเบเก้อร์
สองหนุ่มคู่หูใน "ครอบครัวของลุงเจเรมี่" มีทั้งส่วนที่เหมือนกันและกลับข้างกันกับคู่หูในบุพคัมภีร์ การสร้างตัวเอกฝ่ายหญิงให้เธอเป็นสาวงามทรงเสน่ห์แต่จิตใจเหี้ยมหาญมุ่งมั่น คือต้นแบบของไอรีน แอ๊ดเล่อร์ที่ดอยล์สร้างขึ้นเป็นขวัญใจนักสืบผู้ยิ่งใหญ่ของเขา
182 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1925
15 people are currently reading
157 people want to read
About the author
Arthur Conan Doyle
15.8k books24.4k followersSir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle was a Scottish writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for A Study in Scarlet, the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Holmes and Dr. Watson. The Sherlock Holmes stories are milestones in the field of crime fiction.
Doyle was a prolific writer. In addition to the Holmes stories, his works include fantasy and science fiction stories about Professor Challenger, and humorous stories about the Napoleonic soldier Brigadier Gerard, as well as plays, romances, poetry, non-fiction, and historical novels. One of Doyle's early short stories, "J. Habakuk Jephson's Statement" (1884), helped to popularise the mystery of the brigantine Mary Celeste, found drifting at sea with no crew member aboard.
Doyle was a prolific writer. In addition to the Holmes stories, his works include fantasy and science fiction stories about Professor Challenger, and humorous stories about the Napoleonic soldier Brigadier Gerard, as well as plays, romances, poetry, non-fiction, and historical novels. One of Doyle's early short stories, "J. Habakuk Jephson's Statement" (1884), helped to popularise the mystery of the brigantine Mary Celeste, found drifting at sea with no crew member aboard.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
November 2, 2021
While Arthur Conan Doyle is best remembered for his Sherlock Holmes stories, or the sci-fi books with Professor Challenger in them, he also fancied himself as a writer of historical fiction, and had wanted to be remembered for this.
Sadly that did not happen. While Conan Doyle’s historical stories show some meticulous interest in recapturing the atmosphere of days long ago, he does not dwell on the more mundane or unpleasant details (soldiers dying of dysentery etc), but focuses on more romantic stories. In any case many of them are standard adventure stories with bland and conventional heroes who do not interest us as much as Sherlock Holmes or Professor Challenger.
We have to look to Conan Doyle’s short stories about history to find something more intriguing. Conan Doyle’s Tales of Long Ago certainly live up to their name. A story set around the time of Mary, Queen of Scots is comparatively modern here, and the other stories often stretch back as far as the times of ancient Rome or ancient Greece.
What makes the stories interesting is Conan Doyle’s ironic use of foreshadowing. With the benefit of hindsight, we know how these historical events would turn out, but the characters do not.
I suspect however that Conan Doyle does not grasp the lesson that history teaches us in these instances. Just as the great empires and religions of the past were destined to crumble into dust, then so too will the British Empire and the religion that it espouses.
Of course I have a level of hindsight into the first part of this which Conan Doyle did not have, but the imaginative writer should perhaps have seen the full implications of what his stories suggested.
Take the first story here, ‘The Last of the Legions’. We could view this as a metaphor for how Conan Doyle sees the British Empire. The Romans are preparing to leave Britain so that they can defend the rest of their land from invading armies. The leaders of the sullen British tribes are ecstatic at first until they realise the implications for them. Without the Romans on hand to keep order, they will be attacked by other tribes, and they will perish.
Conan Doyle perhaps sees this as a tale that shows the value of the British Empire in keeping order. Without our presence, the natives would suffer from even greater unrest. Another interpretation can be offered. Just as the Romans could not hold onto their colonised territories forever, so Britain will need to give up hers one day. When that happens, the mischief that the British have perpetrated in stirring up the various native groups will inevitably result in war and chaos.
Next is ‘The Last Galley’. Again the same pattern applies. The days of the Phoenician empire is reaching its end, and they are about to disappear from history to be replaced by the Romans. The only comfort is that an old woman prophesies a day when the unlikely island nearby (Britain) will replace the Romans as the home of the world’s largest empire.
As in the first story, we may read an alternative message – that empires are transient, and one day the British Empire will crumble, and another part of the world will become dominant.
Psychic powers play an important part in ‘Through the Veil’. The story is set in contemporary times, but a wife has a vision of her husband and herself being attacked by invading Romans. The story’s abrupt ending makes this one of the least satisfying in the volume.
If ‘The Last Galley’ and ‘Through the Veil’ shows the Romans rising to prominence, the stories are undermined by the stories that tail-end them, where the Romans are doing less well. In ‘The Coming of the Huns’, the peace of a hermit is shattered by the arrival of a vast army of Huns. He is forced to resume his responsibilities to the world, and warn the Romans.
‘The Contest’ takes a lighter note. Conan Doyle has some fun with the vanity of the Emperor Nero. Nero is holding a contest to show off his mediocre skills as a musician. Unfortunately a local goatherd does not recognise his leader, and is baffled that the audience praises the playing of Nero, and shows no enthusiasm for obviously more talented musicians. The abuse of power in suppressing dissent is on display here, but only in its more absurd and comical of forms.
Back to stories of the decline of the Roman Empire with ‘The First Cargo’. Here a naïve Roman speaks to the local Saxon tribe, and fails to realise that they intend to take Britain for themselves. “A temporary occupation – nothing more,” promises a Saxon leader, a statement more true than he intended.
The Saxons have a bigoted view of the Christianity of Britain, which is part of their reason for invading. Religious bigotry of a different kind is found in ‘An Iconoclast’. An early Christian gets into trouble for destroying an image of the goddess Venus. Conan Doyle plays the story humorously, but this smashing of other people’s religious imagery continues to this day.
There is a subliminal message here missed by Conan Doyle. The story also serves to remind us of the temporary nature of religion. Today it is the turn for a newly-created religion to seek to erase a past belief with all the zealotry of a new faith. Soon it will be the turn of another group of religious fanatics to seek to erase Christianity.
To jump ahead a story for a moment, this point is nicely encapsulated in ‘The Red Star’, where travellers meet a group of narrow-minded Arabs. The leader indicates that he will not harm them now, but this may change when the hour of grace ends. At the story’s conclusion, we learn he is Mohammed. Christianity is just one more religion along the path of human development, and later religions are springing up.
‘Giant Maximin’ is a more ambitious three-part short story describing the rise to the role of Emperor by a tall peasant, who gradually becomes corrupted by power, and is usurped. Conan Doyle is clearly intrigued by this historical oddity, but betrays a little snobbery:
“For all the pompous roll of titles it is a peasant's face, and I see him not as the Emperor of Rome, but as the great Thracian boor who strode down the hill-side on that far-distant summer day when first the eagles beckoned him to Rome.”
Contemporary supernatural themes return in ‘The Silver Mirror’. This is a variation on the familiar story of a man looking into a mirror, and seeing another room and people in the reflection. As it turns out, the mirror was owned by Mary, Queen of Scots, and the image that he witnesses is that of the murder of Rizzio.
For ‘The Homecoming’, Conan Doyle deals with a more domestic problem. The abbot of a monastery makes the ill-advised decision to restore a boy in his care to the mother who has neglected him. However the boy is the son of Theodora, wife of the Emperor Justinian, and she is not too keen to have her past exhumed in front of her husband. The question is whether the Empress will remove these unfortunate guests, or whether love for her son will prevail.
‘A Point of Contact’ deals with the curious coincidences and ironies of history. Conan Doyle is conscious how so many different strands of history were happening at the same time, even though they seem far apart in our minds. Here he has Odysseus meeting David, accompanied by Solomon. Personally I would see it as a meeting between two fictional characters, but well.
Conan Doyle rounds off these tales with ‘The Centurion’. The Romans are finding the Jews to be hardy fighters, but worse will follow, as a new religion, Christianity, is coming. Indeed a centurion claims to have seen Christ’s death. I hope he did not say ‘Truly this man was the son of God’ in a John Wayne voice. Again the lesson that religions come and go and supersede one another is lost on Conan Doyle.
While most of these stories are short on action, Conan Doyle offers something more interesting, a glimpse into the accidental twists and turns of history, in which the outcomes are shrouded in mystery from its inhabitants. It should serve as a timely reminder for us not to be too complacent about predicting the future, or imagining the continuation of that which exists in the present.
Sadly that did not happen. While Conan Doyle’s historical stories show some meticulous interest in recapturing the atmosphere of days long ago, he does not dwell on the more mundane or unpleasant details (soldiers dying of dysentery etc), but focuses on more romantic stories. In any case many of them are standard adventure stories with bland and conventional heroes who do not interest us as much as Sherlock Holmes or Professor Challenger.
We have to look to Conan Doyle’s short stories about history to find something more intriguing. Conan Doyle’s Tales of Long Ago certainly live up to their name. A story set around the time of Mary, Queen of Scots is comparatively modern here, and the other stories often stretch back as far as the times of ancient Rome or ancient Greece.
What makes the stories interesting is Conan Doyle’s ironic use of foreshadowing. With the benefit of hindsight, we know how these historical events would turn out, but the characters do not.
I suspect however that Conan Doyle does not grasp the lesson that history teaches us in these instances. Just as the great empires and religions of the past were destined to crumble into dust, then so too will the British Empire and the religion that it espouses.
Of course I have a level of hindsight into the first part of this which Conan Doyle did not have, but the imaginative writer should perhaps have seen the full implications of what his stories suggested.
Take the first story here, ‘The Last of the Legions’. We could view this as a metaphor for how Conan Doyle sees the British Empire. The Romans are preparing to leave Britain so that they can defend the rest of their land from invading armies. The leaders of the sullen British tribes are ecstatic at first until they realise the implications for them. Without the Romans on hand to keep order, they will be attacked by other tribes, and they will perish.
Conan Doyle perhaps sees this as a tale that shows the value of the British Empire in keeping order. Without our presence, the natives would suffer from even greater unrest. Another interpretation can be offered. Just as the Romans could not hold onto their colonised territories forever, so Britain will need to give up hers one day. When that happens, the mischief that the British have perpetrated in stirring up the various native groups will inevitably result in war and chaos.
Next is ‘The Last Galley’. Again the same pattern applies. The days of the Phoenician empire is reaching its end, and they are about to disappear from history to be replaced by the Romans. The only comfort is that an old woman prophesies a day when the unlikely island nearby (Britain) will replace the Romans as the home of the world’s largest empire.
As in the first story, we may read an alternative message – that empires are transient, and one day the British Empire will crumble, and another part of the world will become dominant.
Psychic powers play an important part in ‘Through the Veil’. The story is set in contemporary times, but a wife has a vision of her husband and herself being attacked by invading Romans. The story’s abrupt ending makes this one of the least satisfying in the volume.
If ‘The Last Galley’ and ‘Through the Veil’ shows the Romans rising to prominence, the stories are undermined by the stories that tail-end them, where the Romans are doing less well. In ‘The Coming of the Huns’, the peace of a hermit is shattered by the arrival of a vast army of Huns. He is forced to resume his responsibilities to the world, and warn the Romans.
‘The Contest’ takes a lighter note. Conan Doyle has some fun with the vanity of the Emperor Nero. Nero is holding a contest to show off his mediocre skills as a musician. Unfortunately a local goatherd does not recognise his leader, and is baffled that the audience praises the playing of Nero, and shows no enthusiasm for obviously more talented musicians. The abuse of power in suppressing dissent is on display here, but only in its more absurd and comical of forms.
Back to stories of the decline of the Roman Empire with ‘The First Cargo’. Here a naïve Roman speaks to the local Saxon tribe, and fails to realise that they intend to take Britain for themselves. “A temporary occupation – nothing more,” promises a Saxon leader, a statement more true than he intended.
The Saxons have a bigoted view of the Christianity of Britain, which is part of their reason for invading. Religious bigotry of a different kind is found in ‘An Iconoclast’. An early Christian gets into trouble for destroying an image of the goddess Venus. Conan Doyle plays the story humorously, but this smashing of other people’s religious imagery continues to this day.
There is a subliminal message here missed by Conan Doyle. The story also serves to remind us of the temporary nature of religion. Today it is the turn for a newly-created religion to seek to erase a past belief with all the zealotry of a new faith. Soon it will be the turn of another group of religious fanatics to seek to erase Christianity.
To jump ahead a story for a moment, this point is nicely encapsulated in ‘The Red Star’, where travellers meet a group of narrow-minded Arabs. The leader indicates that he will not harm them now, but this may change when the hour of grace ends. At the story’s conclusion, we learn he is Mohammed. Christianity is just one more religion along the path of human development, and later religions are springing up.
‘Giant Maximin’ is a more ambitious three-part short story describing the rise to the role of Emperor by a tall peasant, who gradually becomes corrupted by power, and is usurped. Conan Doyle is clearly intrigued by this historical oddity, but betrays a little snobbery:
“For all the pompous roll of titles it is a peasant's face, and I see him not as the Emperor of Rome, but as the great Thracian boor who strode down the hill-side on that far-distant summer day when first the eagles beckoned him to Rome.”
Contemporary supernatural themes return in ‘The Silver Mirror’. This is a variation on the familiar story of a man looking into a mirror, and seeing another room and people in the reflection. As it turns out, the mirror was owned by Mary, Queen of Scots, and the image that he witnesses is that of the murder of Rizzio.
For ‘The Homecoming’, Conan Doyle deals with a more domestic problem. The abbot of a monastery makes the ill-advised decision to restore a boy in his care to the mother who has neglected him. However the boy is the son of Theodora, wife of the Emperor Justinian, and she is not too keen to have her past exhumed in front of her husband. The question is whether the Empress will remove these unfortunate guests, or whether love for her son will prevail.
‘A Point of Contact’ deals with the curious coincidences and ironies of history. Conan Doyle is conscious how so many different strands of history were happening at the same time, even though they seem far apart in our minds. Here he has Odysseus meeting David, accompanied by Solomon. Personally I would see it as a meeting between two fictional characters, but well.
Conan Doyle rounds off these tales with ‘The Centurion’. The Romans are finding the Jews to be hardy fighters, but worse will follow, as a new religion, Christianity, is coming. Indeed a centurion claims to have seen Christ’s death. I hope he did not say ‘Truly this man was the son of God’ in a John Wayne voice. Again the lesson that religions come and go and supersede one another is lost on Conan Doyle.
While most of these stories are short on action, Conan Doyle offers something more interesting, a glimpse into the accidental twists and turns of history, in which the outcomes are shrouded in mystery from its inhabitants. It should serve as a timely reminder for us not to be too complacent about predicting the future, or imagining the continuation of that which exists in the present.
March 6, 2018
Doyle was such a capable writer. This group showcases a wonderful bunch of short stories. They aren't all mysteries. There are several historical tales and a couple supernatural ones. I didn't like those last two, but the historical ones were very good.
March 13, 2016
Tales of Long Ago is a 1922 collection of 12 short stories set in the far past. The fall of the Roman Empire crops up a lot as a theme, with some heavy-handed treatment of the possible future of Britain in these conditions. They are all quite readable, even if the historical details underpinning them tends to be a lot of bunk. Great fun.
May 13, 2017
Quite the solid collection of short stories. I was especially partial to "The Contest" and "The Red Star." I highly recommend this collection to fans of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's work.
October 10, 2025
The Last of the Legions - A good story to start off with. This is about the Roman withdrawal from Britain. It’s only 10 pages but it makes 4 characters feel so real within its short length. 4/5
The Last Galley - A galley that fled a battle must face one final challenge. Death or dishonour. Overall it’s alright. Not much happens but it gets its point across well enough. 3/5
Through the Veil - A very mystical story about other lives and how the past can come back to haunt you. Literally. I saw where Doyle was going with this story but it wasn’t for me. 3/5
The Coming of the Huns - A very thrilling story about, well, the coming of the Huns. I rather enjoyed this one, 4/5.
The Contest - I cannot remember much about this story unfortunately so it will go unrated
The First Cargo - I believe this is meant to be a little bit before the withdrawal of the Roman Empire from Britain. It focuses on the coming of the Saxons and the distrust of the protagonist towards them. 4/5
Giant Maximin - One of the highlights of this collection. A fictionalised retelling of the real Emperor, Maximin, from his start as a humble peasant, to his tragic end as a cutthroat emperor. It still holds up incredibly well even after 100 years. 5/5.
The Red Star - This is a real talky one. It’s interesting about a caravan coming across a strange cast of characters. It’s okay but nothing noteworthy. 3/5
The Silver Mirror - Just like Through the Veil, this is yet another mystical story in this collection. However I enjoyed this one a lot more. It focused on a man incredibly stressed and hard at work, and, well, the silver mirror. Told through journal, this was a very fun story. 4/5
Homecoming - A very emotional story that genuinely tugs at the heartstrings. Just like Giant Maximin, this is another highlight of this short story collection. It’s worth picking up the book for this story alone. 5/5.
A Point of Contact - This puts forward in interesting idea of whether famous individuals in the past ever came into contact with one another, and if they did what would happen? This story is more thought provoking than it is interesting. 3/5.
The Last Galley - A galley that fled a battle must face one final challenge. Death or dishonour. Overall it’s alright. Not much happens but it gets its point across well enough. 3/5
Through the Veil - A very mystical story about other lives and how the past can come back to haunt you. Literally. I saw where Doyle was going with this story but it wasn’t for me. 3/5
The Coming of the Huns - A very thrilling story about, well, the coming of the Huns. I rather enjoyed this one, 4/5.
The Contest - I cannot remember much about this story unfortunately so it will go unrated
The First Cargo - I believe this is meant to be a little bit before the withdrawal of the Roman Empire from Britain. It focuses on the coming of the Saxons and the distrust of the protagonist towards them. 4/5
Giant Maximin - One of the highlights of this collection. A fictionalised retelling of the real Emperor, Maximin, from his start as a humble peasant, to his tragic end as a cutthroat emperor. It still holds up incredibly well even after 100 years. 5/5.
The Red Star - This is a real talky one. It’s interesting about a caravan coming across a strange cast of characters. It’s okay but nothing noteworthy. 3/5
The Silver Mirror - Just like Through the Veil, this is yet another mystical story in this collection. However I enjoyed this one a lot more. It focused on a man incredibly stressed and hard at work, and, well, the silver mirror. Told through journal, this was a very fun story. 4/5
Homecoming - A very emotional story that genuinely tugs at the heartstrings. Just like Giant Maximin, this is another highlight of this short story collection. It’s worth picking up the book for this story alone. 5/5.
A Point of Contact - This puts forward in interesting idea of whether famous individuals in the past ever came into contact with one another, and if they did what would happen? This story is more thought provoking than it is interesting. 3/5.
March 5, 2025
As any average teenager, I went through a Sherlock Holmes obsessed phase for a while, and I remember during the beginning of my Russian studies the stories provided me rather needed, and at the same time, enjoyable practice. Although I had heard Arthur Conan Doyle had dwelled in history, I had also read he was rather unsuccessful, perhaps as a consequent to the great detective's mightiness. Nonetheless, this book, albeit short, was not only entertaining, and at times even amusing- but also, unexpectedly, informative. An avid history researcher shall definitely read this in their spare time, for at times it reads like fan fiction of actual heroes. Mostly focused on Rome, I believe former knowledge of the aforementioned empire shall provide more amusement to a knowledgeable individual.
January 1, 2023
Entertaining historical listening 🎶🔰
Another will written thirteen British and European historical adventure thriller short stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle about Roman empire and the Caesar rule. Each story is different with interesting characters and lots of action and violence that goes with the times. I would recommend this novel to readers of historical adventure novels 👍🔰. Enjoy the adventure of reading or listening to 📚. 2023 👑🏰☺
Another will written thirteen British and European historical adventure thriller short stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle about Roman empire and the Caesar rule. Each story is different with interesting characters and lots of action and violence that goes with the times. I would recommend this novel to readers of historical adventure novels 👍🔰. Enjoy the adventure of reading or listening to 📚. 2023 👑🏰☺
January 30, 2025
Me ha gustado muchísimo. De todos los relatos me han entusiasmado los siguientes:
1. La contienda (de hecho mañana leeremos el relato en mi clase sobre Nerón).
2. El gigante Maximino
3. El espejo de plata
4. El regreso al hogar
5. Un punto de contacto
No suelo leer varias veces el mismo libro. Sin embargo con este lo haré porque tengo la sensación de que en cada lectura me aportará nuevos enfoques de las diversas historias.
1. La contienda (de hecho mañana leeremos el relato en mi clase sobre Nerón).
2. El gigante Maximino
3. El espejo de plata
4. El regreso al hogar
5. Un punto de contacto
No suelo leer varias veces el mismo libro. Sin embargo con este lo haré porque tengo la sensación de que en cada lectura me aportará nuevos enfoques de las diversas historias.
June 30, 2017
Essentially this is Conan Doyle's gossipy fanfiction about famous Greeks, Romans, and Carthaginians. You'd think history would be homogeneously interesting (it's all stuff that happened before now), but it turns out these particular eras of Long Ago are very boring.
August 16, 2017
It was ok.
July 9, 2023
102 - 2023
June 4, 2016
I'm something of a fan of Conan Doyle but I have never read any of his historical novels. This was offered as a free Kindle download so seemed too good to miss.
Most of these stories are set in the Roman Empire and a number feature reaI life historical figures. I don't know how typical the stories are of Conan Doyle's other historical fiction, but I don't think they have stood the test of time that well. It seems illogical to say that a book of historical fiction suffers from being dated, but these stories are based on a particular view of the Roman Empire that was prevalent in Victorian Britain. When I watch historical drama on TV, I often feel that the writers transpose modern day social attitudes into the period, and in the same way Conan Doyle uses several of these stories to extol the popular virtues of his day - such as courage, patriotism, devotion to duty, and self sacrifice. Conan Doyle's interest in spiritualism and "psychic phenomena" also comes out in a few of the tales.
However, I will say that these stories are a very easy read and several of them are quite fun, in their own way.
Most of these stories are set in the Roman Empire and a number feature reaI life historical figures. I don't know how typical the stories are of Conan Doyle's other historical fiction, but I don't think they have stood the test of time that well. It seems illogical to say that a book of historical fiction suffers from being dated, but these stories are based on a particular view of the Roman Empire that was prevalent in Victorian Britain. When I watch historical drama on TV, I often feel that the writers transpose modern day social attitudes into the period, and in the same way Conan Doyle uses several of these stories to extol the popular virtues of his day - such as courage, patriotism, devotion to duty, and self sacrifice. Conan Doyle's interest in spiritualism and "psychic phenomena" also comes out in a few of the tales.
However, I will say that these stories are a very easy read and several of them are quite fun, in their own way.
February 8, 2017
Conan Doyle was a major short story writer. All but four of the Holmes stories were written for serialization in various magazines. But he was very prolific with historical, social, religious and supernatural/spiritual tales for decades. This small volume has a wide selection of little stories. Some are very dated but most are very enjoyable as they cover topics which do not depend on when written.
July 29, 2016
this is definitely only for hardcore completists. super boring and pretty clumsy.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews