The image of sir Arthur Conan Doyle in j. Barnes novel Arthur and George

Abstract

The article analyzes the novel of the famous British author Julian Barnes Arthur and George dedicated to the life of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes. The novel, being a work of fiction, is based on the real events from the biography of Sir Doyle. Using the method of comparative analysis, we compare the facts known about the life of Conan Doyle with their artistic interpretation presented by Julian Barnes in the novel in order to reveal the author's understanding of the historical figure and its relation to the depiction of history in general. In the process of the study it was established that even though the novel strictly adheres to historical facts on the level of the plot and the author even uses the historical documents, Barnes does not seek to recreate either the historical truth objectively or the historical personality close to what she most likely was. The novel is both a psychological prose on a historical subject and a metafiction, a statement about history, how the reality, the life of a person and their literary creativity are correlated, how they influence each other.