The Exploits of Brigadier Gerard

Bol Partner

'...if he has the thickest head he also has the stoutest heart in my army.' Thus spake Napoleon of Brigadier Etienne Gerard, and thus was established the formula for the great series of historical short stories which Conan Doyle inaugurated in the Strand magazine. Brigadier Gerard, an impeccably dressed young hussar, is a figure of fun as well as a soldier of great courage. In the spirit of Don Quixote or the Three Musketeers, he crosses the battlefields of Europe in a series of dashing adventures. Through Gerard, Conan Doyle brings Napoleon within our grasp, and with him the intricacies of a restless Europe under Napoleon's shadow. Gerard is one of Conan Doyle's most entertaining characters and surely one that must have influenced the making of George MacDonald Fraser's Flashman, so outrageous and fortunate is this farcical character. The introducer and editor of this edition, historian and critic Owen Dudley Edwards, is also the author of the highly acclaimed biography The Quest for Sherlock Holmes.

Bol

Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a Scottish writer and physician, most noted for his fictional stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, which are generally considered milestones in the field of crime fiction. Brigadier Gerard is the hero of a series of comic short stories by the British writer Arthur Conan Doyle. The hero, Etienne Gerard, is a Hussar in the French Army during the Napoleonic Wars. Gerard's most notable attribute is his vanity – he is utterly convinced that he is the bravest soldier, greatest swordsman, most accomplished horseman and most gallant lover in all France. Gerard is not entirely wrong, since he displays notable bravery on many occasions, but his self-satisfaction undercuts this quite often. Obsessed with honour and glory, he is always ready with a stirring speech or a gallant remark to a lady.

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Pages: 184, Paperback, Createspace Independent Publishing Platform