Arthur & George Reading Guide & Discussion Questions

Book Club Discussion Questions

Print PDF

For supplemental discussion material see our Beyond the Book article, and our BookBrowse Review of Arthur & George.

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

The discussion questions, topics, and suggested reading that follow are intended to enhance your group's conversation about Arthur & George, Julian Barnes's moving account of the intersection of the lives of Arthur Conan Doyle, world-famous writer of the Sherlock Holmes stories, and George Edalji, a Birmingham solicitor imprisoned for dreadfully gruesome crimes.


About This Book

Julian Barnes brings his unparalleled narrative and investigative skills to the story of two men born in Britain in the late nineteenth century. Arthur, the son of an improvident father and an intelligent, capable Scottish mother, trains as an eye doctor, but becomes instead the famous creator of Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson. George Edalji is the son of a Scottish mother and a Church of England vicar who was born a Parsee in Bombay. And here—in his racial difference—lies George's problem.

From his earliest school years he has been jeered at by farm boys and the local police. Highly intelligent, straitlaced and conscientious, George becomes a solicitor and writes a book about railway law of which he is very proud. But minding his own business does him no good: when a series of animal mutilations brings terror to his local village, George is the only person pursued by the police. On trumped-up evidence he is convicted and sentenced to seven years' hard labor. After three years he is released but not cleared of guilt, so he cannot resume his working life. In desperation, he writes to Arthur Conan Doyle, who brings to his aid all of the investigative know-how of Sherlock Holmes.

With Arthur & George, Julian Barnes re-creates the detailed world of the Edwardian past, and with extraordinary empathy and imagination invites readers into the relationship between two men whose paths would never have crossed but for a terrible miscarriage of justice.


Discussion Questions

1. One of the first things we learn about George is that "For a start, he lacks imagination" (4). George is deeply attached to the facts, while early in life Arthur discovers the "essential connection between narrative and reward" (12). How does this temperamental difference determine their approaches to life? Does Barnes use Arthur and George to explore the very different attractions of truth telling and storytelling?
   
2. What qualities does the Mam encourage in Arthur? How does Arthur's upbringing compare with George's? What qualities are encouraged in George by his parents? What does the novel imply about one's parents as a determinant in character development?
   
3. To what degree do George's parents try to overlook or deny the social difficulties their mixed marriage has produced for themselves and their children? Are they admirable in their determination to ignore the racial prejudice to which they are subjected?
   

Unless otherwise stated, this discussion guide is reprinted with the permission of Jonathan Cape. Any page references refer to a USA edition of the book, usually the trade paperback version, and may vary in other editions.