Bothun

 "Steel True, Blade Straight, Arthur Conan Doyle, Knight, Patriot, Physician, & Man of Letters."



 By Phil Bothun

 Student of UW-Rock County



 The names Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes are, for most intents and purposes, synonymous with each other. Much of what Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, writer, physician, and spiritualist, is remembered for is within one of the most recognized and revered characters of the twentieth century. Yet, so much more is contained in the life of such an iconic author, a life wrought with drama, adventure, secrets and death, all the makings of a well-written Sherlock Holmes story.One thing that is common with any biographical work about Conan Doyle is his constant thrill for the dangerous and adventurous. Throughout his life, Conan Doyle has adventured across the globe, spending much of his time on English soil maintaining several homes throughout Scotland and England including Windlesham Manor in Surrey, Groombridge Place and Undershaw, south of London, as well as on African soil. After a period from 1876 to 1881 at the University of Edinburgh, Conan Doyle was employed as a ship’s doctor on the SS Mayumba for a voyage to the West African coast. Thereafter, 1885, he achieved his doctorate on the subject of tabes dorsalis, a degenerative condition pertaining to sensory neurons. His experience as a doctor and his adventurous nature would later resurface as he served as a doctor in South Africa during the Boer War during one of the largest typhoid epidemics.

Throughout all of this, his extensive work as a doctor, abroad and domestic, his brief period of performing ophthalmology in 1891, and political aspirations, Conan Doyle was grappling with one of his most prevalent rivals: Sherlock Holmes. Sherlock was first created in A Study in Scarlet, first appearing in Beeton’s Christmas Annual in 1887. From then on, Holmes would be printed in The Strandmagazine. Based off of Joseph Bell, a university professor, Doyle was said to created Holmes "round the centre of deduction and inference and observation which I have heard [Joseph Bell] inculcate I have tried to build up a man." The semblance was close enough for Robert Louis Stevenson, also a former student of Bell, to recognize the man while he resided in Samoa.

Ironically, Sherlock Holmes was Conan Doyle’s most popular asset, yet several times Conan Doyle juggled the idea of killing off the character, doing so finally at Reichenbach Falls in1893. However, due to immense popular demand, Conan Doyle was forced to resurrect the great detective in The Hound of the Baskervilles in 1901, claiming Sherlock had to remain hidden from even more dangerous foes. Something that runs throughout all of the Holmes stories is this theme of deception and simplification. Conan Doyle uses Sherlock’s amazing skill of observation, logic and criminal understanding to turn something that, to all appearances, was confusing and commonplace into extravagant answers to seemingly impossible cases.

Another major theme throughout these stories is this battle between the supernatural and the natural world. Sherlock Holmes himself doesn’t believe in ghosts or the supernatural, claiming that there is always a plausible physical answer for everything, which he proves in every case. Strangely enough, later on in life Conan Doyle himself would become a staunch spiritualist, conducting seances and speakings.

Finally, Conan Doyle uses the literary device of foreshadowing in almost all of the Sherlock Holmes stories. Foreshadowing, the method of showing the reader a sign of sorts in order to speculate at what is to come, is in many ways a pivotal part of any Holmes story. Without the expositional information that the reader makes inferences upon the stories themselves wouldn’t have gained as much popularity as they had. That exposition also offers a sort of foreshadowing such that the reader can speculate about the case as well as its solution based upon the small signs embedded in that introduction.

Another device that sometimes fall under the topic of foreshadowing is a character device known as a ‘red-herring.’ A red herring is a solution or scapegoat that the author throws out in order to distract or throw off the reader. A perfect example of this is the convict character in The Hound of the Baskervilles. The convict is first suspected to be the perpetrator because of his strange doings as well as his history of being a convict. It later turns out that he is innocent and the perpetrator was someone else. However, for a brief time, the reader was distracted, thus making the solution all that more amazing when Holmes reveals it.

All in all, Arthur Conan Doyle is a brilliant author, a man of many faces and talents, yet he is always taken as only the creator of Sherlock Holmes. Below are a few sources to get anyone who wishes for a more in-depth learning of Conan Doyle to begin searching. I hope that these help any prospective reader open their mind to Conan Doyle and learn that he is far more than the creator of one of the most recognized characters world wide. All you must do is click, rather “elementary” as our great caper would say.

__Arthur Conan Doyle: A Life in Letters This particular monograph supplies events, motivations, and actual emotions directly from the hand of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in correspondence between himself and his family and friends. The compiler explains that they will take much time explaining specific events that Conan Doyle writes of, as well as background information with his family. This book does much to humanize Conan Doyle, outlining his troubles with his medical practice, his poverty stricken beginnings, his constant rejections in literature, as well as the intense struggle fighting for his first spouse's life against tuberculosis, all the while maintaining a hidden ten-year romance with his second wife. These letters are directly penned from Conan Doyle giving very interesting insight into his life, revealing one of the most interesting facts, his own love-hate relationship with his most famous character: Sherlock Holmes. __

Arthur Conan Doyle: Beyond Baker Street

 The introduction to this work opens with one of my favorite Conan Doyle stories. A reporter doing profiles on prominent Brits during the Boer War asks a solitary doctor busy working during the height of the typhoid epidemic in South Africa what his favorite Sherlock Holmes story was. Agitated, he responds, “Perhaps the one about the serpent, but for the life of me I cannot remember the name of it.” This solitary man is no other than Arthur Conan Doyle, the writer of said story. The author then goes on to explain that this single exchange can be the one moment that describes all of Conan Doyle’s life. This book takes upon the challenge of drawing one’s eyes from Sherlock Holmes, instead focussing on the man and his pleasures, his pursuits to follow danger and excitement, and how he very much was nothing like the character he created. In this book some of the most obscure stories and strange settings of Conan Doyle’s life are explained and explored, including his advances in medical science, his political aspirations and writings, and, towards the end of his life, his aspirations to become a leading member of spiritualism. Arthur Conan Doyle: Beyond Baker Street takes on the challenge of establishing Conan Doyle as a man, not just an author.

"The Foreign and the Female in Arthur Conan Doyle: Beneath the Candy Coating"

 This article focuses on Conan Doyle’s position on women and foreigners in his novels. There is a very strong emphasis, the article states, that Conan Doyle carried imperialistic, bordering on nationalistic, persuasions when it came to foreigners, almost always placing the superior force as English, and the less superior as “other than English.” The same can be said with male and female relationships. The article rpeats this idea, with textual references throughout, that men (Sherlock, Watson, Inspector Lestrade) always triumph and that women are placed as murderous, insidious, and all around undesirable. The article also draws a direct correlation between the way that England policed and controlled its colonies to the way that a man should police and control a woman. This is present in several of Conan Doyle’s novels.

"Sherlock Holmes and the Problem of War: Traumatic Detections"

 This particular article explores Arthur Conan Doyle’s experience during the Boer War in the early 20th Century. The article focuses on Doyle’s patriotism and how he served to his utmost as a doctor during one of the worst typhoid breakouts of the century. Yet, I believe the key to the article is how all of this experience fundamentally changed Conan Doyle. After exploring his experiences as a doctor, the author uses textual references of many Sherlock Holmes stories to suggest how Conan Doyle used Holmes as an outlet for his feelings about the war. The author also writes of the desensitizing of war, the feelings of English superiority, and the dawn of what is now called Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and how these are emulated in Sherlock Holmes.

 "Mr. Monk and the Pleasing Paradigm"

 This scholarly article from the University of Oklahoma explains the timelessness of Conan Doyle’s “Great Detective.” The article primarily revolves around the character Adrian Monk on the show Monk on the USA Network, along with other USA Network characters. The writers for these shows such as, Law and Order: Criminal Intent, House, and Monk, all use the paradigms set up by Conan Doyle, as well as Edgar Allen Poe, to set up detectives of immense genius.

 A common thread running throughout are these detectives’ derivations from what most people would call “normal.” Monk is obsessive-compulsive and is relatively unable to operate without his nurse and psychiatrist. However, this disorder is also his greatest strength, allowing him to notice things others would not. Detective Goren, of Law and Order: CI, is a brilliant man who has an ability for reading people, a walking criminal encyclopedia, yet he has problems with coping with his family, as well as keeping up social conventions, usually remaining rather awkward. Finally, House, of the show sharing the same name, is a medical “detective” of sorts, his main job diagnosing medical diseases. Yet, House has a debilitating pain in his hip along with an addiction to Vicodin. These three men all emulate the pattern set up by Conan Doyle and Poe with their visage of the “Great Detective.”

The Official Sherlock Holmes Museum

 The Arthur Conan Doyle: The Prolific Writer, an Online Exhibit from the Westminster Library

[|A Study in Scarlet] - 1885

<span style="display: block; font: normal normal normal 16px/19px Cambria; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"> The Captain of the Polestar and﻿ Other Tales - 1890

<span style="display: block; font: normal normal normal 16px/19px Cambria; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px; text-align: center;">[|The Sign of Four] - 1890

<span style="display: block; font: normal normal normal 16px/19px Cambria; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px; text-align: center;">[|The White Company] - 1891

<span style="display: block; font: normal normal normal 16px/19px Cambria; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px; text-align: center;">[|The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes] - 1892

<span style="display: block; font: normal normal normal 16px/19px Cambria; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px; text-align: center;">[|The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes] - 1894

<span style="display: block; font: normal normal normal 16px/19px Cambria; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px; text-align: center;">[|Round the Red Lamp] - 1894

<span style="display: block; font: normal normal normal 16px/19px Cambria; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"> The Stark Munro Letters - 1895

<span style="display: block; font: normal normal normal 16px/19px Cambria; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px; text-align: center;">[|A Duet: With an Occasional Chorus] - 1899 <span style="display: block; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">[|The Great Boer War] - 1900 <span style="display: block; font: normal normal normal 16px/19px Cambria; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"> The War in South Africa: Its Cause and Conduct - 1902

<span style="display: block; font: normal normal normal 16px/19px Cambria; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px; text-align: center;">[|The Hounds of the Baskervilles] - 1902

<span style="display: block; font: normal normal normal 16px/19px Cambria; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px; text-align: center;">[|The Return of Sherlock Holmes] - 1904

<span style="display: block; font: normal normal normal 16px/19px Cambria; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"> Sir Nigel - 1906 [|Waterloo (With W. Gillette)] - 1907

<span style="display: block; font: normal normal normal 16px/19px Cambria; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"> The Crime of the Congo - 1909 The Lost World- 1912

<span style="display: block; font: normal normal normal 16px/19px Cambria; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"> Great Britain and the Next War - 1914

<span style="display: block; font: normal normal normal 16px/19px Cambria; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px; text-align: center;">[|The Valley of Fear] - 1915

<span style="display: block; font: normal normal normal 16px/19px Cambria; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"> The Origin and Outbreak of the War - 1916

<span style="display: block; font: normal normal normal 16px/19px Cambria; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px; text-align: center;">[|His Last Bow] - 1917

<span style="display: block; font: normal normal normal 16px/19px Cambria; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"> Spiritualism and Rationalism - 1920

<span style="display: block; font: normal normal normal 16px/19px Cambria; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"> The Poems of Arthur Conan Doyle - 1922

<span style="display: block; font: normal normal normal 16px/19px Cambria; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px; text-align: center;">[|The Case for Spirit Photography] - 1922

<span style="display: block; font: normal normal normal 16px/19px Cambria; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"> The History of Spiritualism - 1926

<span style="display: block; font: normal normal normal 16px/19px Cambria; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px; text-align: center;">[|The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes] - 1927



<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Cambria; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> Throughout his life Arthur Conan Doyle had two separate wives. After completing doctorate degree, Arthur Conan Doyle married Louisa Hawkins in 1885. He would remain with her until she ultimately lost her life in a bout with tuberculosis in 1906. During his time with Louisa, Doyle sired two children: Mary Louise, born on January 28, 1889 and Arthur Alleyne Kingsley, born on November 15, 1892.

<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Cambria; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> In 1907, a year after Louisa's death, Arthur Conan Doyle married Jean Elizabeth Leckie and remained with her until his death in 1930. However, Conan Doyle kept up a steady love relationship for ten years prior to Louisa's death, remaining silent for Louisa's health. At this point Sir Arthur, knighted after his work on the Great Boer War and its justification, sired three children with Jean Elizabeth: Denis Percy Stewart, born March 17, 1909, Adrian Malcolm, born November 19, 1910, and Jean Lena Annette, born December 21, 1912.

<span style="display: block; font: 130%/19px Cambria; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px; text-align: center;">22 May 1859: Birth of Arthur Conan Doyle

<span style="display: block; font: normal normal normal 120%/normal Cambria; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"> 1885: He completed his doctorate on the subject of //tabes dorsalis//

<span style="display: block; font: normal normal normal 120%/normal Cambria; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"> 1885: Conan Doyle married Louisa (or Louise) Hawkins

<span style="display: block; font: normal normal normal 120%/normal Cambria; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"> 1887: //A Study is Scarlet// is published in Beecham’s Christmas Annual.

<span style="display: block; font: normal normal normal 120%/normal Cambria; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"> 1890: Conan Doyle studied ophthalmology in Vienna

<span style="display: block; font: normal normal normal 120%/normal Cambria; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"> 1891: Moved to London to set up a practice as an ophthalmologist

<span style="display: block; font: normal normal normal 120%/normal Cambria; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"> 1893: A.C. Doyle kills off Holmes to dedicate more time to his historical works.

<span style="display: block; font: normal normal normal 120%/normal Cambria; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"> 1901: Due to popular response, Holmes is resurrected

<span style="display: block; font: normal normal normal 120%/normal Cambria; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"> 1906, 4 July: Louisa suffered from tuberculosis and dies

<span style="display: block; font: normal normal normal 120%/normal Cambria; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"> 1907: marries Jean Elizabeth Leckie

<span style="display: block; font: normal normal normal 120%/normal Cambria; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"> 1912: //The Lost World// is published.

<span style="display: block; font: normal normal normal 120%/19px Cambria; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"> 7 July 1930: Death of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Deputy Lieutenant of Surrey

1. What type of character relationship exists between Watson and Holmes?

<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font: normal normal normal 16px/19px Cambria; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> 2. What element makes Sherlock a great detective?

<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font: normal normal normal 16px/19px Cambria; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> 3. Who were Sherlock Holmes’ most nefarious archenemies, and how do they personify certain aspects of society?

<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font: normal normal normal 16px/19px Cambria; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> 4. Can you extrapolate how certain events in Conan Doyle’s life affected his stories of Sherlock Holmes?

<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font: normal normal normal 16px/19px Cambria; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> 5. Did Sherlock Holmes have a love interest? Why or why not, and what conclusion can be drawn from this?