CONAN DOYLE, PORTRAIT OF AN ARTIST
Julian Symons
New York: The Mysterious Press, 1987
144 pp., $15.95
SHERLOCK HOLMES: A CENTENARY CELEBRATION
Allen Eyles
New York: Harper & Row, 1987
144 pp., $22.95
One hundred years ago, a not-particularly-successful physician named Arthur Conan Doyle submitted a tale of revenge and murder called "A Study in Scarlet" to Beeton's Christmas Annual, after the story had been rejected by numerous publishing houses. The editors of the Annual, a rather undistinguished home for light reading, considered the story to be "cheap fiction" and offered the good doctor a paltry sum for all rights. In December 1887, the story appeared, sandwiched between long-forgotten tales of romance and British country life. A huge success, "A Study in Scarlet" introduced to the world what would become one of the most memorable fictional characters ever created--Sherlock Holmes. The story firmly established the parameters of the new literary genre called the detective story and set the author on the road to wealth and fame.
Conan Doyle would write a total of fifty-five short stories and four full-length novels about his immortal creation, whose adventures have served as grist for over two hundred movies, television programs, and pastiches.
The author would eventually be knighted for his accomplishments in creating Sherlock Holmes and a distinguished series of historical novels. Yet he was never overly fond of his know-it-all sleuth. In 1891, four years after "A Study in Scarlet" was published, he even killed him off in an epic struggle with the archvillain Professor Moriarty at Switzerland's Reichenbach Falls. The public, of course, protested in no uncertain terms. It demanded the return of Holmes, and Sir Arthur, mindful of his bank account, brought him back to life after a dozen years in which he ostensibly had been entombed at the bottom of the waterfall.
Today, the Sherlock Holmes stories can be read in fifty-seven languages, including Icelandic, Azerbaijani, and Urdu. Though Holmes himself rarely left the comfortable surroundings of Victorian London, his image has circled the globe on stage, screen, radio, and television. Actors such as Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce have created an indelible public image of the hawklike detective and his stolid companion, Dr. Watson.
A slew of new books on Holmes has arrived in stores to mark the centenary. Both books reviewed here take the Holmesian saga with utmost seriousness, although they approach it from different perspectives. Julian Symons, a noted mystery writer, has written a witty and warm appreciation of Conan Doyle, a man who personified many of the best--and also eccentric--aspects of the Victorian gentleman. Allen Eyles, noted writer on the cinema, has assembled the first single-volume study of the entire Sherlock Holmes phenomenon. Both books are significant additions to the already extensive library of Holmesian scholarship and appreciation.
Although Holmes, Watson,
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