A.C. DOYLE • 1859: He Was Born to an Affluent, Strict Irish-Catholic Family in Edinburgh, the Second of Charles Altamont and Mary Foley Doyle’S Ten Children
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Scottish physician and writer, most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes which are generally considered a major innovation in the field of crime fiction, as The Hound of the Baskervilles (1901). His works include science fiction stories, historical novels, plays and romances, poetry, and non-fiction. SECTION SUMMARY A.C. DOYLE • 1859: he was born to an affluent, strict Irish-Catholic family in Edinburgh, the second of Charles Altamont and Mary Foley Doyle’s ten children. Although his family was well-respected in the art world, his father, Charles, who was a life-long alcoholic, had accomplished very little. His mother, Mary, was a lively and well-educated woman who loved to read. She particularly delighted in telling her young son outlandish stories. Her enthusiasm and animation while spinning her wild tales sparked Doyle’s imagination. • 1868: he was sent to England to attend a Jesuit school and two years later he went on to study at Stonyhurst College. A.C. DOYLE His boarding-school experience was brutal: many of his classmates bullied him, and the school practiced ruthless corporal punishment against its students. Over time, Doyle found solace in his flair for storytelling and developed an eager audience of younger students. • 1876-1881: he studied medicine at Edinburgh University, one of the most highly regarded medical schools of the time. It was there that he met Dr. Joseph Bell, the inspiration for the character of Sherlock Holmes. He also had the good fortune to meet classmates and future fellow authors James Barrie and Robert Louis Stevenson and he began to write short stories. A.C. DOYLE • 1882: after working as a surgeon on a whaling boat and also as a medical officer on a steamer travelling between Liverpool and West Africa, he settled in Portsmouth where he set up a medical practice. Initially his practice was not very successful so, while waiting for patients, he wrote stories. • 1885: he married Louisa (or Louise) Hawkins, known as “Touie” and together they had two children, Mary and Kingsley. • 1887: he published his first significant work, A Study in Scarlet, which featured the first appearance of Sherlock Holmes. A.C. DOYLE 1890: he studied ophthalmology in Vienna and then moved to London in 1891 to set up a practice… but not a single patient crossed his door! Thus he had time to write and upon achieving success as a writer, he decided to retire from medicine. He published his tale of 14th-century chivalry, The White Company (1891), which was followed by The Great Shadow (1892), three books considered largely autobiographical and four of his most popular Sherlock Holmes books, i.e. The Sign of Four (1890), The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1892), The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (1894) and The Hound of Baskervilles (1901). A.C. DOYLE 1902: he was knighted after writing a public defense of the role of the U.K. in the Second Anglo-Boer War (1899–1902). 1906: his wife died from tuberculosis after fighting against the desease for over 13 years and in 1907 Doyle married Jean Leckie. With her he had three children, Denis, Adrian, and Jean. In the following years Doyle lost his son Kingsley, his brother Innes, his two brothers-in-law and his two nephews at war: he sank into deep depression and turned to spiritualism for solace, striving to spread his faith through a series of written works. 1927: the final twelve stories about Sherlock Holmes were published. 1930: he died of a heart attack at Crowborough. From DR. JOSEPH BELL… Sherlock Holmes is Doyle’s best known character, featuring in 56 short stories and four novels. It was inspired by Dr. Joseph Bell whom Doyle had met at the University of Edinburgh. Dr. Bell had some rather unusual methods of getting personal information from his patients: ❑he observed the way a person moved because the walk of a sailor varied vastly from that of a soldier, for instance. If he identified a person as a sailor he would look for any tattoos that might assist him in knowing where their travels had taken them; ❑he trained himself to listen for small differences in his patient’s accents to help him identify where they were from; ❑he also studied the hands of his patients because calluses or other marks could help him determine their occupation. …to SHERLOCK HOLMES. When Doyle became a writer he borrowed these techniques of Dr. Bell and bestowed them upon Sherlock Holmes … but at one point he was tempted to kill him off! As a matter of fact in 1891 Doyle wrote to his mother “I think of slaying Holmes ... and winding him up for good and all. He takes my mind from better things.” (i.e. his historical novels) His mother – a clever woman! – responded “You may do what you deem fit, but the crowds will not take this light-heartedly.” In 1893, when he wrote The Final Problem, where Holmes and Prof. Moriarty plunge to their death down the Reichenbach Falls, public outcry obliged him to resurrect his character. The Hound of the Baskervilles (1901) The Hound of the Baskervilles is one of the best known of the Sherlock Holmes novels: it was serialized in The Strand Magazine (1901–02) and was published in book form in 1902. It was the first Sherlock Holmes tale since the detective’s shocking “death” in the story “The Final Problem” (1893) but was set prior to his demise and its popularity helped pave the way for Holmes’s appearance in later works. Narrating the story is Dr. John H. Watson, English physician who is Sherlock Holmes’s devoted friend and associate. HOW THE STORY BEGINS. When Sir Charles Baskerville dies unexpectedly, his nephew and heir Sir Henry returns from South Africa. Dr. Mortimer. the local doctor, is concerned about Sir Henry’s safety as he is convinced that Sir Charles was literally frightened to death. He consults Sherlock Holmes and recounts the tale of one Sir Hugo Baskerville who, several generations previously, had been killed by a huge hound and which is now believed by some to be a curse on the family. Holmes agrees to take on the case: it almost immediately becomes apparent that Sir Henry’s life is in danger. Holmes doesn’t believe in the legend of the Baskervilles or the supposed curse placed upon them and sets out to find a more practical solution… HUNTING FOR THE LEGEND… Conan Doyle drew upon many sources for his stories. The hound legend itself derives from a variety of elements: ❑ Devon’s folklore includes tales of a fearsome supernatural dog known as the Yeth hound, a headless dog said to be the spirit of an unbaptised child, which rambles through the woods at night making wailing noises; ❑a Norfolk legend of a beastly dog called Black Shuck – a ghost dog from the Cromer Area with malevolent flaming eyes, red or alternatively green– was well known in the area. Perhaps the greatest influence on Doyle’s curse of the Baskervilles was the legend of Richard Cabell, a 17th century squire from West Buckfastleigh, who frightened his fellow parishioners with his many acts of violence. … AND FINDING IT! One version of the story claims that he once became so enraged that he chased his wife out onto the moor, where he brutally murdered her. Moments later, her faithful black hound attacked and tore out his throat. According to another version Cabell had sold his soul to the Devil, and a pack of black hounds descended from the open moor on the day of his death, howling for their evil master who would lead them across the moor at night. MYSTERY… We are led to believe that supernatural forces are at work: “… A hound it was, an enormous coal-black hound, but not such a hound as mortal eyes have ever seen. Fire burst from its open mouth, its eyes glowed with a smouldering glare, its muzzle and hackles and dewlap were outlined in flickering flame. Never in the delirious dream of a disordered brain could anything more savage, more appalling, more hellish be conceived than that dark form and savage face which broke upon us out of the wall of fog…” … vs REALITY. Even in the stillness of death “… the huge jaws seemed to be dripping with a bluish flame and the small, deep-set, cruel eyes were ringed with fire. I placed my hand upon the glowing muzzle, and as I held them up my own fingers smouldered and gleamed in the darkness.” [But then] “Phosphorus,” I said. (ch. 14 – last pages)!!! From FICTION to REALITY! For as long as the novel has existed, readers have sought a real-life Baskerville Hall, inspired by a visit to Cromer Hall in Norfolk or resembling the appearance of Conan Doyle's old school, Stonyhurst College, in Lancashire. What really has come into existence, though, is Sherlock Holmes’s flat whose address is 221B Baker Street, London Nw 1, faithfully maintained for posterity as it was kept in Victorian Times! A CURIOSITY... Conan Doyle’s early interest in both scientifically supportable evidence and certain paranormal phenomena exemplified the complex diametrically opposing beliefs he struggled with throughout his life. This opposition determined not only his outlook on life but also his relationships: he was friends for a time with Harry Houdini, the American magician, fascinated by his magical feats which he took for real so when Houdini tried to convince him that his feats were simply illusions, a bitter public falling out between them took place. …or TWO! From 1897 to 1907 Doyle and his family lived at a home he named “Undershaw”, in Hinhead (Surrey): it was designed by Doyle himself for his wife Louise when she was diagnosed with tuberculosis since doctors recommended healthy air, for which Surrey was known.