Alistair Duncan's Blog, page 76

Have we become greedy Sherlockians?

Well the title says it all really doesn't it? Have we as a fan body become so obsessed with Sherlock Holmes that we will consume almost anything that has the name of Holmes attached? Are we in danger of losing the original article amongst all the material (some of it very tenuous) that is coming out?
Dame Jean pictured with Jeremy Brett
The idea that Sherlockians have become greedy is certainly one that was bought into by Arthur Conan Doyle's youngest daughter Dame Jean Conan Doyle.

Dame Jean, who died in 1997 aged 84, gave an interview in 1990 to Christoper Roden of the Arthur Conan Doyle Society. When asked about pastiche stories she was very critical and stated that they were "usually written by very average writers" and that the stories would probably not have been published if the name Sherlock Holmes had not been attached to them. She concluded her answer to this particular question by stating that the hunger shown for pastiche "shows that they [fans] have a very sort of greedy attitude—they ought to be protecting their hero from other peoples' taking advantage of the original creation".

Now this may seem harsh to some but if you picked almost any Sherlock Holmes pastiche and replaced all canonical characters with brand new ones that just happened to have similar traits would it still sell in the same numbers? If we're honest we all know that the answer would be no in the majority of cases.

What would Dame Jean have made of Sherlock?
It is almost certain that Dame Jean's opinions of screen adaptations would have been similar. Jeremy Brett consulted her during the filming of the Granada series. The most notable thing he took from her was how to pronounce Lestrade. Dame Jean reported that when her father read the stories to her the name was always pronounced Le-strayed. Brett, as most people will know, rigidly adhered to this. It is probably fair to presume that she was reasonably well disposed towards his portrayal. But how would she have reacted to those that have followed? If you read her full answer to the pastiche question it soon becomes clear that she would probably not have smiled favourably on much that has been filmed.

or Elementary?

However much you agree (or disagree) with Dame Jean there is still the very real danger that we could lose the original Holmes over time as the differences that creep in with written and screen adaptations start to become accepted as original characteristics.

The full interview with Dame Jean (which covers a variety of topics) can be read here.






Eliminate the Impossible is available from all good bookstores, in many formats worldwide including Amazon USA, Barnes and Noble, Amazon UK, Waterstones UK, Amazon Kindle, Kobo, Nook and iBooks for the iPad/iPhone.

For more information on Arthur Conan Doyle and his time at Undershaw please refer to my book, An Entirely New Country which is available through all good bookstores including Amazon USA, Amazon UK, Classic Specialities, and in all electronic formats including iTunes, Kobo, Nook and Kindle .

Companion Facebook Page

I've bitten the bullet and set up a Facebook page for this blog:


https://www.facebook.com/pages/Doyleockian/152553858222018



Eliminate the Impossible is available from all good bookstores, in many formats worldwide including Amazon USA, Barnes and Noble, Amazon UK, Waterstones UK, Amazon Kindle, Kobo, Nook and iBooks for the iPad/iPhone.

For more information on Arthur Conan Doyle and his time at Undershaw please refer to my book, An Entirely New Country which is available through all good bookstores including Amazon USA, Amazon UK, Classic Specialities, and in all electronic formats including iTunes, Kobo, Nook and Kindle .

Undershaw – Let’s bust some myths

I am a passionate supporter of the fight to save Undershaw (as most of you will know). However, some inaccurate claims are made for the house by people in an effort to boost the argument for its preservation.
In reality these claims do not help and could weaken the argument. It is important that we stick to the facts when talking about the historical importance of this wonderful house.
So let’s begin by squashing a couple of misconceptions:
The Hound of the Baskervilles was written at Undershaw
Parts of the story were almost certainly written and edited at Undershaw but it is documented fact that ACD wrote installments of his famous story in various locations including Dartmoor and central London.
Sherlock Holmes would not be as famous as he is today without Undershaw
Sherlock Holmes was a stunning international success during ACD’s life in South Norwood and had been “dead” for four years by the time ACD and his family moved into Undershaw. The success of the character was clear in the press and demonstrated by the sheer number of literary detectives that popped up in an attempt to take his place. Famous examples of these include Sexton Blake and Loveday Brooke. When ACD started writing Holmes again it was down to Undershaw but Holmes did not become the success he is today because of Undershaw. He resumed being the success he is today at Undershaw.

Now what can we claim for Undershaw with some confidence (these are but a few examples):
Sherlock Holmes was resurrected at Undershaw
ACD resurrected Holmes in play form as a means of offsetting some of the costs of building Undershaw. The original play was almost certainly penned, in whole or in part, at Undershaw and actor William Gillette visited the house to discuss it with ACD.
Gillette as HolmesLater, in 1903, ACD formally resurrected Holmes in The Empty Housewhich was almost certainly written at Undershaw. This, in some ways, was more important than the Baskerville story because that story was set before Holmes’s death and there was no guarantee of further stories. The Empty House and the other stories that formed The Return of Sherlock Holmes made it quite clear that Holmes was alive (it should be noted that not all of that series was written at Undershaw).
Famous writers visited Undershaw
E.W. Hornung, Bram Stoker and William Gillette visited Undershaw. Stoker wrote Dracula and Hornung was the creator of gentleman thief Raffles as well as being ACD’s brother-in-law. It is suspected that other visitors to Undershaw included Anthony Hope (author of The Prisoner of Zenda) and Virgina Woolf.
Hornung, Stoker, Hope and Woolf

Sir Nigel was written at Undershaw
This was ACD’s prequel to his famous historical novel The White Company.
ACD was encouraged to enter politics by visitors to Undershaw
ACD was visited by representatives of both the Conservative and Liberal Unionist parties while living at Undershaw. He rejected both requests to stand but later did stand in two general elections – losing on both occasions.
ACD was knighted during the time he lived at Undershaw in 1902 The booklet that earned ACD a knighthood
This was for his services to his country through his writings on the Boer War; in particular, his booklet The War in South Africa: Its Cause and Conduct. This work has been derided by some today as nothing but pro-British propaganda. It certainly had propaganda value but it was written not simply to big up Britain for its own sake but to counter the many inaccuracies being widely stated in Europe about how Britain was conducting itself. ACD was famous for being even-handed and was perfectly ready to speak up about British shortcomings and the good conduct of the Boers. A lot of what he wrote was based on first-hand experience which could not be said for many of the people who were commenting.
Louise Conan Doyle died at Undershaw
The set-up of ACD’s domestic staff at Undershaw clearly influenced the set-up as featured in The Hound of the Baskervilles
I have expanded on this in my book An Entirely New Country.
So let us make sure we beat the drum for Undershaw using things that we know to be true. It should be known for its history - not what we would like to be its history.

For more information on Arthur Conan Doyle and his time at Undershaw please refer to my book, An Entirely New Country which is available through all good bookstores including Amazon USA, Amazon UK, Classic Specialities, and in all electronic formats including iTunes, Kobo, Nook and Kindle .

An excellent resource

I've been fortunate to see an advance copy of the second edition of Brian Pugh's excellent Arthur Conan Doyle chronology.

It contains corrections and many additions which Brian has collected since the first edition (many supplied by my good self).


To pre-order on Amazon.co.uk click this link http://www.amazon.co.uk/Chronology-Arthur-Revised-Expanded-Edition/dp/178092285X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1349622466&sr=8-1



Eliminate the Impossible is available from all good bookstores, in many formats worldwide including Amazon USA, Barnes and Noble, Amazon UK, Waterstones UK, Amazon Kindle, Kobo, Nook and iBooks for the iPad/iPhone.

For more information on Arthur Conan Doyle and his time at Undershaw please refer to my book, An Entirely New Country which is available through all good bookstores including Amazon USA, Amazon UK, Classic Specialities, and in all electronic formats including iTunes, Kobo, Nook and Kindle .

Bartitsu Talk at The National Liberal Club

Last night the members of the Sherlock Holmes Society of London gathered at the National Liberal Club.

The National Liberal Club on the Embankment, LondonThe carpet was laid out for us or at least that is what I'm telling myself.



For some there was dinner but for all there was a talk on the martial art of Bartitsu which is widely believed to be the art Arthur Conan Doyle referred to as Baritsu. This, of course, was the system by which Sherlock Holmes sent Moriarty over the Reichenbach Falls.

The battle at Reichenbach (left) James Marwood (right)
The speaker was James Marwood who is an authority on Bartitsu and many other martial arts. Over the course of an hour he explained the origins of the art via a slideshow and practical demonstrations with his assistant George.

The talk and the demonstrationsThe demonstrations involved fighting with sticks and swords as well as the fists. Mr Marwood spoke about the fighting as shown by Jeremy Brett (his favourite Holmes hear hear) and Robert Downey Junior and stated that Brett's was the more accurate.
Mr Marwood can be contacted via Twitter under the name @marwoodchap if you are interested in the subject or would like to know where you can learn the art devised by  E. W. Barton-Wright.
 E. W. Barton-Wright (centre) and various moves from BartitsuThe talk concluded with Mr Marwood giving us a present. This took the form of a demonstration of how to remove an unpleasant man from a room. I wish I'd had my camera ready at the time but rest assured I've memorised it and will use it in the future if necessary.
I got to meet a Twitter buddy for the first time in the person of @belpita and here is the mandatory silly photo of her and Baker Street Babe @Ardyforshort.




Eliminate the Impossible is available from all good bookstores, in many formats worldwide including Amazon USA, Barnes and Noble, Amazon UK, Waterstones UK, Amazon Kindle, Kobo, Nook and iBooks for the iPad/iPhone.

For more information on Arthur Conan Doyle and his time at Undershaw please refer to my book, An Entirely New Country which is available through all good bookstores including Amazon USA, Amazon UK, Classic Specialities, and in all electronic formats including iTunes, Kobo, Nook and Kindle .

Sherlock's Home to be released in Russian

See details on the MX Publishing tumblr.


http://mxpublishing.tumblr.com/post/32858434090/sherlocks-home-to-be-released-in-russian-save



Eliminate the Impossible is available from all good bookstores, in many formats worldwide including Amazon USA, Barnes and Noble, Amazon UK, Waterstones UK, Amazon Kindle, Kobo, Nook and iBooks for the iPad/iPhone.

For more information on Arthur Conan Doyle and his time at Undershaw please refer to my book, An Entirely New Country which is available through all good bookstores including Amazon USA, Amazon UK, Classic Specialities, and in all electronic formats including iTunes, Kobo, Nook and Kindle .

Technology and fandom - part 2

Mr Matt Laffey, in his excellent blog always1895.net, recently reported on my post about technology and fandom (see here) and posed the question:

"do I also detect an ever-so-slight ‘disappointment’ or ‘tepidity’ toward the brave new world which social media has wrought on the part of Mr Duncan?" 

I thought it only fair to at least attempt an answer to this question. My answer is yes there is a certain amount of disappointment. However, I stress that I am no social media Luddite.

Technology has enabled a greater, almost forensic, examination of literally every frame of a Sherlock Holmes adaptation. It has, at the same time, made it possible to spread opinions and observations globally to hundreds of thousands of people in a matter of minutes. This in itself is no bad thing and I realise my comments about this may seem a little hypocritical coming from someone who has written books that have done something very similar (and perhaps it is). But if our emphasis shifts so that we get more satisfaction from our analysis of the stories than we do from the stories themselves have we gone too far? I like to think that my books, in their own way, lift the lid and have a look at what lies beneath but I think that I  maintain a good balance between that examination and my willingness to suspend disbelief and go along for the ride.
I suspect for the majority of people their position is much the same but there seems to be (if my Twitter timeline is anything to go by) an increasing number for whom the minute examination of details (of which Holmes would no doubt approve) has become more important or, dare I say it, enjoyable. This is just my perception of course and I could be wide of the mark (it wouldn't be the first time).

The ability to level opinions almost instantly has also removed some people's caution and civility mechanisms. If you quickly type something and hit send it is essentially impossible to undo what has been done without at least some people seeing it. In the old, pre-internet, days (yes I'm old enough to remember those) if you wrote a letter to a magazine or other periodical you at least had the chance to read and re-read it before you committed yourself to sending it. Technology has, if you like, made it far easier to make yourself look silly and upset others.

Social media, like any tool, can be used to both good and bad ends and I would not seek to reduce its presence (as if I could in any case). I just think that people need to remember that if they persist in looking too closely they risk destroying the magic. They should also remember that when you can be heard by so many people instantaneously you would do well to think carefully before you click "send".



Eliminate the Impossible is available from all good bookstores, in many formats worldwide including Amazon USA, Barnes and Noble, Amazon UK, Waterstones UK, Amazon Kindle, Kobo, Nook and iBooks for the iPad/iPhone.

For more information on Arthur Conan Doyle and his time at Undershaw please refer to my book, An Entirely New Country which is available through all good bookstores including Amazon USA, Amazon UK, Classic Specialities, and in all electronic formats including iTunes, Kobo, Nook and Kindle .

Sherlock Holmes Baffled - Watch it here

In an earlier post I referred to the film Sherlock Holmes Baffled. It turns out it was on Youtube all the time.




Enjoy.

Eliminate the Impossible is available from all good bookstores, in many formats worldwide including Amazon USA, Barnes and Noble, Amazon UK, Waterstones UK, Amazon Kindle, Kobo, Nook and iBooks for the iPad/iPhone.

For more information on Arthur Conan Doyle and his time at Undershaw please refer to my book, An Entirely New Country which is available through all good bookstores including Amazon USA, Amazon UK, Classic Specialities, and in all electronic formats including iTunes, Kobo, Nook and Kindle .

Not much progress

I had high hopes of resuming work on my latest project today. However, an unforeseen series of events prevented me from doing so. Said events have rather taken away my writing mojo.

Self-pitying whine over.



Eliminate the Impossible is available from all good bookstores, in many formats worldwide including Amazon USA, Barnes and Noble, Amazon UK, Waterstones UK, Amazon Kindle, Kobo, Nook and iBooks for the iPad/iPhone.

For more information on Arthur Conan Doyle and his time at Undershaw please refer to my book, An Entirely New Country which is available through all good bookstores including Amazon USA, Amazon UK, Classic Specialities, and in all electronic formats including iTunes, Kobo, Nook and Kindle .

Something distasteful about this - Undershaw

The subject of Undershaw appears again. My understanding now (and I hope I'm wrong) is that the house's owners, despite all the appeals they've made and rejections they've received, are now seeking to take the case to the court of appeal.

For me this leaves a very unpleasant taste in the mouth. The court of appeal exists partly due to Conan Doyle's strong defence of George Edalji when he was wrongly convicted and jailed for animal mutilation in Staffordshire.

George Edalji
The idea that this great institution, which exists, to an extent, because of Arthur Conan Doyle, should be used to revive attempts to desecrate his house is unpalatable to say the least.




For more information on Arthur Conan Doyle and his time at Undershaw (including the Edalji case) please refer to my book, An Entirely New Country which is available through all good bookstores including Amazon USA, Amazon UK, Classic Specialities, and in all electronic formats including iTunes, Kobo, Nook and Kindle .