Beyond Holmes: Sir Conan Arthur Doyle
Born on May 22, 1859 in Edinburgh, Scotland Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle would go on to create the literature’s most celebrated detective and even be knighted in Italy and England. Although the mention of his name instantly brings his famous character Sherlock Holmes to mind, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote several stories which straddle the line between science fiction, fantasy and horror including the adventures of the Victorian scientist Professor Challenger. He also investigated claims of the supernatural with Harry Houdini, before Doyle’s acceptance of spiritualism drove a wedge between the men.
Although his early family life was difficult, due to his father’s mental health issues and alcoholism, young Arthur was supported by his extended family and received an education thanks to his well off uncles. He even studied in Austria as a teenager before attending the University of Edinburgh Medical School. It was at university when he first began to write seriously. His first story, The Mystery of Sasassa Valley, was published in the September 6, 1879 edition of Chamber’s Edinburgh Journal just a couple weeks before his first scholarly work (a piece on poison) was published. The Mystery of Sasassa Valley was the story of a demonic creature plaguing the South African countryside. Shortly after he spent time as a ship’s doctor, traveling to the north on a whaler and around Africa. He continued to write while trying to found his medical practice.
January, 1884 saw the publication of J. Habakuk Jephson’s Statement in The Cornhill Magazine. This highly fictional account described the disappearance of the passengers and crew of the Marie Celeste, which was inspired by the real Mary Celeste. Although the story was obviously fiction (which incorporated at least the suggestion of supernatural elements) it popularized the story of the actual vessel and, frankly, served to muddle the facts in the popular mythology surrounding the ship. For example, the real Mary Celeste was found waterlogged with its single life boat missing while many popular accounts mirror Doyle’s Marie Celeste, found in pristine condition with her life boats still attached.
Doyle continued to establish his medical practice, even dabbling in ophthalmology, and continued writing. In November of 1886 Ward Lock and Co accepted A Study in Scarlet for publication. The next year Sherlock Holmes was introduced to readers when the story was published in Beeton’s Christmas Annual. Ward Lock and Co commissioned a second Sherlock Holmes story (The Sign of Four) but after its publication Doyle grew dissatisfied with the publisher and moved Holmes to The Strand, the magazine most associated with the detective’s adventures.
Despite his success with Sherlock Holmes and Watson, Doyle continued to write a variety of short stories. The Mystery of Coombes (serialized in Pall Mall Budget in 1888) told of a supernatural revenge unleashed by Buddhist priests on a British officer for his offenses in India. In 1892 Harper’s Magazine presented Lot No. 249. This was perhaps the first appearance of the type of murderous, reanimated mummy which would terrorize Hollywood stars starting the in the 1930s. The July 1898 edition of The Windsor Magazine printed King of Foxes, Doyle’s tale of a supernatural encounter during a sporting fox hunt. Throughout this time, of course, Doyle continued to present Sherlock Holmes stories.
In the late 1880s, perhaps influenced by his friend Major-General Drayson, Doyle began to investigate claims of psychic phenomenon. He grew very interested in the topic, joining both the Society for Psychical Research and the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Sherlock Holmes continued to grow in popularity and Doyle wrote several well received historical novels. By the early 20th century he was both wealthy and extremely interested in spiritualism. Around World War I he published his first book on spiritualism and struck up a friendship with Harry Houdini. The pair even undertook some investigations together (which have even been dramatized in both movies and television) before Houdini’s rejection of spiritualism created a tension, perhaps even a rivalry, between the two celebrities.
In 1912, beginning in April, The Strand serialized a novel featuring Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s newest character: Professor Challenger. As brilliant as Sherlock Holmes, Challenger was no detective but instead a man of science and emotion. Challenger is a medical doctor, anthropologist and inventor. In his first published adventure, The Lost World, he leads an expedition to a mysterious South American plateau where dinosaurs still live and Stone Age man struggles against our even more primitive ancestors. It could be argued Challenger’s land which time forgot is more fantasy than science fiction, although his next adventure (The Posion Belt, 1913) sees him discovering Earth is moving through a deadly cloud of poison gas which has much less of a fantasy feel (although the science is questionable). Challenger returned in the 1926 novel The Land Of Mist which incorporated many of Doyle’s spiritualist beliefs and is undeniably more fantasy than science. Challenger’s final two adventures, both short stories, returned to science fiction with When The World Screamed (1926), which sees Challenger theorizing the Earth is a living being, and in 1929’s The Disintegration Machine, Challenger’s final adventure. Doyle would pass away the following year.
In addition to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s literary contributions to the fantasy and science fiction genres he has also contributed as a character in several novels, television series and films. Most, as one may imagine, are mysteries. He did appear in an episode of time travel show Voyagers! (NBC, 1982-1983), the Doctor Who spin off audio series Jago and Litefoot, the Jackie Chan film Shanghai Knights (2003) and even one of the Assassin’s Creed video games. His contributions to modern science fiction and fantasy may not be as well known as Jules Verne or H.G. Wells, but they are undeniable.
