Preface/How the Matter Arose/The First Published Account...

[Ally]

Please use this thread to discuss Preface/How the Matter Arose/The First Published Account...of...

The Coming of the Fairies by Arthur Conan Doyle

Enjoy!

[Amalie]

So shall I start? I just finished the first chapter and I can't seem to stop reading, these stories about fairies, little people etc. always fascinate me.

I believe I'm a very open-minded person so I'll not pass judgements yet and good old Conan Doyle, is such an unprejudiced seekers for truth, like his best man, Holmes. But I have to say, the picture, I don't know seems little too posed don't you think? Frances is younger even than Elsie so I don't know if a child can handle a camera during that time.

This is the picture I'm talking about

http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/eng/c...

Just for the sake of asking, what is the difference between a goblin and a gnome according to myths/legends any way?

[Bronwyn]

A goblin is a type of gnome. They're uglier and more evil. http://www.pantheon.org/articles/g/go...

I haven't started reading yet, but the pictures were taken by children, so obviously children could use the cameras properly, right? :/ The early mass produced cameras were sort of like our ones now, sort of point and shoot so anyone could use them. That was the amazing thing about these cameras, they let everyone take pictures, not just professional photographers. So they were made very user friendly and easy to use. So I don't think it's unreasonable that a child could use it.

[Ivan]

from Wikipedia:

A goblin is a legendary evil or mischievous illiterate creature, described as a grotesquely evil or evil-like phantom.

A gnome is a diminutive spirit in Renaissance magic and alchemy. Its characteristics have been reinterpreted to suit the needs of various story-tellers, but it is typically said to be a small, humanoid creature that lives underground. The English word is attested from the early 18th century but remains obscure until the early 19th century, when it is taken up by authors of Romanticist collections of fairy tales and becomes mostly synonymous with the older word goblin.

[Manybooks]

I think that Elsie Wright and Frances Griffith (especially 16 year old Elsie) would likely have known how to use a camera and how to set up these so-called fairy shots. Elsie's father was a keen amateur photographer, who had set up his own darkroom, so it is highly likely that his daughter knew how to use a camera with ease, how to set up shots etc. According to Wikipedia, Elsie Wright was a talented artist, who had also spent time working in a photographer's studio (thus, I have little doubt that she knew exactly what she was doing, that photographing these "fairies" would not have been too difficult for the two girls). In fact, Elsie's father, who was aware of his daughter's artistic talents, always believed that the photographs were hoaxes, girlish pranks. In the early 1980s, Elsie and Frances finally did admit that the photographs were faked, although Frances did continue to claim that the last photograph was genuine.

[Bronwyn]

I read the preface and first chapter. I really want to read this but I just cannot get into it. I'll keep trying but I can't promise anything... :/

[Manybooks]

Bronwyn wrote: "I read the preface and first chapter. I really want to read this but I just cannot get into it. I'll keep trying but I can't promise anything... :/"

I read it in high school, and while I loved it then, I am having the same problem of not being able to get into it this time. In fact, it is more fun reading about The Coming of the Fairies on wikipedia etc., than it is reading the actual book, but that just might be because I'm really distracted lately.

[Jan C]

I'll have to admit I couldn't get into it either. I downloaded the sample to the Kindle and I couldn't even finish the sample.

Poor Tinkerbell if she had to depend on me.

[Bronwyn]

Gundula wrote: "Bronwyn wrote: "I read the preface and first chapter. I really want to read this but I just cannot get into it. I'll keep trying but I can't promise anything... :/"

I read it in high school, and..."

Yes! I find the whole thing super fascinating and look it up online all the time, but the book's just... meh. I haven't read any Doyle before, so maybe it's just his writing? I don't know.

[Manybooks]

Bronwyn wrote: "Gundula wrote: "Bronwyn wrote: "I read the preface and first chapter. I really want to read this but I just cannot get into it. I'll keep trying but I can't promise anything... :/"

I read it i..."

Exactly, and even when I read the book in high school, I liked the "fairy photographs" a lot more than the writing. I was fascinated by the pictures.

[Ivan]

Don't judge Doyle by this - his fiction (especially the Sherlock Holmes stories/novels and The Lost World) is incredibly entertaining. This book is mostly edited by Doyle, with accounts of events most often times by others.