I am reading a Barnes & Noble edition of this great work by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and I must say that I rather enjoy this particular edition. I also should mention that I’ve never actually had the pleasure of reading any Holmes stories, sadly. I’m glad I’m getting into him now, actually. His character really intrigues me.
The B&N editions of books have quite a bit of explanatory material at the beginning of these works, both of the author of the books as well as the characters’ place(s) in history. In my preliminary reading for this novel, I came across the various inspirations for Conan Doyle’s character, Sherlock Holmes, and was intrigued.
Conan Doyle’s primary inspiration for Sherlock Holmes was a man named Dr. Joseph Bell. From Dr. Bell, Holmes gets his amazing deductive powers. I read in these materials an account Conan Doyle relates of Dr. Bell’s interaction with a patient and his students. This is what he said:
In one of his best cases he said to a civilian patient: ‘Well, my man, you’ve served in the army.’ ‘Aye, Sir.’ ‘Not long discharged?’ ‘No, Sir.’ ‘A Highland regiment?’ ‘Aye, Sir.’ ‘A non-com officer?’ ‘Aye, sir.’ ‘Stationed at Barbados?’ ‘Aye, sir.’ ‘You see, gentlemen,’ he would explain, ‘the man was a respectful man but did not remove his hat. They do not in the army, but he would have learned civilian ways had he been long discharged. He has an air of authority and he is obviously Scottish. As to Barbados, his complaint is Elephantiasis, which is West Indian, and not British.’ – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Memories and Adventures, p. 330.
I loved every letter of this exchange of Dr. Bell’s, but it sounded familiar to me, somehow. Almost as though I had heard Dr. Bell speak…in fact, I even had a particular gruff voice I was assigning to him in my head. All of a sudden, I realized that Dr. Bell sounded eerily similar to Fox Network’s Dr. House of the show House, M.D. In reading this, I realized that Dr. Joseph Bell could very well have been the inspiration for Dr. House. I did some quick research and found that I was not far wrong, actually. David Shore, creator of Dr. Gregory House, based House almost entirely upon Sherlock Holmes, and thus Dr. Joseph Bell is the inspiration for House.
You can read the connection on Wikipedia here. So far, I REALLY very much like the Sherlock Holmes stories. Holmes could very well have been what I based my own intellectual pursuits on, had I actually known much of Holmes before now. Holmes seeks to know about many different subjects, although we find that he has a very specific purpose in mind. I, also, seek to know as much as I can about many different subjects, though I don’t have a specific goal in mind. I just like to know things, and I dislike very intensely NOT knowing things. :)
Anyway, if you’ve never read the Holmes novels by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, I highly recommend getting your hands on some. If you’ve never seen the show House, M.D, and you have a television set at home I also recommend that. I think it comes on Tuesdays at 9pm in California. (Check local listings.) Hugh Laurie does an excellent job…especially if you’ve seen Jeeves and Wooster. Hugh Laurie played an excellent Bertie Wooster, I must say! :)
O_O! *gasp* Oh my goodness, you’ve never read Sherlock Holmes before?! You criminal. of. society. ;) Doyle has to be one of my favorite authors; he’s pure brilliance. I’m so glad you’re enjoying him.
Is the collection you’re reading just the short stories? Or does it have the Holmes novels in there as well? A Study in Scarlet is an absolute must (one of the full-length stories), as is The Hound of the Baskervilles, which I do believe has to be my very favorite Holmes adventure. If those two are not included in the book you’re reading, I would highly recommend both of them. (I have both if they’re not in your book.) :)
The Dr. Bell/House connection is very interesting! I totally did not know that. I knew that Holmes was based on a real, historical character, but I don’t know very much about Bell. Now I’m curious–I’ll have to do some further research. :D
Enjoy the reading! :)
Yes, I am very much enjoying him, and no, I’ve never read him. To be honest, I’ve always wanted to, but this has just been a genre I’ve never purchased books in for some reason.
I just finished A Study In Scarlet, which was VERY good. I was very much confused by the flashback interlude at first, but once I realized that Conan Doyle hadn’t just ended the story at “If you have any questions, please ask them and I’ll be happy to answer them”, I was MUCH better. :)
The Hound of the Baskervilles is not in this collection, as this is a chronological collection based on the release date of the complete stories of Sherlock Holmes. This particular volume (volume 1) ends with the death of Sherlock Holmes, which Conan Doyle wrote so that he could focus on “more serious literary pursuits”. However, he soon discovered that demand for Holmes stories was far from small, and his other writing didn’t do so hot. So Conan Doyle returned to writing Holmes stories before he killed him off. I believe Hound was one of the first comeback novels after Conan Doyle returned to writing about the world’s greatest detective.
I just started The Sign of Four this morning, which really begins on a DOWN note with Holmes indulging in cocaine. While I know Holmes used cocaine between cases, I also know what it did to the marriage of some who were very close to me, and it’s definitely sad. (How weird…Eric Clapton’s Cocaine just came on the radio….whoa.)
I love A Study in Scarlet. It’s been way too long since I’ve read it, though. I need to read it again. You’re inspiring me to pull out my Holmes treasury. *grin*
Oooooo, if tHotB isn’t in your collection, and you want to read it, I can bring my copy to church so you can borrow it. =D Just let me know.
I didn’t realize that Doyle had decided at one point to kill Holmes off, so I was in absolute shock when I got to that particular story. Interestingly enough, I think my treasury must have the stories listed in order of publication, because that particular story came somewhere in the middle of the book. Which was slightly weird, lol. Yay for writing more stories even when you’ve decided to kill a character off. hehe.
I just looked, and tHotB is in the book. WOO! It’ll take me a little while to get to it, but I’ll definitely get to it. :)