A Duet with an Occasional Chorus (ACD Journal vol. 6)
A Duet with an Occasional Chorus [Vol. 6] is an article written by Barbara Roden published in the A.C.D. - The Journal of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society (Vol. 6, 1995).
This closing editorial presents the Arthur Conan Doyle Society as an active reference point for readers, researchers, broadcasters, and students seeking reliable information about Conan Doyle. It also reflects on continuing public interest in Conan Doyle beyond Sherlock Holmes and invites members to contribute more actively to the journal's correspondence.
Article
Closing Editorial
We get a fair number of letters here at what we term 'ACD Central': letters from members, letters from prospective members, letters from former members who have decided they cannot live without receiving their annual issue of ACD, and letters from people who want to know something that is (sometimes only vaguely) connected with Conan Doyle, or more often Sherlock Holmes. Indeed, the question, 'Can you tell me if there is such a thing as a Sherlock Holmes society?' is one of the most frequent queries we get. Often, people who start off expressing interest in the ACD Society show their true colours later on, when they state. I'm a big fan of Sherlock Holmes'. Such people are sent information about the ACDS, but the addresses of the major Holmes societies of their country are also included.
Another frequent query is from schoolchildren, and is usually phrased along the lines of, 'I have to do an essay on Conan Doyle and/or Sherlock Holmes; please send me some information' (with the 'please' being strictly optional). The most often-asked question, however, is something like, 'I have recently become interested in Arthur Conan Doyle, and would like to find out more about him. Can you recommend a good biography?'
Now it isn't, of course, as if there are only one or two biographies to choose from: there have been more than a dozen, which is rather a lot of wordage, as you quickly realise when you see them all lined up on a bookshelf. Which one, then, to recommend? Usually the answer is The Life of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle by John Dickson Carr, on the basis that it is a decent whole-life biography of ACD, and is fairly easily available, having gone through several paperback incarnations. This is an important point: Pierre Nordon's and Owen Dudley Edwards's biographies are both excellent, and highly recommended, but both can be difficult to find, particularly for anyone not based in Britain: and we do not want to cause any gnashing of teeth or tearing of hair in Peoria (or Penticton or Preston, for that matter).
Now, I know what you will all be thinking. Given what has come before in this journal, you will be thinking, 'Here we go, another Coren-bashing session.' And you are wrong. I refuse to be drawn into those waters which have already been plumbed by other, more able, people than I. No, what I am trying to show is that the Arthur Conan Doyle Society is more than simply a journal and two newsletters each year. To a lot of people, many of them non-members, we are an ongoing reference source; a sort of 'Enquire Within Upon Everything to do with Arthur Conan Doyle'. And people do inquire; everything from 'Which house inspired Baskerville Hall?' to 'In what year did Arthur Conan Doyle become interested in Spiritualism?".
And we don't mind. After all, if you are going to set yourselves up in charge of a literary society (or any sort of society), you have to expect that people searching for an answer on that subject will turn to you. The number of queries we receive indicates that there is a good deal of interest out there in Arthur Conan Doyle; and that has to be classed as a Good Thing.
A side benefit of running such a society is that you are often the first to find out news. For example, ACD Society members will undoubtedly be interested to know that the Public Broadcasting System in the United States is planning a major series about the First World War: The Great War and the Shaping of Our Century. The series will have in its concluding episode a look at the upsurge in Spiritualism after the war, and will be looking at Conan Doyle in some depth. And how do we know this? Because a researcher from KCET in Los Angeles, the station putting the show together, contacted us last year on three or four occasions, looking for information about Conan Doyle, Spiritualism, and the Great War. We were happy to provide the information he was seeking, and to put him in touch with other members of the ACDS who could provide more help.
There has always been, and probably will always be, interest in Sherlock Holmes. The continuing interest in Conan Doyle — whether it be in terms of biographies written or queries received — is a sign that this fascinating man and his many works are set to remain popular into a new century. I can think of no greater tribute to the man than that.
In last year's issue of ACD, I remarked on the absence of a 'Letters to the Editor' column in the pages of the journal. We couldn't run such a column, I said, without contributions from you, the members. Well, this issue does not contain a 'Letters to the Editor' column, and it does not take a Sherlock Holmes to deduce the reason for that. Ladies and Gentlemen, the ball is very firmly in your court...
Barbara Roden
- Article courtesy Christopher Roden, founder of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society (1989-2003).
