Illustrated London Letter
Illustrated London Letter is an article published in The Worcestershire Chronicle on 19 august 1893.
Article
Some of the mysterious tales with which Edgar Allan Poe used to thrill his readers are almost classics, and linger long in the memory. Who can forget, for instance, the extraordinary and purposeless murder committed by the monster ape, or the coming to life of the mummy, and the latter's astonishment at the nineteenth century? No one since Poe has been able to write a detective story which could live, until the advent of Conan Doyle, who, albeit only a young man of thirty-six, already holds a premier position in this class of work, which he has strictly made his own. "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" are so many household words in every family circle, and month after month as that prince of thief-catchers develops the plot of some fresh and original criminal riddle the British public become more than ever fascinated with the brilliant pen which can not only create such a wonder, but can with unvarying skill sustain the interest. Mr. Conan Doyle was a Doctor of Medicine before he became an author, and was a successful practitioner, but he felt that literature was his proper vocation, and that feeling was shared by his publisher after his first work was issued to the public. He tried at first to run literature and medicine together, but the effort was a failure, and the world is not sorry for it, as otherwise Sherlock Holmes might never have made his bow to the English speaking peoples, and the realm of fiction would have been so much the poorer. There are few men who have climbed the ladder of fame so rapidly as Mr. Doyle. Rider Haggard and Rudyard Kipling are the only other modern instances. There is no royal road to the front rank in any profession, although the worn and weary, disappointed brother who dreps out by the wayside, exhausted in the struggle, is apt to think there is. While it is perfectly correct to say that nothing succeeds like success, it is also noticeable that even genius must be combined with hard work to make a hit and keep the position afterwards, for there are numbers of men who make the hit and are never again heard of James Albery and Joseph Derrick, the authors of those brilliant productions, "The Two Roses" and "Confusion," are recent cases in point. Conan Doyle, on the other hand, is an indefatigable worker, and so far from exhausting himself is growing more prolific and more brilliant each year. His latest book, "The Refugees," which has just been published, is already the sensation of the season, and is dedicated to his wife.
