The Inner Room: Editorial (ACD Journal vol. 9)
The Inner Room: Editorial [vol. 9] is an article written by Christopher Roden published in the A.C.D. - The Journal of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society (Vol. 9, june 1999).
This editorial celebrates the first ten years of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society, arguing that its publications, events, and scholarly activity have significantly advanced Conan Doyle studies and helped stimulate new biographical interest in his life and work. It also places the Society's achievements in historical context, showing how much more substantial and sustained Doylean scholarship became after its founding, despite remaining a smaller field than Sherlock Holmes studies.
Editorial
A mere nine inches of shelf space seems little enough return for ten years' work, doesn't it? Yet, if we compare the shelf space occupied by the output of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society in the first ten years of its life with the shelf space occupied by biographical material produced on Conan Doyle in the years before the Society's existence, we begin to get a more realistic perspective of what has been achieved.
1931 saw John Lamond's Arthur Conan Doyle, A Memoir. Fifteen years later, Hesketh Pearson launched his Conan Doyle, His Life and Art on the world, to be hastily followed by the outpourings of the petulant son, Adrian, and his pamphlet The True Conan Doyle. Four years later, much influenced by Adrian, came John Dickson Carr's seminal work, The Life of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Ignoring minor contributions to biography, such as those of the Hardwicks, Hoehling, and Wood, the next major contribution was Pierre Nordon's, first in French, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: L'homme et l'oeuvre (1964), and then the English translation (1966). Eleven years passed until the literary pretender, Charles Higham, launched his The Adventures of Conan Doyle into the world in 1976, followed by the arch-debunker of all things, Ronald Pearsall, whose Conan Doyle, A Biographical Solution (it couldn't have been anything less!) appeared in 1977. Julian Symons, this Society's first President, now, sadly no longer with us, produced his little pot-boiler of a biography, Portrait of an Artist — Conan Doyle, in 1979. It is to be regretted that the unavailability of family papers prevented Symons from writing the biography he SO wanted to write. Owen Dudley Edwards's ground-breaking study, The Quest for Sherlock Holmes (Sherlock Holmes included in the title, as I understand things, at the insistence of the publisher), appeared in 1983, followed by Geoffrey Stavert's A Study in Southsea in 1987, timed to coincide with the centenary celebrations of the first publication of A Study in Scarlet. Nine reasonably major biographies, taken all in all, in the fifty-seven years following Conan Doyle's death.
1987 also saw the publication of The Quest for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, which once again I cite as a major influence in the decision to found an Arthur Conan Doyle Society. The activity of twelve years since the publication of that work has outdated it, and a second edition on CD-Rom has furthered its cause in only a small way. However good the technological wizardry, book buyers and collectors remain attached to the printed word. It is, therefore, with great pleasure that I am able to announce that The Arthur Conan Doyle Society will be producing the third edition of The Quest for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle early in 2000 (see Notes and News).
From a biographical point of view, the ten years since the Society's founding have been very productive. 1989 saw publication of Jones's Conan Doyle and the Spirits, a study of ACD's Spiritualist career. 1991 brought forth two volumes dealing with ACD's true crime writings: Costello's The Real World of Sherlock Holmes and Stone's The Casebook of Sherlock Doyle. Almost coincidental with the founding of the Society, a new French biography, James McCearney's Arthur Conan Doyle, appeared; this was followed by two critical volumes edited by Professor Harold Orel: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: Interviews and Recollections (1991) and Critical Essays on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1992). Our own Society furthered the cause in 1994 with a new edition of Western Wanderings (ACD's account of his 1914 North American adventure), and the booklet Conan Doyle of Wimpole Street, issued to coincide with the unveiling of a Society-sponsored plaque at 2 Upper Wimpole Street, the site of ACD's unsuccessful ophthalmic practice. A much-heralded, and eventually totally disappointing, Michael Coren biography, Conan Doyle, appeared in 1995, closely followed by Scott Allen Nollen's Sir Arthur Conan Doyle at the Cinema (1996). Reverting to pure biography, Martin Booth's under-researched, though highly praised, The Doctor, The Detective & Arthur Conan Doyle hit bookstores in 1997; and the very latest biographical offering, a book which will receive much attention, Daniel Stashower's Teller of Tales, appeared in March of this year. Twelve titles relating directly to ACD, and published within the last ten years, seems to relate quite favourably to the nine major biographical titles published between 1930 and 1987. In addition, we should not omit mention of Chris Redmond's Welcome to America, Mr Sherlock Holmes, Jacqueline Jaffe's Arthur Conan Doyle, and Don Richard Cox's Arthur Conan Doyle, biographical and literary studies worthy of mention along with the others.
How much credit the Society can claim for any upsurge of interest is debatable. Nonetheless, our Society has provided biographical and bibliographical detail, critical commentary on Conan Doyle's fiction, and much more material, which future biographers ignore at their peril. We have the very best Conan Doyle scholars as members of the Society, and we are well placed to assess any new biographical matter which may come to hand-particularly those materials from the Conan Doyle archives which are eventually to be released to the British Library. In addition, the development of web pages for the Society has sparked a great deal of interest, and a noticeable increase in the number of enquiries we receive, particularly from researchers. The Society also hosts an internet discussion group for those with a genuine interest in Conan Doyle.
One thing that cannot escape comment is the upsurge of attention given to Conan Doyle by traditional Sherlockian societies over the past ten years. Perhaps The Northern Musgraves led the way — their publications feature a regular 'Tincture of Conan Doyle' column; but Philip Weller's Franco-Midland Hardware Company cannot be far behind, and it has since spawned an Arthur Conan Doyle study group, under the direction of Mark Chadderton, which can be no bad thing. Malcolm Payne was responsible for the birth of the Conan Doyle (Crowborough) Establishment, and, since Malcolm's untimely death, activities of that group have been coordinated by Brian Pugh. Even what one would consider as the last stronghold of Sherlockianism, The Baker Street Irregulars, seem to be making moves towards embracing Conan Doyle as an officially encouraged and acceptable topic for inclusion in their activities. One last bastion of aloofness, it seems, The Sherlock Holmes Society of London, is so far unmoved (at least if one is to believe the editor of its Journal: his most recent editorial (Winter 1998) asks members: 'the question is should the fusty and crusty Holmesian establishment (oh yes, that is how some of us are perceived!) over here [in England, primarily] follow suit? Do you, our members and readers, want subjects of Doylean interest to appear in these pages as well as purely Sherlockian material?') My frank answer, though I have not answered the Editor, is that his publication should give due credit to Conan Doyle for the Sherlock Holmes stories when it is appropriate to do so. As for other Doylean material-leave it to those who can handle it best.
Our Society's first President, the late Julian Symons, told me at the outset that he would be surprised if our membership ever exceeded 250. He was wrong-there was a period when we exceeded that figure quite handsomely — but the truth is that we are a minority group: a further indication that ACD's overall reputation has suffered through the popularity of Sherlock Holmes, in that societies dedicated to Holmes can command membership of hundreds more than our own. Nonetheless, our own Society's membership is formed of a solid, interested, and determined group; and we take comfort from the fact that we continue to grow. There are things about Conan Doyle which deter people from showing further interest. It is our task to convince those people that there are many other things which are worthy of their attention.
The George Inn at Southwark on 21 May 1989 seems a lifetime. ago. A subsequent meeting at The George, when David Stuart Davies and I hosted Jon Lellenberg, who had been unable to attend the Society's launch party, likewise seems very distant. Our first meeting was a very special event, and it is sad to record that some of those who were able to attend — Dame Jean Conan Doyle, Julian Symons, David Kirby, Jack Stoddart — are no longer with us. Nevertheless, we took encouragement from the support that those delightful people gave us on the day — and for some time afterwards. We continue to believe that our Society lives up to the aims set for it ten years ago. Moreover, we know that the contribution our Society has been able to make to Doylean studies will, like much of Conan Doyle's work, be a lasting feature for many years to come.
Those nine inches of shelf space, incidentally, are filled with twelve issues of ACD, fifteen issues of The Parish Magazine, Western Wanderings, The Future of Canadian Literature, Conan Doyle of Wimpole Street, The Immortal Memory, a facsimile edition of 'A Regimental Scandal', The Blood-Stone Tragedy, and the co-produced (with Westminster Libraries) facsimile of 'The Dying Detective'. In addition to filling shelf space, the Society held major meetings in Edinburgh and Toronto, and co-hosted ACD weekends with the Northern Musgraves Sherlock Holmes Society in Barnsley and Tunbridge Wells, the latter timed to coincide with the unveiling of a plaque in Crowborough, commemorating ACD's time in the town. And, of course, during the Sherlock Holmes Society of London's Back to Baker Street Festival in 1994, Dame Jean Conan Doyle unveiled a Society-sponsored commemorative green plaque at 2 Upper Wimpole Street, London, where ACD had offices for a few short months in 1891. More recently, we have been pleased to subscribe support to the Friends of the Arthur Conan Doyle Collection at Toronto Reference Library, and look forward to a long and fruitful association with that organisation. We haven't exactly been idle.
Christopher Roden
- Article courtesy Christopher Roden, founder of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society (1989-2003).
