8/3/2019 New York NY Tribune 1914 Sep Grayscale - 0103
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SIR A R T H U R C O N A N D OY LEB Y F I L S O N Y O U N G
j , l R ARTHUR CONAN DO YtJ: is a big§) sub jec t. • You feel tha t the first t ime vou
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a c t i ve k . d y . t he C n- ng hea d a nd ne c k ,c V & r ^ v / *h« ; b i g . f ir m ha nds , a i l i m pr e s s you - w i t hM S I ^ t
a s o n s c : i h n o s' "
!" « he p o n t i c . " T h e i n t
er c ^ & j J press ton ••:' bulk and s ize i s . rapidly fa l lowed by the impress ion ot s t rength andpow er ; and i t i s no; unt i l on o has been consciou s°* ; : ' ;v -° - ,v r somet ime that the fur ther impress ion , , f•act ivi ty ' .s ad de d: the act iv i ty , le t us sav. of a urealk>eomot ivo e ngin e , whieh i s si >w and del ib erate inhe m o t i on o f s t a r t i ng , bu t c a n R a t he r a pa c e ' a nd
an imp etus th at a re i r res i s t ible . And a l l these . impress ion s are perv aded by anot her , —an impress ion ofoigness ot hea r t .o t kind.ncss . of s implic i ty and s t reng thof char acte r . " •
Micro arc ;vv subt le t i es about Conan Doyle . To savt . ' i a t may seem m sonic eyes l ike di sparaging him a> an. c : ; l o r ; '.^.:' one cannot have everything, and i f i : bc 'adetect not to be subt le ' , then Con an Dovle must becredi ted wi th the defect s - •: his qual i t i e s . But vou" donot ask a mountain or the southwest wind to be subt le ;an. i thephc i t v . i .-.i
C ona n D ov!
7' H »m an . .
ngth o: a s imple character l i es in i t s s im-
re is a groat deal oi the big dm i too about>• - the kind of . big dog that walks about a;ets a tabl e bv .th e swish, of his tail. C'onan
P •>;••'has
- i nature<i ind kindness ot di spos i t ion l i es a power of
indig nat io n, ot r ighteo us answer and intolera nce of in-es t ice . th at is ext rem ely formidab le when it i s roused, human , mind an d h ear t , or by the ruthlessness wi th
1 ext rem ely awk war d and upse t t ing for whate ver which he lays baa- the fact s ' of l i fe.roes .or ins t i tut io ns i t hap pen s to be ranged, again s t . None of these i s charac ter i s t i c of Conan Doyle . His
For thi s big watch i !og has a big bark . One cannot say s tyle ha s . no par t i cu lar graces or beaut ies . . I t i s good in
that :u> bark i s worse than hi s bi te , because for tuna te ly the sense that i t, i s sound , s t ra ight fo rward Bngl i sh; buthas not hi t . i cr to ocen necessa ry tor . the wor ld to otherwis e Si r Ar th ur makes no a t te mp t to use 'prose as
exper ien ce hi s b; t o; hi s bark has so far been .enough, a vehic le of bea uty . He is no subt l e psychologis t e i ther .I here are three as pect s in whieh -one m ust con s ider I t is act ion s ra the r than mot ives that interes t him, . and
S: r Ar thur Co nan Doyle i t one i s to ar r ive a t any jus t ' sepa rate him f rom the other great divi s ion of auth ors ,por t ra i t or know ledge of him as a ma n: for the r iver of .whose interes t i s in the play of mot ives of whieh act ionhas hte runs in three very c lear ly def ined courses . One, i s merelv th e resul t .and ot course the most famous , i s concerned wi th hi s Nor i s he in any sense of the word a rea l i s t , l i e i s nowork as an auth or ; ano ther l i es in hi s devo t ion to every Zola: the fevers of the boudoi r and the pass ions of • the;torm of outd oor spor t : the thi rd has to do wi th hi s wotk farm yard a l ike leave him- .cold. "But h e i s a t e l ler ofas .i publ ic m an. bus services to hi s . coun t ry an d hu- s tor ies ; and the s tor ies li e t e l ls are s tor ies of the ad-ma mt y at la rge. So no won der I s tar ted by say ing ven tures of more or less s imple men in con tact wi th dan-
th.a t , i a more souses th .an one, he i s a big subje ct . gor or . .dif f i cul ty. Whe rever m an comes into conf l i c t '• wi th the forces of nature , or the ' e leme nts of l i fe tha t
T i s as an aut ho r that Si r Ar thu r Conan Doyle i s mak e for opposi t ion and di f f icul ty , there Con an'D oyl eeh ' ie t ly interes t ing to hi s Amer ic an readers . No con- has hi s subject . . IK- ' t rea t s i t wi th the di rect
Sir Art hur' s home at Crowborout f h, Sus s ex.
Il i rectness and
tem por ary Eng l i shm an has in h. is books covered so s implic i tv that are a lone - sui table te> i t .large a he 'd < >l adv entu rou s l ife and appealed to so wide More over , he has one great ' se cret , a lmost the greates t
1 ::e re ason :ap pc ai c u t o so u- ;e . Mor eov er , ae i i as on e s^veai see r e i , au uos i i- ri e g i ea i eM ,
, .ccess are alw ays in- that a writer of fiction can h'ave^ -he know s how to tellt cr ot i ng , an : in Si r Ar th.ur ' s ease t ' . ev are not di f fi cult a s tory. By thai I 'mean he knows wh ere to begin, .to discov er. He is, first of all an ! a*bove all. a teller of whe re to end , where to thro w light and em pha sis, whe res tor ies ; an i that i s the f r s*. the mds.t ancient , and the to blur and su bord inate the deta i ls . This i s a gif t of:r. <st es'scntial bu sines s •-: a',1 li te ratu re. But th ere are na tur e. jT-ho pro per telling of a story is like the plac ingmane wavs- in which a wr i ter can succeed, as"a t e l ler of ' of a por t ra i t on canvas : • there i s . a- r ight and a wrongst -ries. —bv the bea utv of his stvl e; bv the sub tle ty of way to do it . But there- is this difference,—-the righ t 'ana!vs ; s ': •: which he ; - robes the inner recesses of the wav to place a por t ra i t on canva s can w»ih much toi l
and iliflieit lty be learned.: . the way t< > tell a st' >ry can
A c o r n e r "in t he bi l l i ard rooi
pract ica l ly never be learned. That i s why a manwho has i t , ' even i f he has no very wonderful gi f t sofimaginat ion or fancy, can r i se to the greates t eminen ce as a writer, lie has the ear ol the world-; thewor ld ha s need of him, not to t each or in s t ruct , .but to charm and enter ta in i t 'wi th hi s s tor ies .
HP HB RK is s t r iking "conf i rmat ion of thi s in ther facts of .Sir Art hu r's life. lie had the instinct.
for tellin g st. ri< s al wa ys in h im , and wrote- his firstb< ok w hen lie was six yea rs - -Id. and illus trated ithimself. For he inherited an artistic gift not onlyf rom his grandfat her John l)< »yle", the tam< HIS pol i -• ica l car icatur i s t , but a lso f rom his fa ther , whose
.gi f t s as an ar t i s t , a l thou gh qui te unkno wn ro thepublic at large,- art- of a much higher order than
-
ci ther those 'of fohn Doy le or even-oi hi s brotherRichard, t 'ne famous cont r ibutor to 'Punch in ear lyd a y s .
At - school , then, Ar thur C onan Doyle was a l -read v know n as a telle r of tales, and lt t' .Le as boy.-,care as a . rule to acknowledg e or tol era te anyartist ic gift, in one of their nu mb er, so' great washis hold upon them tha t the y used to brib e himwi th pas t ry and apples to cont inue some nar ra t ivethat he had left off at an exciting point.-
But a l though he i s a born te l ler of t a les he doesnot rest simoly oh the abili ty of his na tur al gift . Innt arly .all his book s th ere is^some solid stuff of factor histo'rv on whieh the narrative rests, and this isnot suppl ied wi thout a cer ta in amoun t of ser iouswork in nreoa rat ion. ' Si r Ar thur , l ike a l l wr i terswho are wor th any thing , is a great reader , and as
an instance ; of his faithful prep arati on for giving hispubl ic sou nd value .one may ci te the ease of "MicahClarke. " . This book took l ive mon ths to wr i te ; but t hereading for i t . occupied a year . ' . . .
About some of hi s juveni le a t t empts a t s toryte l l ingthat were concerned, wi th the most sanguinary adventure s Sir Art hur li t is stud that h e alw ays found it "e asierto get people into. scrapes than to get ' them ou t . " -Onemight acc ept thi s f rom almost, anyone e lse , but not f romthe creator of Sher lock ' Holmes .
HP HA T br ings ' -us to w hat , l i t t le ' a s .he may like it , is the• ch aracter wi th whieh hi s name wi l l a lways be most
widely as socia ted. • It is hot to be wond ered a t if hedoes .not care to t a lk very much of Sher lock Holmes .The t ragedy of the author who has .made a great hi twi th one subject , or one ch aracter i s that people ins i s ton associa t ing him wi th that a lone, t a lking about i t ,wr i t ing 'about i t , demanding more and more of i t , unt i lthe poor author begins to recoi l f rom the monster whomhe- has created and who threatens to devou r him. Sher lock Ho lme s has bro ugh t his•.-creator, grea t fame- and
considerable weal th ; but i f i s poss ible that he has a lso 'robb ed him of something,— of l i t erary reputa t ion.
The pub l ic is never jus t , in these mat ters . The S her lock Holmes stone*-: , delightful and fascinating as theya re , t ire not Sir Art hur 's best work; but th ey tire by farhi s 'mo sl po pular , and one could, well sympathiz e wi thhim if lie •resented a' li t t le th e publ ic's hab it of ignorin g. the other . and perh aps be t ter work th at he has done for• t he sake of i ts tavoritc,
• But th ere is no escape for.him from Sherlock H olm es.It Was Sherlo ck H olme s who rescued him from his earlyhum drum career as' a medical pract i t ioner in an Lngl i sh
co unt ry town; i t was Sher lock Holmes who gave himone lift after another into the world"ol fame and pros-per i tv , who open ed on e del ight ful doo r af ter ano ther oflife and. trave l for him-, and se rved h im in a thou san dwavs , and i s now exact ing hi s payme nt in . requi r ing hi sauthor to be in some kind of bondage to him.
. npiH Ckl v i s indeed a kind of romance about Si r Ar-• thu r ' s l i t erary beginnings . He wrote through .i l lhi s s tude nt days a t Edinbu rgh U nivers i ty , and when hewas a doctor a t Southsea he was-pract i s ing the craf l of
wr i t ing, but ent i re ly wi thou t success . His ' f ir s t publ i shed s tore appeared in Cham bers ' s Jour nal in 1X78 'when he was nineteen years old , and he got three guine asfor i t . But i t was not until 1NS7 tha t "A Stud y inScar le t ," in which Sher lock Holmes made-his bow-tothe publ ic , appeared - in Beetoi i ' s Chr i s tmas- Annual .
C ona n I )oyle never earned more than f i fty pound s in an yone of the . lifsl ten years in whichh.e wrote assiduously."Micah Clarke , " 'one of the b es t of hi s hi s tor ica l romances ,was re jected .by one publ i sher af ter anoth er unt i l i t cameunder the eyes ofAn drew Lang, wljo was then reader toLon gma ns ' ; and they publ i shed i t in ISSO. T his wasfol lowed by another Sher lock Holmes s tory, "The Signof Fou r ' ' ; and then th e f ruit s of success began to appe ar .
St i l l fos ter ing hi s ambi t ions as a doctor ra ther thanas a writer, Doyle used the first financial fruits of hissuccess in mov ing f rom So uthsea to Lon don, and establ i shing himself as an eye specia l i s t . Dur in g ' ha t^per iod" , however , i t was edi tors ra ther than pat ient s '
