Arthur Conan Doyle resented Sherlock Holmes fame!
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle who is best known for his creation of the eccentric detective, Sherlock Holmes was an alumnus of the University of Edinburgh.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was a complex figure known for his many talents,varied interests and a man full of contradictions.He could have had no idea that he was creating one of the most vivid and enduring characters in English fiction when his first Sherlock Holmes adventure, the novella "A Study in Scarlet", was published in 1887.
While Conan Doyle’s creation of the logical, cold, calculating Holmes, the “world’s first and only consulting detective,” was a huge success,The author reportedly disliked Sherlock Holmes because the character overshadowed his other literary endeavors and limited his career.
In 1893, Conan Doyle killed off Holmes, hoping to concentrate on more serious writing.In November 1891, he wrote to his mother: "I think of slaying Holmes and winding him up for good and all. He takes my mind from better things." His mother responded, "You won't".So,In "The Final Problem," Sherlock Holmes seemingly dies while battling Professor Moriarty at Reichenbach Falls in Switzerland. They both fall to their deaths, and Holmes's body is not recovered.
There was a hue and cry with people sending numerous letters expressing outrage and disappointment.Some pleaded with Arthur Conan Doyle while a few abused him physically.Men protested wearing black armbands and the royal family was distraught.The public outcry later made him resurrect Holmes two years later,in 1901 in the novel "The Hound of the Baskervilles".
In 1903, Doyle published his first Holmes short story in ten years, "The Adventure of the Empty House", in which it was explained that only Moriarty had fallen, but since Holmes had other dangerous enemies—especially Colonel Sebastian Moran—he had arranged the deception.
Conan doyle later admitted that he had been overwhelmed by the public's concern for the fictional Holmes. Conan Doyle wrote four novels and 56 short stories about the mastermind’s pursuit of criminals using his observational skills and powers of deduction.
Did you know that although Holmes rebuffs praise, declaring his abilities to be “elementary,” the oft-quoted phrase “Elementary, my dear Watson,” never actually appears in Conan Doyle’s writings.Conan Doyle also twice ran unsuccessfully for parliament.
He set up an ophthalmology practice in London but wrote in his autobiography that not a single patient ever crossed his door.His other passionate interest was in architecture and he worked on several projects throughout his life, from his home in Surrey to a golf course in Canada.
However, In later life he became very interested in spiritualism and in 1920, two of the biggest celebrities of the age met for the first time and became friends.One was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and the other was Harry Houdini, the illusionist and escapologist who became one of the world’s highest-paid entertainers for his ability to escape from a steel and glass coffin filled with water.
They were an improbable, odd pair with the two men brought together initially by a shared interest in spiritualism.But it was also spiritualism that destroyed this unlikely friendship.The two had a falling out after Doyle refused to believe that Houdini wasn't actually capable of magic.
While praising him as "the bravest man in our generation,"Conan Doyle condemned Houdini for being biased and publicity hungry. Houdini wrote that "There is nothing that Sir Arthur will believe that surprises me."Conan Doyle said "my literary energies should not be directed too much into one channel",but today he is remembered in the literary Pantheon for Sherlock Holmes only.His other works are largely unread.
Interestingly,Arthur Conan Doyle was knighted in 1902 by King Edward VII but for his work on a non-fiction pamphlet regarding the Boer War, not his illustrious novel.
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