I'm too sleepy to put up a decent post but here's an interesting quick and dirty one. These (above and below) are the photos that convinced Doyle of the existence of fairies!
The girl in the picture above seems to be completely unaware of what I assume are dancing illustrations superimposed below her.
Imagine the creator of Sherlock Holmes being taken in by pictures like these! No matter, I still love Doyle and my respect for the man is only slightly diminished by the gaff. Most, if not all, of us will believe in something silly that we'll regret later. You can't blame him for being human.Holmes is one of the greatest characters in all of fiction, some would say the very greatest. At the core of every story is an intriguing mystery and surrounding it is the endlessly fascinating lifestyle, moral character, courage, intellect, playfulness, earnestness and capacity for friendship of the famous detective. Holmes always changes and improves the person who reads about him. 
Doyle was said to have been surprised by the success of his detective stories. He thought the book everyone would remember would be "The White Company," about crusaders, I think. The Wyeth illustration above is from that book. I don't know anything about it, but if Doyle thought it was his best then that's reason enough to read it. I'll put in a save at the library.
Doyle was said to have been surprised by the success of his detective stories. He thought the book everyone would remember would be "The White Company," about crusaders, I think. The Wyeth illustration above is from that book. I don't know anything about it, but if Doyle thought it was his best then that's reason enough to read it. I'll put in a save at the library.
Eddie, Conan Doyle loved the new agey stuff of his time, it seems. I think he he was a member of the Theosophical Society.
ReplyDeleteI've read somewhere a theory that he was fooled because photography was not as ubiquitous as today, which might have contributed to make such a pathetic montage believable to so many people. Their eyes were undeducated. I'm not sure I buy that.
Those fairy pictures are the ancestors of those fake photshop inventions everyone gets fooled by on www.snopes.com Whenever I read about those fairies I read that they were superimposed photos, but those do look like drawings to me.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE SHERLOCK HOLMES!! Hugh Laurie portrays House as being an anti-social drug-addicted near-aspergers jerk, but I don't remember the books making Holmes that addicted or that mean. Maybe the doctor Holmes was based on had Aspergers and was more like House.
My favourite parts of those books is when Holmes describes how he came to the conclusion, like in the first one when he explains how he knew Watson had been in Iran.
I also love that chart Watson made explaining when he was trying to figure out what his line was. And I loved the idea that Holmes didn't know the earth revolved around the sun!
When I was a kid I loved watching "Sherlock Holmes of the 22nd Century," it was so well done.
Eddie: Yes, Doyle created one of the great characters ever, but he has always impressed me (admittedly no expert here) as a bit of a nut job. He was an ardent believer in spiritualism, he believed that Sir Walter Scott was the greatest author who ever lived, and that stories as different from Scott as the Holmes tales are can have no serious literary value -- and, maybe strangest of all, he insisted that his friend Harry Houdini had supernatural powers, angrily resisting Houdini's assurances that his tricks were just that, tricks. And then there were the fairies. I guess you can be wise about some things and a damfool about others.
ReplyDeleteI love Sherlock Holmes and have read all of them but if Doyle never came up with the character he would probably be considered a very minor writer.
ReplyDeleteI really believe that a mediocre writer can become a great one if he comes up with a compelling character.
If you look at Bill Wattersons cartoons before He came up with Calvin And Hobbes theyre incredibly average
Those photos are from a series known as the "Cottingley Fairies," taken in 1917. Here's a little background on them:
ReplyDeleteThe Cottingley Fairies
What a wonderful post!
ReplyDeleteI wasn't born then, but I'd loved to have been able to convince myself for even an hour that they were real fairies.
It struck me, reading this post that all art is based on a willing suspension of disbelief. Who could watch "Bambi" & say to himself: "It's just a bunch of drawings or look at "Ecstasy of St. Teresa" & think, "Hey, this is just a rock."
Eddie, your blog is the blog of blogs & Sir Arthur can haunt my drawing room any time.
Lester: Interesting! I was just thinking of Scott and wondering if I should tackle "Heart of Midlothian"...maybe in an audio version, if there is one.
ReplyDeleteOne of these days I'm going to pay people to read the kind of esoteric books I like on to some type of audio storage so I can listen to it on the run. Reading stuff like that would be a great job for a student. They could record the stuff at their homes whenever they have the time and bill me for it.
Anon: True enough! Sometimes it's enough to create a memorable character.
Eric: Those girls were real jerks. They let a good guy make a fool of himself in print just for a joke.
yes. love sherlock holmes. great comment: reading about him changes the person.
ReplyDeleteand, well, since no one else mentioned it, also always loved this stuf too:
http://www.lambiek.net/artists/e/elder/elder.jpg
Hey Eddie,
ReplyDeleteThere was a very good film made in 1997 based on these contentious photos and the little girls who were behind their creation. Peter O'Toole played Conan Doyle. Well worth seeing!
...and if I hadn't have hit the Publish Your Comment button so quickly, you'd also know that its title was "Fairy Tale - A True Story"
ReplyDeleteSorry for my trigger fingered response...
http://www.audiobooksforfree.com/details/Fiction/1000280/White-Company
ReplyDeleteI think its a few bucks through paypal to download the whole thing (17 hours) The voicework sounds really good
They look pretty real to me. I dont see it. I'm a believer now. :)
ReplyDeleteJose: Vintage Elder!
ReplyDeletePete: Son of a Gun! I'll look for it!
Anon: Thanks a million for the book link! Why does Audio Books for Free use that name? The site says you have to pay a hundred bucks!
You're right, though. The reading is a little murky, but the reader has an interesting voice!
So eddie, i think THIS PHOTO should be the official logo for the top of the Theory Corner blog.
ReplyDeleteyou handsome devil, you!
Eddie, You probably already know them, but my favorite source of recorded books for esoteric titles is Blackstone:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.blackstoneaudio.com/
They have three titles by Scott.
Less well known is Audio Classics
http://www.audiobookcontractors.com/
Five Scott titles there. Sadly, neither offers Midlothian.
Aw, Eddie, don't be so hard on those girls. I usually picture them in the same category as carnies. We all know there's no such thing as an alligator man and the Siamese twins are just two guys in a big pair of pants, but it's fun to suspend disbelief for the sake of a little thrill once in a while. It's the kind of stuff that makes a fat bearded lady even more fantastic. I can't help but salute them for trying.
ReplyDeleteNico: That picture confirms that the ugly lessons I've been taking are paying off. Now I can live under a bridge and eat children.
ReplyDeleteLester: Blackstone is great! I got lots of books from them! I read all their Kirk, Orwell and Dickens. Malcolm Muggeridge read for them under assumed names: Frederick Davis and Allen something or other. Tony Barbour's another good reader.
The guy who started the company was always plugging a book called "The Long Walk." I finally listened to it and loved it!
An audio book I'd love to hear (if if it exists) is "Origins of Totalitarian Democracy" by Talmon. The book is crammed with beautiful French quotes. I couldn't understand some of them but I found myself repeating them endlessly just because they sounded so good. Talmon has a good ear.
Jessica: Interesting thought! Hey, do you mind if I reproduce here the picture of your character listening to depressing music?
librivox.org has free audiobooks, It seems if you like Dickens these sites are a goldmine, youre out of luck for more obscure guys.
ReplyDelete"I got lots of books from them! I read all their Kirk, Orwell and Dickens. Malcolm Muggeridge read for them under assumed names: Frederick Davis and Allen something or other." I assume you mean you have listened to them, not that you are the voice on the tape. Otherwise, I'll have to fly to LA and kiss your feet. ... "The Long Walk" is one of the great classics of the true adventure genre and one of my favorite books. I've read it at least twice.
ReplyDeleteI believe those Fairies are cut-out standees. I remember reading it somehwere but can't be sure. Super imposing them, although I am sure it is possible, would have required perhaps a hanging black matte in front of the camera and then reexposing the film with the fairies on black. The registration would have to be flawless and the photographer a genuis before her time....actually, didn't the little girls take the pictures and perepetuate the hoax? Just remembered. Anyway even the best special fx of the 70s and 80s tend to show lines around the matted subject.
ReplyDeleteBack in the mid 80s when I was a new animator (and aware of computer animation) When I saw Tony DelPeltrie (?) (Animation by some guys in Montreal about a piano player) I said to myself, boy, what smooth stop-motion, how'd they do that?
That may be what it was like for Doyle and this new technology. -GdS
Eddie, I recommend Robertson Davies as an author. Please look him up and see if you might be interested in him as well.
ReplyDeleteI also second the mention of the film Fairytale. It also has a beautiful soundtrack.
PS my portfolio site is up! http://www.kellytoon.com
Ha ha. For a moment there I was dead surprised anybody even looked at my blog. Go ahead and use it. :)
ReplyDeleteI'll second the rec of the film based on this episode; despite the lame title(and despite my going in with a big chip on my shoulder-I'd always liked the story it was based on and was afraid it'd be blown), the film was exquisitely done all the way through--and Harvey Keitel was terrific as Houdini, very moving in fact. Apparently, btw, Keitel had wanted to play Houdini for years and happened to be in the right place to get wind of this film and be cast.
ReplyDeleteIt veers away from straight "factual" stuff plotwwise but has to to be imho a compelling film in its own right(actually, it's amazing how much of the real story is used), and works beautifully, fantastic sense of the period as well.
NOT ugly!!! It's suave!
ReplyDeleteJenny: Keitel as Houdini? Interesting!
ReplyDeleteKelly: I tried to read Davies a few years ago and had to put it down. I liked his prose style and he seemed to be a nice, literate guy, but he didn't seem to have much to say. Maybe I'll give him another chance one of these days.
Eddie:
ReplyDeleteHow's this for an appetiser?
There is no nonsense so gross that society will not, at some time, make a doctrine of it and defend it with every weapon of communal stupidity.
Robertson Davies