Late to the party but I still want to dance

'I think that I may go so far as to say, Watson, that I have not lived wholly in vain,' he remarked.  'If my record were closed to-night I could still survey it with equanimity. The air of London is the sweeter for my presence. In over a thousand cases I am not aware that I have ever used my powers upon the wrong side. Of late I have been tempted to look into the problems furnished by Nature rather than those more superficial ones for which our artificial state of society is responsible' --- The Adventure of The Final Problem

For many years (since at least 2006) I've read Holmes's words in "The Adventure of The Final Problem" without much thought to the actual voice behind them. Like many who read Doyle's Sherlock Holmes, I gave Sir Arthur only a passing nod. After all, in the great game of Sherlockiana, Doyle was merely the literary agent and didn't therefore merit a great deal of attention.  Over the past two years, however, I've come to realize Doyle's world is so much bigger and richer than my limited view allowed.

By spending an inordinate amount of time on Twitter talking about Holmes since 2014, more and more awareness of Doyle, his life, his work, and his personality has crept into my life. That awareness has led me to a desire to know more about him as a person and as a literary craftsman. It has also left me questioning the possible personal meaning behind the words he put into Sherlock Holmes's mouth.

Mattias Boström's brilliant 2017 From Holmes to Sherlock provided me with a solid foundation for understanding how Holmes came to be and the repercussions that followed in Doyle's life. For some time that information, along with the Twitter chatter, seemed enough to know about Doyle. Now it doesn't. I want to know more, to understand more, and to discuss more.

I've spent the last two weeks reading Daniel Stashower's 1999 Doyle biography, Teller of Tales. I've been lucky enough to read it along with a wise and well-read Doylean friend. Stashower's elegant prose and my friend's sage observations have given me a new understanding of Doyle, his work, and why he fascinates me. Stashower's book has sat on my shelf for years (a gift) but I'm not disappointed that I waited until now to read it. If I had read it years ago, I would have enjoyed it, set it aside, and then gone on to the next Sherlockian thing. I wasn't ready for Doyle until now. 

Two recent events have also changed the place of Doyle in my life: I was invited on as a co-editor to the Arthur Conan Doyle Society's "The Terror of Blue John Gap" annotation project, and I had opportunity to try my hand at writing a piece of non-Sherlockian fiction inspired by Doyle's short story, "The Silver Mirror." Doyle is definitely in my life and on my mind.

Today, when I read the words from Holmes noted above from FINA, I had to stop and see when Doyle wrote those words and what was happening to him at the time. Although the story was not written late in Doyle's long career, I could certainly hear Sir Arthur applying those words to himself in a late life conversation. The air of London was certainly sweeter for his presence.

I realize I've said nothing here that even the most casual Doyle aficionado wouldn't know but this writing process helps me to understand what I'm learning, thinking and feeling. I've always said good writing changes who I am, and Doyle's good writing along with good writing about him are certainly proving that to be true for me.

I've also realized that Twitter's word limits wouldn't serve me for this process. So, a blog. For myself. And maybe, just maybe, a few others will find some value in it.  

Stashower reports that Doyle wrote a few days before his death "The reader will judge that I have had many adventures."

Yes, he did, and I can't wait to learn more.