Princeton University Press, 2011
This small book (210 pages) is an absolute delight! Michael Dirda has an encyclopedic knowledge of Sherlock Holmes. Better, he writes in a breezy, informative and entertaining manner that holds the reader's attention as surely as one of Conan Doyle's many stories.
This reading memoir traces Dirda's literary odyssey. In the 1950s, The Hound of the Baskervilles was "the first grown-up book I ever read-and it changed my life." As with so many of us, he belonged to an elementary school book club that enabled him to buy 3 or 4 inexpensive books each month and his reading career was off and running. He recounts some of those books that lead him eventually to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Along the way he expertly fulfills the promise of the sub-title: "or, The Whole Art of Storytelling."
Dirda treads a narrow line as he writes about the Holmes stories without spoiling their endings. Of course, those who will most likely buy and enjoy this book will have already read and enjoyed most of the Holmes stories more than once in print, television, or movie format. In addition to the stories we know, Doyle wrote supernatural short stories, science fiction, novels about domestic life, a history of World War I, historical fiction, essays that attacked racial injustice, and, in his later years, polemics in defense of spiritualism. Clearly, his genius lay in his ability to conjure a story and tell it in a manner that has continued to bring readers to the bookcase for more than a century.
This small book (210 pages) is an absolute delight! Michael Dirda has an encyclopedic knowledge of Sherlock Holmes. Better, he writes in a breezy, informative and entertaining manner that holds the reader's attention as surely as one of Conan Doyle's many stories.
This reading memoir traces Dirda's literary odyssey. In the 1950s, The Hound of the Baskervilles was "the first grown-up book I ever read-and it changed my life." As with so many of us, he belonged to an elementary school book club that enabled him to buy 3 or 4 inexpensive books each month and his reading career was off and running. He recounts some of those books that lead him eventually to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Along the way he expertly fulfills the promise of the sub-title: "or, The Whole Art of Storytelling."
Dirda treads a narrow line as he writes about the Holmes stories without spoiling their endings. Of course, those who will most likely buy and enjoy this book will have already read and enjoyed most of the Holmes stories more than once in print, television, or movie format. In addition to the stories we know, Doyle wrote supernatural short stories, science fiction, novels about domestic life, a history of World War I, historical fiction, essays that attacked racial injustice, and, in his later years, polemics in defense of spiritualism. Clearly, his genius lay in his ability to conjure a story and tell it in a manner that has continued to bring readers to the bookcase for more than a century.
The Baker Street Irregulars and Dirda's connection to them (He dedicates the book to them.) form the core to this memoir. The BSI were formed in 1934 by Christopher Morley and continue to this day in the form of "scion societies," such as the Copper Beeches of Philadelphia and the Red Circle in Washington. Each society participates in a game which presumes that Holmes and Watson were real and that the gaps in Doyle's accounts must be filled in so that the history will be complete. In that vein, Dirda's account of his presentation to a conference at the University of Minnesota, "A Case for Langdale Pike," is a remarkably concise and "true" mixture of fact and fiction that reveals certain details of Pike's life.
Dirda does not neglect Doyle's interest in spiritualism, noting that he wrote thirteen books on the subject between 1916 and 1930. Though he has read only "most" of two of them, he indicates that he "found both lively and enjoyable as period entertainments." Dirda admits to admiring Doyle for his willingness to adhere to his beliefs even though the "whole world mocked them and him." He goes on to note that spiritualism in its largest sense is an important part of much of Doyle's writing. Ultimately, however, it all comes back to Baker Street and its rediscovery by every generation of young readers.
Whether you are a confirmed Sherlockian or one who has just come recently to the canon, there is something here for you. The writing is superb. The memoirist style fits the story perfectly. It is a book that can be read and re-read and never lose its freshness.
Dirda does not neglect Doyle's interest in spiritualism, noting that he wrote thirteen books on the subject between 1916 and 1930. Though he has read only "most" of two of them, he indicates that he "found both lively and enjoyable as period entertainments." Dirda admits to admiring Doyle for his willingness to adhere to his beliefs even though the "whole world mocked them and him." He goes on to note that spiritualism in its largest sense is an important part of much of Doyle's writing. Ultimately, however, it all comes back to Baker Street and its rediscovery by every generation of young readers.
Whether you are a confirmed Sherlockian or one who has just come recently to the canon, there is something here for you. The writing is superb. The memoirist style fits the story perfectly. It is a book that can be read and re-read and never lose its freshness.
Disclosure: A review copy was provided by the publisher. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.
