These two historical people don't seem to be really related, but in my own imagination, they are! :) The first part of this page is about Doyle, and arose from an "imitation" writing assignment in one one of my college courses. (Read more there.)
If, however, you want to know what exactly this piece was an "Imitation" of, our class had been studying the memoirs of the medieval mystic Margery Kempe. Further on this page you can also read yet another fictionalization of mine that pits Kempe against (and in sympathy with) Chaucer's Wife of Bath. You know, Chaucer and The Canterbury Tales.
Yeah, yeah, my interests are esoteric at times. Don't stay if you don't care.
I wrote this "imitation" as a British Literature assignment, and as a personal pondering on what Doyle might have felt about his creation Sherlock Holmes, and about the controversy over his Spiritualism. I had read the John Dickson Carr biography of ACD and felt, as explained in my religion section, a need to assert solidarity with the man for his religious conviction. Further solidarity is expressed in my Top Ten immediately following this Imitation.
This fictionalization about Doyle is based on:
John Dickson Carr's The Life of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. New York: Harper & Brothers. 1949.They stood at the window of their flat in Victoria Street, watching Greenhough Smith get in his car and drive away. Sir Arthur watched the headlights disappear into the evening gloom, pursing his lips in a half pitying kind of smile before he turned to resume his seat. He left the curtains open to the view and stepped carefully, but not entirely steadily, from the window. Jean still saw a quiet grace in him, though, as she watched his largely built, dignified figure move. He was more ill than he would admit. It was the necessary consequence of his advanced age. It did not mean, though, that his spirit and mind were any less fresh. He sank into his chair with a sigh and then pensively pulled at the finely tapered ends of his mustache. She took her seat.
"Do you know," she said smiling, cocking her head in the direction of Greenhough Smith's car, "I always feel a little sorry for him. He goes through all the trouble of making an attempt, but still is sure enough of the outcome that the wistful, pathetic look never leaves his face."
He grinned. "A long suffering literary agent! Still of course it's the only thing, professionally speaking, that he can recommend."
"He has tact about it, too. It can't be easy making a nicety of regularly saying, 'Certainly this spiritual pursuit is wholly important to you, but couldn't you, just secondarily, keep regularly writing material for a more general audience, for a more popular interest?'"
"--'Popular' meaning Sherlock Holmes."
She nodded. "And other things. You can't blame him, though."
"No," he agreed good-naturedly, "you can't." He watched the yellow fog curl in outside the window. "It's only ... it's only that it's a trifle unfair. What, after all, ought to encompass the most general of audiences, if not a message about the fate of their souls?"
She lifted her chin. "At least we have the satisfaction of knowing that Spiritualism is indeed popular. Think of all those people you've lectured to since 1917! How they have received you in so many places, and how they've packed the lecture halls every night! I didn't think we would make it so long as six years, but here we are, and they still come."
"Yes, and I shall keep coming to meet them as long as I can. The message is more important than the man."
She smiled and laid her hand upon his. "Your courage still amazes me." She kissed him.
Then a shadow crossed her face.
"What is it?"
She sighed. "I couldn't help wishing that the rest of the world would be amazed as well, that it could love and respect you the way that I do." She shuddered. "I just can't forget that awful letter just now."
"Oh," he nodded. "'Sir Devil, Leader of the Spiritualist Church....'? You don't need to worry about that. I don't mind it, really. One must expect a little demonising whenever one takes up a cause, especially a cause of religious faith."
"But it's ignorant, unwarranted, and outrageous! I hate it. How can total strangers behave as though they have a truer claim to what you should believe than you do?"
"Because I've disappointed them," he still spoke quite calmly, "because I've failed to be exactly what they expected of me."
She shook her head, frowning. "'Not our Conan Doyle. Not him, of all people!' The newspaper gossips describe you as ridiculous, senile, inept. They call you tragically and perversely self-deceived following the death of your son in the War. They call you an oh too vulnerable catch for a fraudulent movement of charlatans. They call you credulous. They call you blind."
He nodded, very quiet. He reached for her hands, unclenching her fists.
She breathed out slowly, drawing back tears. "We always said it would be hard to begin with. I just thought after a time that it would stop being so relentless."
"Do you mean that it would end?" he smiled. "No, my dear. I can just see it now. I'll end up a footnote in some history book of the dimly seen future, my only definition being: 'Creator of Sherlock Holmes. And other things.'" He shook his head, "They shall never let it go, you see. I'm supposed to be Sherlock Holmes, did you realise that? I'm supposed to be that soulless dud of a calculating machine. I've got to take the side of righteous science and be the precise and logical reasoner who always exposes things like this for hoaxes. The only problem, of course, is that they don't see that this is not a hoax. I don't believe that for the world."
Her fingers traced the polished edges of her chair's arm. She bit her lip. "They don't see that you've been brooding over this decision all your life, that it took you years to believe this, that it took me years to believe it." She touched him. "Why don't you defend yourself more vocally? Why don't you insist on the truth?"
He folded his hands. "Then I'd be defending myself, not professing my message. Sherlock Holmes never had to defend his conscience--why should I? If they can't see that I, unlike my creature, have a living, breathing soul and therefore, like any man of reason, have a right to ponder the consequences of death, then I shall not relieve them of that prejudice."
She nodded, but spoke softly. "I only fear," she looked at him earnestly, "that if things continue as they are now, that we may not hold out forever against such a prejudice."
He blinked, absorbing her glance. "Well ... well if it's to be so, then that's ... that." He looked up, his brow drawn. "Perhaps it will just read 'Creator of Sherlock Holmes. Period'?" He paused some time. "--But I've a right not to go down without a fight, don't I? I've a right, while I can, to do my utmost to make it read 'and dedicated Spiritualist lecturer.' 'And a man of religious conviction.' I've a right to demand that the public recognise, remember, and discover who I am."
She smiled at the spark in his eye, heartened. "And you will have no regrets?" she whispered.
Blinking, he shook his head and returned her whisper. "Not even for Sherlock Holmes."
She kissed his hand. They were silent.
He sat back, looking at the ceiling thoughtfully. "Do you know, Jean," he sighed, "I honestly believe that this is the most important thing I can do with my life. I've never felt so sure of anything. It's startling, but it's true, how after a lifetime of restless searching and sifting through doubts, questions, and unsatisfactory answers, that one can suddenly, in an exquisite moment of clarity and inspiration, discover the genuine purpose for one's life--for all life. I remember still the rows I used to have with my family over my denying Catholicism, denying even Church itself. I told them, like a first-rate sceptic, that I would believe nothing that my own senses and my own reason didn't tell me. I said--I knew--that the evils of religion, a dozen religions slaughtering each other, have all come from accepting things that can't be proved." He smiled. "--It's been a very long time since I was that young, my dear." He shook his head, "But there's never been a point that I stopped thinking of this, never a time when I wasn't doubting and testing the options. I needed to find the truth, however hopeless; I needed to know the answers. I long thought that eternity might realistically be out of reach, that it was a fact to rationally face up to. All Beyond seemed an idle and frustrated dream. Faith was a mirage, and higher aspirations pointless. But I finally know there is something there, and there is something to believe. Now that I know I must share it. I must."
He sat up, staring at the frosted, foggy glass of the window. "People are sceptical, of course, because the idea of Spiritualism seems such a superficial thing, seems foolishly attached to trifles that so easily can be fraud or lunacy. But a rapped-out message during a seance is not an end in itself; it's a stepping stone. It's merely the proof of something much greater, much larger than itself. That the force of the spirit and the personality persist beyond earthly death and continue on a journey of life, is fundamentally real. I believe it. There's still so much more I have to tell them, of the proofs, of the reasoning, of the implications, of how liberating it is from all the tortured doctrines of 'holy' peoples, of justification and salvation. As long as there are people who'll come to the lectures and are willing to listen, I shall repeat my message, whether the spectre of Sherlock Holmes looms over me or no." He shrugged. "For really, shall I let such an ultimately insubstantial shadow interfere in my conscience?"
She smiled. "No. Much to Greenhough Smith's disappointment, I'm afraid--most definitely no." He reached for her hand.
I had meant for this Top Ten to be a list of short, barbed ironies and sarcasms, but I found that this did not suit the complexity of the topic at all, nor fully accomplish my purpose of being explanatory. Believe me, the true intent of this Top Ten is to explain my personal viewpoint, not to preach at people to believe or not believe. You can always ignore this babbling and skip to my Margery Kempe piece if I annoy you.
10. I don't, and I'm not sure anyone ever will, have all the facts about Doyle's faith, life, and personal soul. How can I judge him?
"Data! data! data!" he cried impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay."
--Sherlock Holmes, "Copper Beeches", ACD9. American society is currently flooded with overwhelming cults in angels, miracles, psychics, mysticism, and other paranormal phenomena. And people DARE mock Doyle's clearly thought-out and organized religion? When I stop seeing a perfectly normal friend of mine spook the hell out of me with her serious insistence on us having to tread carefully and not disturb the ghosts haunting places on my campus, then I'll believe that we live in an age of Complete Reason and Skeptical Enlightenment, which can afford to be holier than thou.
8. Much rejection or dismissal of Doyle's Spiritualism is from people who feel that a scientific or logical mind is instantly discredited as soon as it espouses some "irrational" religious feeling. As respected Sherlockian Christopher Roden has pointed out, "ACD was not embarrassed by his Spiritualistic beliefs, but everyone seems to want to be embarrassed on his behalf."
7. This present age is far too focused on disillusionment and skepticism, and needs a reminder of piety now and then. Though I've heard the following phrase ridiculed, it still holds much meaning to me, especially in quiet moments alone when I am not trying to prove any point to anybody:
"There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy, Horatio."
--Hamlet, Shakespeare6. A belief in a meaningful content to the universe does not necessarily require reverting to blind faith, nor following any ritualistic and doctrinal religion. It need not be a belief in a personified God at all, but merely a perception of some nebulously transcendental presence, an instinct for the wonder, mystery, and the interconnectedness of life in the universe. Note the way that ecology buffs are reviving cults of Gaia, Mother Earth, or invoking the highly environmental and mystical beliefs of Native American peoples.
5. My personal beliefs parallel those of the character of Palmer Joss in the film Contact, who made clear that the most profound religious or spiritual faith can and does exist in people who are well-educated in science and technology. Faith is not always built on ignorance, poor logic, or dogmatic blindness, as Jodie Foster's character soon came to know.
4. Science and religion are not, as so often thought, natural enemies firmly opposed to each other. Many scientists throughout history have been sincerely devout and spiritual. Albert Einstein for instance, though he rejected belief in a personal God as depicted in the Bible, so often talked of God that a friend thought him to be "a closet theologian". I found these quotes of Einstein's "cosmic religiosity" in Alice Calaprice's The Quotable Einstein, 1996, ISBN 0-691-0296-3.
- "Mere unbelief in a personal God is no philosophy at all."
--November 7, 1952, letter- "Everyone who is seriously involved in the pursuit of science becomes convinced that a spirit is manifest in the laws of the Universe--a spirit vastly superior to that of man.... In this way the pursuit of science leads to a religious feeling of a special sort, which is indeed quite different from the religiosity of someone more naive."
--January 24, 1936, letter to a child who assked if scientists pray.- "The scientist is possessed by the sense of universal causation.... His religious feeling takes the form of a rapturous amazement at the harmony of natural law, which reveals an intelligence of such superiority that, compared with it, all the systematic thinking and acting of human beings is an utterly insignificant reflection.... It is beyond question closely akin to that which has possessed the religious geniuses of all ages."
--1934 magazine article "The Religious Spiriit of Science", Mein Weltbild3. Science and technology are great for providing more convenience to the modern world, for discovering the true workings of the universe, and for improving life and health worldwide. But technology alone cannot answer every void and every need. Humanity needs to be spiritually and emotionally fulfilled, lest we turn into one of those monstrous future states imagined by science fiction writers, where we live more like heartless robots than people.
2. Yes, religion has caused much evil, hatred, and deaths throughout history. That is the weakness of humanity, the shortsightedness of we humble beings trying to learn to grow up and behave peaceably. But because of centuries of prior misuse, shall the religious philosophies and quests for spiritual truths of so many people who have gone before us be ridiculed and dismissed?
1. The greatest tolerance and wisdom one can show is the ability to approach the beliefs of another, even one entirely opposite to one's own viewpoint, with openness and respect. I think the skeptics of the world owe such tolerance to the religiously devoted, whom so often these days are brushed aside with the sweeping phrase, "Oh, one of those God-people!"
Links for more info on Doyle
The PAO Magazine have a nice historical article on Conan Doyle and the Mystery of the Bullet-Proof Uniform.
The ACD Society has an excellent analysis of the Cottingley Fairies affair, having unretouched photos compared to the ones widely distributed by those who mock ACD.
History Net has an article about Doyle's efforts for George Edalji.
You can of course check out my Holmes tin-box for vastly more links about Sherlock Holmes.
Margery Kempe's Encounter with the Wife of Bath
--derived from exposure to sections of the Norton Anthology of English Literature, Vol 1, sixth edition, 1993, general editor M. H. Abrams.Some quick notes:
She speaks in her irrepressible third person; her "sin of pride" consisted of dressing fancily, telling off her husband (rather than negotiating as she later did), and starting a brewery; yes, she did encounter a bishop; "thilke" = "this" or "the same"; "eek" = "also"; "hight" = "named"; and finally, "ye" is correctly pronounced "thee"As this creature once was bidden to go to Canterbury and see of the shrine of the saint, she coming forth passed through London. And going so, she met a woman on the path who came the opposite way, from Canterbury-ward. The woman, hight Alisoun of Bath, was a cloth-maker and oftentimes palmer on the holy roads of our Lord Jesu Christ. So this creature tarried awhile to speak to the woman and to know of her thoughts of God. It seemed a wise thing for to do, for thilke Alisoun had spake of herself as a wife, and she wore much fine and vivid clothes as this creature once did, in her sin of pride when she had as yet resided with her husband. So the wife and this creature turned their horses aside and went forth to a field to stop on the grass in the cool, cloudy morning.
This creature soon tied her mare up and sat to the ground. She saw that the wife neatly and with slothly care laid out a fine, thick blanket on the ground afore she would sit upon it. She loosened her wimple and set her broad hat aside, baring forth her red and bold face, with its shrewd black eyes. She primped and fussed in arranging her skirts, making show of her bright shoes. All her movements bespoke such pride and manner.
Well did this creature know from memory these habits and tricks of how to draw men's stares with a careful posture. She eyed the gap-tooth of that bold face with suspicion, and considered the woman more sharply. Thilke black eyes of the woman watched back, with a thoughtful look in them.
"Ye travel as a lone pilgrim, then?" this Alisoun said.
"I travel as I like. I have been free of my husband for many a year now, and do that which is holier and more healthful for me to do."
The wife of Bath smiled. "As ye should. Going to the shrines is a fine thing--for many healthful reasons. Pardee, but by thy wholesome dress, I took ye first for a stern and proper nun of a cell. So ye a widow? Eek have I done without my husband for a time now, though not through death as yet."
"My husband is not dead."
"Pardee. I judged too quick, it do seem."
"I took a vow of chastity from my husband, and have been parted from him in that way, to better serve the higher purpose given unto me. What of thy husband?"
"I parted for a space for my own leisure, and for the pilgrimage to Canterbury. My husband grants me my way in such things--for that is what vow I have had from him." That Alisoun wore a cheeky smile.
"As I have thought," this creature answered. "Ye are a proud woman and ye are shrewd to thy husband without purpose. Tell me, do ye have no ken for that God chastens against reckless and unruly manners, whoever to and whoever from? Do not be misguided by falsely reading God's purpose for ye."
Thilke Alisoun burned redder in her face and spoke back. "My purpose is not thine to claim as for false. Ye are a strict nun, indeed. Ye sound as ye would preach in a church--and that is unlawful to God, as ye should know!"
"I do know, ye--!" This creature stopped afore she could curse. "It is no villainy to speak thy thoughts of God and thy rightful warnings of sin, to give good example to thy even-Christians. That is all I do, and that is God's commandment to every person, woman or not."
"Defy the church or defy thy husband, it is all the same thing!" that Alisoun said. "Either will be counted as sin by another--a nosy other." She shook her head and glared. "Truly, ye are an hypocrite!"
This creature almost picked up and went forth away in a rage, but then thought better of it. She humbled herself and thanked God for that she had matter to prove her patience and her charity wherethrough she trusted to please our Lord Christ Jesu. She calmed her rage.
"Ye are unfair," she answered the wife. "I have done no crime in no church, and I defy no one's just authority. I resided long twenty year with my husband after my vision, and I learned in time to do as I was bid, until in God's mercy I came to be freed of such earthly duties. All I have been given is granted through my coming to wisdom through the trials that God has sent me. In churches I have been duly silent, just as I have faithfully spoken elsewhere, when others carelessly did wrong. As I have proved myself before bishops, so I shall keep doing so, to show God he has truly tamed my spirit for higher good and unselfish service unto him."
The wife of Bath eyed this creature doubtfully. "Ye believe ye are some holy servant of God."
"I know it."
"But ye are foolish. If ye think ye are summoned to some separate holy purpose, ye should have broke away from thy husband as soon as ye had the vision."
"I should then 'a been wrong to break the debt I owed my husband. I should 'a been wilful and defiant to demand, instead of plead, for my chastity. I could not rightfully deny my husband, and so made up for it with other things until the time came that Christ told me I should be free of my marriage without guilt. That is the lesson you do not understand, ye wife, that my best obedience to Christ lies in that I may suffer anything for his love, for he suffered much more for me."
The wife looked still doubtful and somewhat troubled, but did not speak.
With confidence, then, this creature told her that she should mend her ways and understand that duty and charity were the true purposes for which Christ Jesu had made her. It would be for the good of her soul to be meeker and more tranquil.
Therewith the wife answered that God had made folk for sundry deeds, and that she had already found her purpose well enough on her own. She looked up with fresh defiance, and argued that St. Paul had spoken both fair words and harsh words against women, but that to obey a husband were not woman's only given purpose in this life. It were her thinking that her salvation would come not from her being tamed to patience and meekness, but from having faith in Lord Jesu Christ. Duty and charity, she said, should not mean that one's marriage become a trap of suffering, or that one's harmless wishes should be set aside to defer to a mere earthly authority. Forwardness and outspokenness were no less pleasing to God than humbleness, for they were signs of purposefulness and activity. She thought it were the duty of a person to have full experience of life and to take that which one can win. She said that she'd had five husbands as yet, and had her mastery of each of them, and such a prize she would not ever relinquish. "It were better for a woman, who had any purpose, that she be forceful in getting it and not wait and brood and have her life wasted away, unsatisfied in what she wants most to do."
So Alisoun spoke in this manner for quite a time, and this creature was horrified at her unseemly ideas of self indulgence and luxurious exercise of will. She wondered where the wife had learned such a corruption of the faith. Had not Christ redeemed the world so that men would learn sacrificing humility? Was the selfish boldness of each person his goal? Or the fulfilment of earthly appetites his end?
Yet this wife Alisoun threw back every chastening that this creature gave about her grasping and demanding nature, wholly lacking in any soulful patience. And this creature could not sway the woman's opinion and found her stubborn as herself, like as a sister of her own heart when it had once been consumed in pride. The wife's blindness to the purposeless strife of her unruly and rash living greatly distressed this creature and sorrowed her inmost heart.
And still the wife spoke that she thought this creature's choice was a poor one, and that she would never understand giving up her pride, for anyone's sake.
Thus it was clear that no further good could come of talking. This creature could see the uselessness of it in those glittering black eyes that dared even to challenge God; the wife seemed to see the same in this creature's unfailing composure, despite her offence. Soon they neither could think of anything more to say. And so, unsatisfied, and each with some pity, they rose and parted ways.
Further Reading
If you liked Margery Kempe, you might like reading Lee Shackleford's play which concerns a similarly admirable, and real, heroine.