The Cerebral Tentacle No. 1861

The Cerebral Tentacle No. 1861 (june 1997, p. 1)

The Cerebral Tentacle No. 1861 is the third issue of the magazine of The Arthur Conan Doyle Study Group, published in june 1997 by Mark Chadderton.

The cover is illustrated with the article from The Strand Magazine (march 1899) entitled Pigs of Celebrities including a drawing by Arthur Conan Doyle.

The Cerebral Tentacle No. 1861

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Introduction

Welcome to the third 'Cerebral Tentacle' newsletter, which we hope will be to your liking. Indeed, most of the feedback that we have had from members concerning what we have so far produced has been on the positive side. We still remain a small group in terms of membership numbers, and this makes it vitally important that you all try to contribute something of Doylean interest, this could be anything from an article or book that you have seen, or purchased (old or new), to perhaps just a few thoughts you may like to share on ACD's writing and/or life. Thank you to those who have sent in items for future issues. Please remember that this is YOUR newsletter so it is YOUR news and views that will enable this STUDY GROUP to evolve.

Newsletter Covers

Once again, we would ask that any members who have any rarely seen nieces on ACD or unusual items, suitable for reproducing as a 'Cerebral Tentacle' cover, should submit a photocopy to either of the addresses given at the end of this newsletter. The cover for this issue is from a 5 page article (pp 338-342) in "The Strand Magazine" (Issue #99 — March 1899), entitled 'Pigs of Celebrities'. It was written by Gertrude Bacon (!!!), and the article is basically a discussion on collecting autographs, but with the twist that each contributor had to draw, with their eyes shut 'that familiar animal the pig'. Each drawing was assessed for characteristics of the drawer, and inevitably ACD's sketch gets the S.H. treatment. ACD's pig is arguably the least pig-like of the 13 reproduced, although it does perhaps resemble a certain Hound that he would be writing about within a couple of years... by the way, the 'Sir Henry' referred to immediately above ACD's hound-like pig is Sir Henry Irving, who earlier in the 1890's had scored a great success with his portrayal of Corporal Gregory Brewster in ACD's adaptation of STRAG ; "Waterloo — A Drama in One Act". This particular issue of "The Strand Magazine" is of further interest to the Doylean, in that it also contains the first appearance of BEE24, as well as 2 pieces by ACD's friend and neighbour of this period : Grant Allen. Indeed, the section that immediately precedes 'The Pigs of Celebrities' is Allen's opening chapter of his novel "Hilda Wade" — a novel that ACD wrote the final 2 Chapters for, due to Allen's untimely death through ill health. If any member would like a photocopy of the full S pages of the 'Pigs of Celebrities' article, please write in to the usual address (no payment will be required).

"The Conan Doyle Stories"

Starting with our next issue, we are going to focus our group studies on the first chronological story from our basic study book, "The Conan Doyle Stories". Members are requested to send in any article, or perhaps just a few lines of thought, upon SQUAR for inclusion in that issue.

Malcolm Payne

As you all know from the FMHC Memo Issue 1 (May 1997), the Doylean world is mourning the recent loss of Malcolm. Needless to say, he was one of the first to join our particular Branch Office, and he was also the first to send in an article for this newsletter. Indeed, it was sent in to us within a couple of days of his receiving the first 'Cerebral Tentacle' and was typical of his infectious enthusiasm for all things Doylean. Although I only met him in person a couple of times, I shall treasure the memory of his endless encouragement to me in my studies on ACD, via his many letters received over the years of our correspondence. (MGC)

As a special 'Cerebral Tentacle' tribute to our departed fellow member, we shall print the above mentioned article by Malcolm, despite the fact that we had intended on printing ideas and articles on 'The Conan Doyle Stories' as they chronologically appeared. It should be noted that this article could be read as a companion piece to an earlier article on PLAYI that Malcolm wrote for 'The Parish Magazine — the newsletter of the Arthur Conan Doyle Society' (Issue 6: March 1992, p29-30).

Playing with Fire — A Parallax

We view from one position, if we remove from this position we can have an entirely new view, in which the object of our vision can appear to have changed. If our view is to be spiritualism, and we find we cannot take this view without feeling it to be false, what would happen if we changed our position?

Who would you feel wrote the following — "... He had, like many very hard and practical men of business, a mystic side to his nature, which had led him to the examination, and eventually to the acceptance, of those elusive phenomena which are grouped together with much that is foolish, and much that is fraudulent, under the common heading of spiritualism. His researches, which had begun with an open mind, ended unhappily in dogma, and he became as positive and fanatical as any other bigot. He represented in our little group the body of men who have turned these singular phenomena into a new religion..." Could these perhaps be the words of some cynical writer such as G. B. Shaw?

Later in the same text, we read — "... I was not the devotee. I was not the scientific critic. Perhaps the best that I can claim for myself is that I was the dilettante man about town, anxious to be in the swim of every fresh movement, thankful for any new sensation which would take me out of myself and open up fresh possibilities of existence. I am not an enthusiast myself, but I like the company of those who are. Moir's talk, which made me feel as if we had a private pass-key through the door of death, filled me with a vague contentment. The soothing atmosphere of the séance with the darkened lights was delightful to me. In a word, the thing amused me, and so I was there..."

Surprisingly, these are the words of a spiritualist, some 16 years before a public declaration of his belief. They are, of course — extracts from 'Playing with Fire' by ACD (PLAYI 767-768 & 769 respectively).

If we are to look for some essence of an author in his writing, what better than in some theme about which we know the author was most passionate? Publicly, from 1916, when ACD published his feelings as a convinced spiritualist, much of his time was given to lecturing, and writing on the various aspects of the philosophy. Was this story, published in March 1900, a revelation of how he then felt about a belief in spiritualism? Was he not, at that time, fully convinced?

Being able, as he had demonstrated in the great bulk of previous writing, to put himself into the carcase of a character, he could have that character propound theories, etc., in which ACD, as creator of that character, had no belief. It is part of the art of a good writer to be able to so do. However, the writer views through his own experience, for what colours his characters is, in however minute a distillation, part of that writer's id. With this in mind, we search for some vital essence, in the writings, of the being who adjusted the symbols which give his readers a vision of his view. In short, in all that is written there is a trace of the writer, however much that writer feels he has kept himself out of his art.

We find traces of ACD's belief in spiritualism (which beqan as a conscious search for some true philosophy in the early 1880's), in PLAYI. Describing the medium, he writes — "... Our experience had shown us that to work on these subjects without a medium was as futile as for an astronomer to make observations without a telescope. On the other hand, the introduction of a paid medium was hateful to us..." (768). Truly — ACD's own view on the necessity of a good medium for any spiritualistic séance.

But what of the actual story? It is a horror story in which ACD subtly introduces the idea of a wrongly directed interest in a spiritualism ending, after some very frightening experiences in the séance room, in a most horrific, and dark presence being released to ravage among the sitters.

In the eyes of the psychologist, ACD's early childhood experiences, and his ideas about his father, could control much of the writer's subconscious. In 'The Strange and curious case of Charles Altamont Doyle', which was Michael Baker's introduction to "The Doyle Diary" (Paddington Press 1978 p V-XXIX), his research shows us ACD's father in the essential raw essence of the man, as found in his strange art. In PLAYI, ACD introduces the reader to an artist, to whom he gives the name Harvey Deacon. "... I am not an expert in art, and I have never professed to understand what Harvey Deacon meant by his pictures; but I could see in this instance that it was all very clever and imaginative, fairies and animals and allegorical figures of all sorts..." (769). This could equally be a good description of the art of ACD's father, as seen in one of his personal journals, published, with Baker's comments and research, as "The Doyle Diary".

What is one to make of such use of his father's character? Charles Altamont Doyle had died over 7 years before the publication of PLAYI, on 10/10/1893. By this time, so it is believed, ACD had come to a better idea of his father than he had held previously. He is said to have

been able to 'see' what sort of difficulties Charles Doyle faced in his life. He was in fact a devote Irish Catholic, suffering from short-sight, epilepsy, bad headaches, dark depression and at times, alcoholism. Up to being confined to Sunnyside insane asylum in 1889, he had been resident in a convalescent home from the early 1880's. Looking at his case today one feels he would now have been diagnosed as manic depressive, and with the appropriate medicines could have been able to lead a near-normal life, with no need of incarceration.

Was ACD, however much his view of his parent had changed in later life, still feeling a sense of quilt for the way in which he had expressed, in his inner-most thoughts, a bad image of his father? One could put forward this idea with some backing, for his revelation of the character of the artist Harvey Deacon, while being quite descriptive, retains a view of wanting to understand the "... Mythical monsters, imaginary creatures, heraldic emblems — a sort of weird, bizarre procession of them..." (770), in the best way possible. He shows the artist as misunderstood by most; a way in which, by 1900, he had come to view his own departed father. At his death Charles Doyle was but 61. Even in his day one could have held expectations of a longer life. One senses ACD's frustration in his life without his father, a father with which he was out of touch throughout most of his life.

As to ACD himself, "The Land of Mist", a novel in which Conan Doyle introduces Professor Challenger, of "The Lost World" fame, to spiritualism; it does not appear to carry so great an insight into ACD, the man, as does this earlier tale involving his beliefs. Conversations with the 'bad character' in PLAYI ; Monsieur Paul Le Duc, are intriguingly reminiscent of a later ACD book on an aspect of spiritualism : "Pheneas Speaks". Indeed, we see Conan Doyle everywhere, but which one is him?

Malcolm Payne Dec 1996.

"The Conan Doyle Stories" Encyclopedia (Update)

Members will be interested to learn that the initial basic listing and cataloguing is now well under way in this long-term ambitious project being undertaken by Brian Pugh. Listings so far include a who's who (fictional and actual), countries, towns, cities, streets, roads, objects and problematic words. To illustrate the work under way, Brian has kindly submitted some initial observations in the below article which also serves as a progress report.

The Names the Same

During my re-reading of the 76 short stories, in compiling my encyclopedia, I have noticed that surnames are appearing that are also used in the Holmes stories. The name Johnson is mentioned 4 times so far in the CDS, as well as 4 times in 'Holmes', Armitage 4 (3), Hudson 2 (4) and Wilson 3 (10). There are, of course, many more that appear singularly in both sets of stories. As I have only re-read as far as the 33rd story at present, it will be interesting to see how many other surnames duplicate those in the Holmes cycle, or multiply those already gathered for this "Conan Doyle Stories" encyclopedia.

Brian W. Pugh 08/04/97.

The ACDSG 'Cumulative Collection'

This collection : "SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE'S 'FOREWORDS', 'INTRODUCTIONS' AND 'PREFACES' TO OTHER PEOPLE'S WORKS" is now available to purchase. So far the collection consists of 10 pieces by ACD, presented in the uniform loose-leaf format of this collection. The package also comes with care protective covers, of which the front cover has a lovely B&W photograph of ACD mounted to it, an introduction, a foreword written by Malcolm Payne as well as a 'cumulative collection contents checklist' — whereby, you can see exactly which pieces are needed to add to the collection. Because of a miscalculation on the production and postage of this collection, the price quoted in the last issue, was rather low... however, because we feel that every member should have this collection of rare Doylean material — we are offering the 10 piece 'starter pack' at the price quoted in the last issue : £2 in stamps or, for overseas members : 4 US dollar bills. The price is inclusive of postage and packaging. Please note that the revised (non-profit making) price for this collection, from the next issue will be £4, or 8 US dollar bills... so you have until September 1997 to order what is now an extremely good bargain from the ACDSG.

The Arthur Conan Doyle Altruistic Book Club

To benefit from the ACD ABC, please submit a list of up to 10 Doylean books that you require for your own collection and then you will be informed how the scheme will help you and other members of the Study Group.

Study Group Meetings

There are no immediate plans far the ACDSG to meet at the present time, however we would encourage every member to perhaps send in ideas on any possible Doylean location that they would like to visit, so that we can plan for future meetings.

New Books and Other News

All the main Doylean news, and new book releases can be found in the FMHC Memo #1, (May 1997). We will be having a full report on the plaque unveiling at Undershaw in Hindhead on the 6th of July in our next issue. There are, however, two recent dooks of Doylean interest to tell you of :

Canongate Classics Sampler.

Recently seen in Waterstones Bookstore, has been the above named free book, which celebrates 10 years' of Canongate Books Ltd. One of the 26 separate extracts from their published list of books is ACD : 'The Medal' — from THE EXPLOITS OF BRIGADIER GERARD, on pp 42-48. Any overseas member of the ACDSG who would like a copy, please write in to the usual address, and we will be pleased to forward you a copy, with our compliments.

Can Jane Eyre be Happy?

This is the new title of the follow up book to John Sutherland's 1996 book "Is Heathcliff a Murderer?", which amongst its various short essays concerning 'puzzles in 19th-century fiction' included 'Mysteries of the Speckled Band'. This time around, Sutherland has turned his attention on "The Hound of the Baskervilles", with another short essay entitled 'Wanted: deaf and dumb dog feeder'. "Can Jane Eyre Be Happy? — more puzzles in classic fiction" is published by the Oxford University Press (ISBN 0-19-283309-X) and is priced at £4.99.

ACDSG Competition Number One

It has been decided that we should run intermittent competitions in this newsletter, whereby members get the chance to obtain as a prize, some of the scarcer books by ACD, or about him. Anyone who would like to donate any spare book for a prize to a future competition, please feel free to do so. Our first competition carries the prize of the following book : "One-Act Plays of To-day second series", which includes the ACD play "Waterloo", which was first produced at the Prince's Theatre, Bristol, on September 21, 1894. To be in with a chance of winning this book, send in your answer to the following easy question, to the usual address, by the end of August 1997. A draw will be made in the likely event of there being more than 2 correct entries.

Q: Who played the role of Corporal Gregory Brewster in ACD's play "Waterloo" on 21/19/1894?

ACDSG Competition Number Two

With the same rules and entry date as the above, please answer the following question to be in with a chance of winning Julian Symons' 1979 biography — "Conan Doyle Portrait of an Artist" (1st Edition with d/w — mint).

Q: Holmesian scholars have long puzzled over whether there were more than one 'Adventure of the Second Stain', but why would the Doylean scholar puzzle over the three apple pies?

Conclusion =

We would like to thank every member of the ACDSG for their continued support and encouragement — hopefully there is something of interest for you all in this issue. Please let us know your thoughts and ideas, for as we have stressed before this is YOUR newsletter, and we very much rely upon your Doylean input — even if its just a few lines of thought, send them in... especially anything you have to say about SQUAR, for our first look at one of "The Conan Doyle Stories" in the next "Cerebral Tentacle".

Yours Conanically,

Mark Chadderton — Editor.

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