Evening with Conan Doyle (report 11 november 1894)
Evening with Conan Doyle is an article published in The Philadelphia Inquirer on 11 november 1894.
Report of the lecture "Readings and Reminiscences" given by Arthur Conan Doyle on 30 october 1894 at the Musical Fund Hall (Philadelphia, USA).
Report
EVENING WITH CONAN DOYLE.
The English Novelist in Delightful Readings and Reminiscences.
The first of a series of lectures under the auspices of the Musical Fund Society was given in their hall last night by Dr. A. Conan Doyle, the English novelist, who was introduced to the audience in a graceful way by Dr. A. C. Lambdin. Dr. Doyle is tall, muscular, clean-shaven, except for a mustache, bright-eyed and ruddy-cheeked, and the very personification of a well-groomed and well-bred English country gentleman. There was no mud on his boots and no cigar ash on his trousers, so that Sherlock Holmes, if he had been alive and present, could not have told how he (the lecturer) reached the hall and whether or not he smoked on the way. But any intelligent observer could have made the deduction that he was imaginative and artistic, with a genial personality, a keen sense of humor, strong perception and the faculty of construction. His lecture was of a delightfully reminiscent character, dealing with his boyhood, his early love of literature, which he inherited from his mother ; his first attempts at authorship, his ten years' writing of short stories, which were published anonymously, and then his acquaintance with Mr. Sherlock Holmes, of Baker street. It was at this stage of the lecture that the speaker was at his best, and there really seemed to be a tone of sadness in his voice as he told of the untimely end of that much talked of character. In discussing his theory of what a detective story should be, he paid a high tribute to Poe, who, to his mind, really invented the detective in literature. He read portions of two of the Sherlock Holmes stories in order to illustrate the philosophy of trifles and to show how great results may often be obtained by close attention to superficial things.
Continuing the story of his life he told how the historical romance next attracted him. He did not believe that the individual experiences of men who lived two or three centuries ago could interest people to-day, and thought that it was a matter of indifference to them whether Ivanhoe married Rebecca or Rowena, or either of them. Therefore, the historical romancer should paint on a wide canvas, he should know something more than to be able to picture the love affairs of people and should be acquainted with the history of the times of which he writes, be broad-hearted and capable of seeing good in everything. It was in this spirit that he wrote "Micah Clark" and The White Company," while the writing of "The Refugees" was prompted by his love of our country and of the lurid day-break that ushered in for us such a glorious morning. Francis Parkman he extolled as our greatest historian, can be impressed upon his hearers that the common speech of England and America should be a bond of union between them, instead of being made the medium of libel and reproach. After reading a very dramatic sketch of the Franco-Prussian war entitled, "The Lord of Chateau Noir," and picturing in a few eloquent touches the toils and the joys of authorship, the lecturer bowed his farewell.
