The Narrative of John Smith

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Right, this one is most definitely going to be a long one, mostly due to my emotional attachment to the narrative. Apologies in advance for errors, it is 1 in the morning. The doctor begins as Dr. Turner, but midway through chapter two changes to Dr. Pontiphobus, in chapter four becomes Dr. Julep, and in chapter six loses his name to simply “doctor”. The morphing of his name may suggest his various purposes throughout. Noted by the editors, “In the name ‘Dr. Pontiphobus’ Conan Doyle may have been suggesting ‘aversion to Pontiffs,’ or Popes—i.e., the Roman Catholic Church, which he had renounced without having embraced Dr. Pontiphobus's Anglican Church instead.’ [4] Julep is supposedly a Middle English slang term for a syrupy substance used to sweeten medicine. [5] This is his name during a debate between Roman Catholicism, of which Smith becomes an advocate, and Anglican Protestantism, defended by the doctor. In other scenarios, the doctor humors Smith in short-lived discussions oscillating between religion and disease, one example being medical research on splenic fever in cattle. He functions primarily as a friend to John Smith. Religion is a topic of debate both between Smith and the doctor and Smith and the curate. Though the doctor tends to disagree with some of Smith's assertions regarding Anglican Protestantism, he nevertheless listens and interacts respectfully. The curate, on the other hand, readily condemns Smith, leaving offended by his opinions. The disjunction between the characters reflects and describes Smith's complications with organized religion.

In this novel, Doyle strongly adheres to the axiom “write what you know”. In what seems more akin to a biographical piece, he gives us his thoughts (albeit via the fictional character John Smith) on a wide range of subjects - be it medical, art, literature, religion or war. Originally written and submitted for publication in 1883, the manuscript was lost in the mail and never recovered. Conan Doyle reminisced ten years after the fact: "Alas for the dreadful thing that happened! The publishers never received it, the Post Office sent countless blue forms to say that they knew nothing about it, and from that day to this no word has ever been heard of it." [8] John Smith is a fifty-year-old man confined to bed rest for one week on account of rheumatic gout. The novel, being told from his point of view, consists of conscious thought as well as dialogue on contemporary topics with external figures. He characterizes himself by his activeness (a continuous reminder of his physical state) and identity as an art enthusiast and writer.

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Smith defines women by their value to a man and in marriage through Miss Oliver. “So she is going off to fulfil the great female destiny—to become the supplement of a man.” He writes that unmarried women are “still full of vague unrests, of dim ill-defined dissatisfaction, of a tendency to narrow ways and petty thoughts.” [11] Though this one of the many sexist opinions of Smith, Conan Doyle most likely did not reflect these sentiments. After his father collapsed into alcoholism, his older sister's wages allowed the furthering of his education; he also maintained a strong relationship with his highly educated mother through letters. Editors note, “…in later years [he] became president and spokesman of the Divorce Law Reform Union, to make divorces easier and less disadvantageous for women to obtain.” [12] Instead of completing a novel that he knew wasn’t working, Doyle instead chose to let the parts he liked slowly filter into his subsequent stories (something that Douglas Adams would come to do with his own unpublished material, nigh on a century later), with the novel ‘The Stark Munro Letters’ and the short stories that made up ‘Round The Red Lamp’ benefiting most. In 2012, Colin Fleming wrote in the Times Literary Supplement, “There are no henchmen afoot, nor lost worlds to escape from, but what one will find, on occasion, is that balance between place and voice that marks Conan Doyle’s later, and better, fiction… The drama of this novel is of a quiet kind.” [20] The Narrative shows an author's rough work—a slur of ideas, later organized into cohesive stories with compelling plotlines. I started this book after reading that it was an unpublished manuscript of the infamous Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, but I stayed because I also learned that he wrote/submitted this manuscript when he was 23 years old (a significant age to me at this time). I liked how they kept the words/sentences he crossed out in the original.

The choice of inanimate companions is to my mind only second to that of animate ones. Show me a man's chambers and I'll give you a pretty fair estimate of his intellect and capacity. What the eye rests upon, the mind will dwell upon. It is easier to think daintily in a parlor than in an attic." - The Narrative of John Smith, p. 16 I was equally impressed by the Notes and Introduction by Jon Lellenburg, Daniel Stashower, and Rachel Foss. They have done a good job of including interesting and little known (to me) snippets of Conan Doyle's influences, experiences, and relationships. Although he is now referred to as "Conan Doyle", the origin of this compound surname (if that is how he meant it to be understood) is uncertain. His baptism record in the registry of St Mary's Cathedral in Edinburgh gives 'Arthur Ignatius Conan' as his Christian name, and simply 'Doyle' as his surname. It also names Michael Conan as his godfather.Conan Doyle fathered five children. Two with his first wife—Mary Louise (28 January 1889 – 12 June 1976), and Arthur Alleyne Kingsley, known as Kingsley (15 November 1892 – 28 October 1918). With his second wife he had three children—Denis Percy Stewart (17 March 1909 – 9 March 1955), second husband in 1936 of Georgian Princess Nina Mdivani (circa 1910 – 19 February 1987; former sister-in-law of Barbara Hutton); Adrian Malcolm (19 November 1910–3 June 1970) and Jean Lena Annette (21 December 1912–18 November 1997). Conan Doyle's house, Undershaw, located in Hindhead, south of London, where he had lived for a decade, had been a hotel and restaurant between 1924 and 2004. It now stands empty while conservationists and Conan Doyle fans fight to preserve it. At the age of nine Conan Doyle was sent to the Roman Catholic Jesuit preparatory school, Hodder Place, Stonyhurst. He then went on to Stonyhurst College, leaving in 1875.

Tuttavia ammetto che la lettura alla lunga è stata noiosetta. Errore mio, forse: libro più adatto a essere letto “un capitolo ogni tanto” piuttosto che “tutto di fila”, e capisco anche perché Doyle a un certo punto preferisse non vederlo mai pubblicato: scritto da un giovane pieno di ardore e di entusiasmo, ha tutti i difetti di un'opera scritta da un giovane pieno di ardore e di entusiasmo. È normale che un autore metta le sue idee in un libro, ma qui sono strombazzate in modo fine a se stesso, senza una trama in cui inserirle, una storia a cui accompagnarle.A recurring theme in The Narrative is the idealization of science and the forces working in opposition. Smith praises the doctor for his altruistic work and discusses emerging theories for the betterment of mankind. He hopes for the near eradication of disease and criminal activity through invention and human moralistic evolution over time. This hope, from the perspective of a plagued man, becomes a continual source of hope.

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Si un hombre criticón no puede encontrarles falta —replico—, no tienen mucho que temer de un Creador misericordioso." Personalmente, me gusta muchísimo cómo narra Conan Doyle, disfruto infinitamente de cómo estructura sus diálogos y la caracterización de sus personajes. Me hace reír y me hace cuestionar temas sobre los cuales, hasta el momento, pensaba que ya tenía una opinión fija. En ocasiones se volvió un desafío leer tanto material desorganizado y sin sentido pero la experiencia general fue genial, como siempre en manos de este autorazo. So, basically, as a Doyle story in itself, yes...it is pretty terrible. There are hints at characters to come but it is obvious he wasn't comfortable with this kind of writing just yet. As an essay type of piece, taken instead as an insight into Doyle's thoughts on the world of religion, medicine, war, art etc. it is brilliant way to get inside the head of the man that would eventually create such renowned characters and prove to be one of the most important and fascinating literary people in English history.