A Sherlock Holmes story was never published in the year 1895, but Arthur Conan Doyle did publish The Stark Munro Letters, a wondrously gay account of a genius from the viewpoint of a medical student (theorised to be autobiographical). He early on remarks on the genius’s heroism for jumping 3 stories to save a friend….
He lives with a little old lady who takes care of him though is sometimes stern and they live in a humble home “over a grocer’s shop.”
“There
were, I remember, only two chairs in the sitting-room;“
“he had been rash
in the use of powerful drugs“
and it goes on
This is it. This is it. Sherlock Holmes was a real man but by another name, and Arthur Conan Doyle was in love with him.
this is the ‘ongoing theme’.. the elephant in the room. Watson and Holmes literally confirmed.
The med student in love with the genius.
Letters: “When I woke next morning he was in
my room, and a funny-looking object he was. His
dressing-gown lay on a chair, and he was putting up
a fifty-six pound dumb-bell, without a rag to cover
him.“
“Perhaps there is another Cullingworth
behind the scenes a softer, tenderer
man, who can love and invite love.”
“I am looking forward
immensely to seeing him again“
“And yet you know
the feeling that you get when a man smiles with his
lips and not with his eyes“
ACD on his letters: “some excisions are necessary; “
What would the Great Detective have Dr. Watson and the Baker Street Irregulars do with this case? On the eve of the 156th anniversary of the birth of Sherlock Holmes creator Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the author’s often litigious estate this week hit director Bill Condon and co-distributors Miramax and Roadside Attractions in federal court with a copyright and trademark infringement complaint over the upcoming Mr. Holmes. The estate wants a plethora of unspecified damages from the director and companies plus Penguin Random House and author Mitch Cullen, and it also wants the Ian McKellen-starring movie stopped in its tracks with an injunction before it comes out in the UK next month and on this side of the pond July 17.
“This action for copyright infringement arises from unauthorized copying by Mitch Cullin—in his novel A Slight Trick of the Mind and in the motion picture Mr. Holmes based on the novel—of original Sherlock Holmes stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Conan Doyle),” says the jury trial seeking May 21 filing in District court in New Mexico (read it here). “The remaining defendants have participated in copying these protected stories in the infringing movie, have published and distributed the infringing novel and motion picture, and have titled the movie so as to confuse consumers and unfairly trade on CDEL’s goodwill.”
Like the movie it is trying to stop from reaching the big screen, the lawsuit centers on the sunset years of Sherlock Holmes. Citing later stories that are still under copyright, the estate claims that plotlines, overcoming a dislike of dogs and other elements like a retired Holmes possessing “a personal warmth and the capacity to express love for the first time” were used in Cullen’s 2005 book and hence the Condon-helmed film the director and Jeffrey Hatcher adapted. That’s the hook on which they hope to hang the hat of their lawsuit. “Conan Doyle also changed Holmes in later life by giving him a gentleness and kindness Holmes did not possess in public domain stories, the complaint says. “The copyrighted mature Holmes is quite unlike the more clinical and purely rational Holmes described in public domain stories.”
(Read the full article at the link above! Happy Birthday ACD! *sigh*)
I am forever convinced that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle originally wanted to write Holmes and Watson having a relationship, but changed his mind when The Picture of Dorian Gray was used to convict Oscar Wilde of being homosexual. That’s why he hated writing them, that’s why he didn’t want to be remembered for them, he considered the stories a failure.
