1 - The Emergence of a Popular Writer (1879–1900)

Summary

Arthur Conan Doyle began writing for publication while still a medical student, publishing his first story, “The Mystery of Sasassa Valley,” in 1879. For a decade he alternated between writing adventure stories, professional articles and notes, and articles on photography, one of his many hobbies. Although he dreamed of having his work appear in highly regarded journals such as the Cornhill Magazine or Longmans, he often had to settle for less prestigious publications in order to place his work and earn the money he needed to supplement his income as a young physician. His stories made it into several popular (if less distinguished) British magazines for which short fiction was a staple alongside serialized novels. Given the nature of his tales and lax copyright laws (Stashower 1999, 103), stories like “The Parson of the Gulch” and “Bones” were pirated in American newspapers and magazines (see, among others, Boston Herald, June 14, 1885; Evansville Journal, March 3, 1886; Benton [MT] River Press, April 14, 1886). Coverage in the press increased in later years when the immense acclaim accorded to the Holmes stories skyrocketed Doyle to the top of the list of popular writers. During the 1880s, Doyle published more than thirty stories and a dozen professional articles (cf. Ashley 2016, 22). While readers may have enjoyed his fiction, almost nothing in the way of critical commentary appeared for some time.

The Appearance of Sherlock Holmes

Early in his career Doyle wrote novels as well as short stories but had trouble finding a publisher for his longer fiction. His first published novel, A Study in Scarlet, featuring the initial appearance of Holmes, was the lead story in Beeton's Christmas Annual for 1887. Not being a stand-alone book, it received little attention from critics, although Ward & Lock published the novella as a book in 1888. Some of Doyle's biographers claim that the story went unnoticed, while others remark that it was universally applauded. The truth lies somewhere between these extremes. The Hampshire Telegraph, the local paper in Portsmouth (where Doyle was living), published a fulsome notice immediately after Beeton's Christmas Annual hit the newsstands (December 3, 1887). In the next three years the paper published notices of Micah Clarke (November 15, 1889), The Captain of the Polestar (March 15, 1890), and The Firm of Girdlestone (April 26, 1890), celebrating the accomplishments of their local literary celebrity.