Friday, May 22, 2009

my dear watson!


"It is as impossible
for man to demonstrate
the existence of God
as it would be for
even Sherlock Holmes
to demonstrate the existence
of Arthur Conan Doyle.”
- F. Buechner


Speaking of which, today is Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's birthday. I loved reading Sherlock Holmes stories when I was a kid. I just couldn't get enough of them.

I was surprised to learn that Sir Arthur disliked his famous sleuth & killed him off in an attempt to write about more meaningful subjects but had to bring Sherlock back from the dead to appease his reader's demands! In all he wrote 56 short stories and 4 novels about the amazingingly observant Sherlock Holmes. And that strikes me as odd - to dislike a character one has invented to the point of death....

Extra credit: Do any of you know the name of Sherlock's nemesis in this famous painting?

3 comments:

Margaret said...

Professor James Moriarty.

I also loved those books, and still own a complete set.

yours,
Margaret

Ruth Hull Chatlien said...

I love the Buechner quotation. And I love Sherlock Holmes.

Diane M. Roth said...

oh, I was going to say Moriarty. great quotation, by the way.