Basil Rathbone, my favorite Sherlock Holmes
Today is Sir Arthur Conan Doyle‘s, the creator of Sherlock Holmes among many other literary heroes, 147th birthday.
All of you know by now my admiration for Ray Bradbury, due in great part because of the joy and lessons his books taught me when I was a child. I was often alone, and books were my only friends. After coming home from a particularly bad day at school (I was either roughed up by the bullies or made fun of by the popular kids. Yes, that starts even in kindergarten), and I remember thinking quite specifically having reached the refuge of my room, that entire worlds waited for me in those books. There were whole universes that only unfolded when I decided to read them.
I look back now and also can’t deny the Tammy control issues manifesting then as well, but the bottom line was my books saved me. And while Mr. Bradbury was (is) my favorite, my next favorite were the Sherlock Holmes mysteries by Arthur Conan Doyle. I suppose I radiated toward both Bradbury and Doyle in part because they offered short stories which were less intimidating, but also because of their ability to draw upon the imagination with their concepts and descriptions of fantastic worlds or, in the case of Sir Arthur, fantastic situations. While dramatically different in style, both men write about right and wrong, ideas, fantasy, dramatic events in personal lives. They highlight in their work the power and impact of the individual.
Clearly, in me you see the power and influence of a well written story, with a universal message of personal responsibility and duty to bring good things to the world. Without their work, I can safely say I would not have developed the sense of self and grasp of values that helped me escape the bad choices in my past, and allows me to do good work today.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
So, Happy Birthday Sir Arthur and a big thank you from all of us for the work you did, and sharing your wonderful imagination. Not only is your work fabulously entertaining, you saved a few minds along the way.
Related Links:
The Sherlock Holmes Museum
Wikipedia: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
If only I could have been there for you in all your trials and tribulations…
If I could have protected you and wiped away all of your tears…
If I could undo all of it…
I would.
You are becoming ever more important to us. We need you. Be safe and get back on the radio soon!
A good book can truly fill that void that loneliness can create and become that “friend” that we all need. Your post tugged at my heart. If these writers helped shape the person you are today then God Bless them. I’m happy they helped you through tough times. Ditto also to what Twin said. You really are a wonderful woman.
I actually was introduced to Mr. Bradbury sometime in the 1960’s. I was a stupid snot-nosed little Hollywood brat, and my mother seized the opportunity to drag me over and show me this big writer, about whom I knew nothing. So I asked what struck me as a sensible question: “What’s he written?” This faux pas got me locked up in the onion cellar for another year, with an oath that I would not be allowed to appear in public for the rest of my natural life plus twenty years thereafter. Fortunately I was allowed access to books, which I came to love. I did eventually figure out what Ray Bradbury had written, and Arthur Conan Doyle as well; however I’ll confess that the truly subversive literature that forever warped my mind was the juvenile fiction by the great Robert Heinlein. That, and of course the classic Mad Magazines, formed the entire foundation of my nascent life philosophy.
I met Ray at a book signing some years back. Came with a friend, and he just gushed all over Ray. When he was done I walked up, said I nothing for him to sign, and that I just wanted to say hi and ask him, “Have the Marines lifted their restraining order against you?”
My friend just about died.
Ray smiled and shook my hand. He got back at me a few years later. 🙂
BTW, don’t know if he’ll be at the San Diego Comic-Con this year. I’ll look into it.
What Tammy is describing is the foundation of her “conservative” philosophy. The disturbing thing about leftism and modern liberalism is the excessive focus on economics, and also the categorization of everyone by race, gender, and class. These tangible factors are real, but the “conservative” (or classical liberal) places a much higher priority on values. As a child, Tammy learned this fundamental lesson: Our lives can be made miserable by bullies and cruel elitists who lord their power over us, and the economics/race/gender/class angle is pretty much irrelevant to the essential problem. Give a bully money and class and maybe he’ll change from a mean street thug to a mean popular kid. Good is good and evil is evil and economics/race/gender/class are distracting details.
Although I enjoyed the article about Sir Arthur, I especially appreciated Tammy sharing something about her self. I can relate. It seems that intelligent people usually face a childhood where they were not accepted and often bullied. It is truly a gift that we can return to those special places we found as children and comfort ourselves as adults.
Artist, this comment is probably more indicative of my own warped perspective than a valid perception of reality, but it seems to me that “happy childhood” is a hopeless oxymoron. How could childhood possibly be happy, with all the rotten stuff out there? And yet, some people seem to chug happily along, and not necessarily because they’re morons. I think, among other factors, there’s a basic genetic predisposition at work. I’ve read of studies — and this makes intuitive sense to me — that our individual happiness is largely determined by genes. If you get happy genes, you’re happy. Otherwise you’re a sourpuss. I’m not trying to strike a sour note by saying this; actually I consider it good news. The thing that drives us crazy is the unrealistic expectation of happiness. If we ask for a little less, we’ll be satisfied a little more. That’s my attitude at this stage in the game, anyway. Maybe next week I’ll feel differently. None of this is what I wanted to say. How did I get diverted? I have no idea! What I was really trying to get at was the basic observation that, happy or not, we’re going to inevitably encounter plenty of bad stuff and bad people during childhood. This is going to influence us. It’s all too common that we grow up and, intentionally or not, come to resemble the lousy stuff that influenced us during our formative years. It’s very hard to break the mold, because it may be the only model we actually believe to be real, and the bad influences may permeate and control our environment. But sometimes we resolve to become the opposite of the things that hurt us, and sometimes we stick by that resolution no matter what the price. This is a prime reason I admire Tammy: When she saw the truth, she knew she couldn’t ignore it. Her journey wasn’t instant, and of course it isn’t over for her yet, nor is it over for any of us. But, whatever details we may quibble over, Tammy stands out as one of the courageous Good Guys (or should I say “Gals”?). As a long-time fan, I can tell you that, in the ancient days of the more “liberal” (Clinton-voting) Tammy, even then she had quite a “conservative” following. It was a crowd that respected her because they sensed a fundamental common goal, even while disagreeing on major issues of the day. I really wasn’t surprised that Tammy “turned conservative”; she really isn’t a fundamentally different person from what she used to be. Anyway, I just wanted to add that comment, and echo your sentiment about appreciating Tammy’s personal anecdotes.
Check out this introduction article on Arthur Conan Doyle:
http://www.articleworld.org/Arthur_Conan_Doyle
Content:
1.Sherlock Holmes
2.The Author’s deductive skills
3.A political activist
4.The world’s loss
5.Conan Doyle in the 21st Century