Jacquelynn Bost Morris on poisons; the crowd was bigger than it looks |
Holmes, Doyle & Friends: Two, held last weekend (March 20-21) in Dayton, Ohio, proved that the high quality of last year's seminar was no fluke.
Sponsored by the Agra Treasurers of Dayton, this year's program - successor to the long-running Holmes/Doyle Symposium in Dayton hat was not sponsored by the Treasurers, offered a parade of engaging and erudite speakers whose primary purpose seemed to be having fun with the Canon.
Philip K. Jones analyzed why the Sherlock Holmes stories are uniquely popular. Jacquelynn Bost Morris, ASH, BSI, looked at the clues and symptoms which indicate that Anna Coram didn't really die as assumed in "The Adventure of the Golden Pince-Nez." Bill Cochran, BSI, theorized that the real groom at the wedding of Irene Adler was Holmes himself!
David Miller discussed snakes in the Canon in a way designed to evoked titters. Vincent Wright energetically surveyed the hangmen of the Victorian period, lingering over several ghoulishly humorous incidents of botched executions. Lorraine Reibert offered her opinion that the blue carbuncle was actually a Kashmir sapphire. Bill Mason, BSI, closed out the seminar with a fascinating look at Latin Americans in the Canon, and how Arthur Conan Doyle's later work was likely influenced by a Frenchman's book about Central America.
Two social events, an opening-night reception and a banquet on Saturday, served as bookends for the more formal program.
Mark your calendar for Holmes, Doyle & Friends: Three in 2016. Meanwhile, it's not too late to sign up for perhaps the premier annual Holmes symposium - A Scintillation of Scions VIII, coming in June in Maryland. Check it out!
Dayton events have always been fun. Thanks for the report.
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