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The Doings of Raffles Haw
Feb. 4th, 2019 10:43 pmThe Doings of Raffles Haw (1891) caught my eye because of the likeness of the name with E. W. Hornung’s A. J. Raffles (1899) who made his appearance a few years later. This is a short novel ACD wrote while studying ophthalmology in Vienna, and apparently the Holmes vibe was strong in him at the time because the protagonist, Raffles Haw:
- is a tall, lean man, a pipe smoker;
- “He had a pale, thin face, a short straggling beard, and a very sharp and curving nose, with decision and character in the straight thick eyebrows”, with “keen grey eyes”—apart from the beard everything else checks out;
- is a chemist which later is an essential point of the novel;
- his room is that of a “busy and untidy man”;
- is a recluse: “Not that I mind isolation: I am used to it.”;
- often has walks at night: “I am somewhat of a night prowler myself, and when I treat myself to a ramble under the stars I like to slip in and out without ceremony.”;
- is prone to “fits of depression”;
- has some Holmesian speech patterns: “But I am afraid that I bore you rather with all these petty contrivances”-“On the contrary, I am filled with interest and wonder” (cf. “But I weary you with my hobby.”-“Not at all,” I answered, earnestly. “It is of the greatest interest to me” STUD);
- has a propensity of looking distracted when actually in deep concentration: “sat with a vacant face, as though he were not listening to me”.
Being a billionaire and a philanthropist, Raffles Haw is often perceptive of people’s motives: “swift was the perception of the recluse, and how unerringly he could detect a flaw in a narrative, or lay his finger upon the one point which rang false”. But ultimately he fails to see the true nature of a family he befriends. As one of the reviewers on goodreads put it, his help makes surrounding people “lazy and entitled rather than grateful”. It is an interesting parallel with Doyle himself who soon after that became quite rich thanks to Holmes stories. Did his family, who had had to struggle, become lazy and entitled when ACD helped them out? He spared his sisters from the necessity of working abroad as governesses (which might have been unsafe for a woman alone in a different country, entirely at the mercy of her employers. Perhaps such Holmes stories as “The Solitary Cyclist” or “The Copper Beeches” were in some ways inspired by ACD’s sisters’ work). Thanks to financial security ACD was able to provide the best treatment for his first wife, who had contracted tuberculosis, and thus extend her lifespan for much longer than doctors had predicted. ACD provided stability and prosperity for his mother who had raised him and his siblings practically alone. However, ACD’s sons by his second marriage did lead a playboy lifestyle, so there’s no definite answer.
Another curious parallel with the Doyle family is a character of old Mr. McIntyre, a drinking father who gradually descends into madness and later is locked away in an asylum. Rather similar to ACD’s own father, Charles Altamont Doyle.
One more point I’d like to mention is that burglars in this novel, as it often happens in ACD’s works, have their criminality written on their ruffianly faces. A far cry from Raffles, the gentleman thief.
- is a tall, lean man, a pipe smoker;
- “He had a pale, thin face, a short straggling beard, and a very sharp and curving nose, with decision and character in the straight thick eyebrows”, with “keen grey eyes”—apart from the beard everything else checks out;
- is a chemist which later is an essential point of the novel;
- his room is that of a “busy and untidy man”;
- is a recluse: “Not that I mind isolation: I am used to it.”;
- often has walks at night: “I am somewhat of a night prowler myself, and when I treat myself to a ramble under the stars I like to slip in and out without ceremony.”;
- is prone to “fits of depression”;
- has some Holmesian speech patterns: “But I am afraid that I bore you rather with all these petty contrivances”-“On the contrary, I am filled with interest and wonder” (cf. “But I weary you with my hobby.”-“Not at all,” I answered, earnestly. “It is of the greatest interest to me” STUD);
- has a propensity of looking distracted when actually in deep concentration: “sat with a vacant face, as though he were not listening to me”.
Being a billionaire and a philanthropist, Raffles Haw is often perceptive of people’s motives: “swift was the perception of the recluse, and how unerringly he could detect a flaw in a narrative, or lay his finger upon the one point which rang false”. But ultimately he fails to see the true nature of a family he befriends. As one of the reviewers on goodreads put it, his help makes surrounding people “lazy and entitled rather than grateful”. It is an interesting parallel with Doyle himself who soon after that became quite rich thanks to Holmes stories. Did his family, who had had to struggle, become lazy and entitled when ACD helped them out? He spared his sisters from the necessity of working abroad as governesses (which might have been unsafe for a woman alone in a different country, entirely at the mercy of her employers. Perhaps such Holmes stories as “The Solitary Cyclist” or “The Copper Beeches” were in some ways inspired by ACD’s sisters’ work). Thanks to financial security ACD was able to provide the best treatment for his first wife, who had contracted tuberculosis, and thus extend her lifespan for much longer than doctors had predicted. ACD provided stability and prosperity for his mother who had raised him and his siblings practically alone. However, ACD’s sons by his second marriage did lead a playboy lifestyle, so there’s no definite answer.
Another curious parallel with the Doyle family is a character of old Mr. McIntyre, a drinking father who gradually descends into madness and later is locked away in an asylum. Rather similar to ACD’s own father, Charles Altamont Doyle.
One more point I’d like to mention is that burglars in this novel, as it often happens in ACD’s works, have their criminality written on their ruffianly faces. A far cry from Raffles, the gentleman thief.
