WORDS ON WATSON

An occasional feature of published pages about John Watson

Watson’s obsession with protecting me manifested itself through his creation of an elaborate constructive mythology of my life. In his extensive writings, which are quite simplistic regarding my methods, but quite accurate regarding the general details of the cases, he always sought to disguise locations, obscure dates, alter names and re-direct the reader’s attention to places and circumstances at great distances from my actual location, all designed–in his mind–to assure my safety from the latent powers of the tentacles Moriarty.

A case in point: Watson’s imaginary Great Hiatus placing me in exotic locales, wandering throughout Asia, disguised as one ‘Sigerson’ when, in fact, I was safely incognito at Maiden Wood…The corpus of writing that Watson produced over the years, taken as whole, is remarkable for this constant protective turn of the narrative.

From The Biography and Autobiography of Sherlock Holmes by Don Libey, Campbell & Lewis, 2013, pp. 165-166