The Dog Philosphy: Diogenes, Redbeard, and John Watson
This is the fourth in a series of posts relating to Doyle’s novel The Hound of the Baskervilles. This post does not deal with the novel directly, but I think it belongs in this series because it is about the role of dogs in the Sherlock Holmes stories, and how this role is adapted in Sherlock. Inevitably, it has an impact on the interpretation of the novel and the episode The Hounds of Baskerville.
Perhaps surprisingly, I’m going to start at the Diogenes Club. We are first told about the club in The Greek Interpreter.
“There are many men in London, you know, who, some from shyness, some from misanthropy, have no wish for the company of their fellows. Yet they are not averse to comfortable chairs and the latest periodicals. It is for the convenience of these that the Diogenes Club was started, and it now contains the most unsociable and unclubable men in town.” (The Greek Interpreter)
Because it is mentioned only in stories which feature Mycroft Holmes, and because he was a founder, we tend to associate the Diogenes Club only with Mycroft, but Sherlock Holmes tells us that he also frequented the club:
My brother was one of the founders, and I have myself found it a very soothing atmosphere. (The Greek Interpreter)
Assuming that Doyle wrote much of the subtext of the Sherlock Holmes stories through allegory (see… everything else I’ve written), this seems like a good place for readers to look for clues: why Diogenes? Why choose this name for “the queerest club in London”? And what can the answer tell us about Doyle’s stories?
Diogenes of Sinope (c. 404/412–323 B.C.) was also known as the Dog Philosopher, in part because he embraced being called a dog for his way of life and because alluded to dogs often in his teachings. He and his colleagues were therefore called Cynics: “cynic” literally means “dog” or “dog-like” in Greek. In art, Diogenes is often pictured sitting in or near a large, round tub (which he made his home), accompanied by dogs, letters, and/or his famous lantern.
Diogenes (Jean-Léon Gérôme, 1860)
Much of what we “know” about Diogenes is myth or legend, so should not be taken too literally. Diogenes is often quoted as saying, “I am Diogenes the Dog. I nuzzle the kind, bark at the greedy, and bite scoundrels.” It appears that Doyle and Diogenes have a few things in common here.
Three men and a tub (to say nothing of the dog), under the cut.
ok, i got in too late last night to start reading this, but i have it in a browser tab now so i can't lose it, gonna zoom thru tumblr notes while it's cooperating this morning. Already though, the image of diogenes in his tub-kennel reminds me of "the man in the moon" in the mechanicals' "pryamus and thisbe" in midsummer night's dream; the round tub/moon, the dog, the lantern, only missing the bush.