Pheneas Speaks

Pheneas Speaks

Paranormal Study

This is a book that records a conversation between author Arthur Conan Doyle and a medium who is speaking to his dead son, Pheneas. The book is written during a time in the Victorian era in which emphasis was put on scientifically proving the existence of 'spirits'. Several famous authors including both Doyle and Henry James (author of Turn of the Screw) are just some of the of more famous authors who not only believed in ghosts but put forth an effort for their serious academic consideration.
Artwork in the book is sparse with the very important exception of a photo that appears at the very start of the book. The photo is of the Doyle family and was taken shortly before they all sat down with the medium to speak with their dead family member (a picture that you can see above).
The overall goal of the book appears to be one of simple documentation. The book itself is structured very simply; Doyle records the questions the family asks the medium and the corresponding answers 'Pheneas' gives. The book provides a strangely intimate look at one of history's most famous authors as he and his family literally confront and come to terms with the death a family member.
Viewing things from a modern lens is truly fascinating as we get one of the only first hand looks into some the more fringe things that a culturally revered author believed enough to record for us, calling into question what beliefs our other literary icons had. Additionally, images and icons associated with the Gothic genre weren't ideologically neutral and many works written in this mode (including the previously mentioned Dolye and James) wrote in this genre as a way to push back against Victorian ideas of sexual repression.

Arthur Conan Doyle

Fales Collection: O'Malley Library at Manhattan College

The Psychic Press and Bookshop

1926