Sherlock Holmes as Actor/Author

One of the stories I had to read in my Sherlock Holmes class this past semester was "The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier."  It's unique in that it's one of the few stories written from Holmes' perspective (I believe the only other one from his perspective is "The Adventure of the Lion's Mane").  But between Holmes' perspective and specific traits that the characters had, I got the feeling that Holmes had made up the story.*

At the very beginning, he writes that "for a long time [Watson] has worried me to write an experience of my own" and "'Try it yourself, Holmes!' he has retorted."  He then explains that "Watson has no note of it [this adventure] in his collection."  It's also significant that Watson is not present in the story.

Even from the very beginning of the Holmes canon, Holmes is rather dismissive of Watson's accounts of their adventures (though this aversion does seem to lessen to some degree as the stories progress).  He calls them too romantic and chastises Watson for not focusing on the useful parts - parts that could help other detectives.  As with everything else, Holmes takes a very didactic view of literature; in "A Study in Scarlet," Watson explains that Holmes "would acquire no knowledge which did not bear upon his object.  Therefore all the knowledge which he possessed was such as would be useful to him."  "A Study in Scarlet" also mentions Holmes' prodigious knowledge of sensational fiction.

Holmes' previous statements regarding literature make it hard for me to believe that he wrote the story purely to chronicle his adventure.  There has to be some pragmatic purpose for it.  While "The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier" could be useful to other detectives in the same way that sensationalist fiction is to Holmes, I don't think that that's the primary purpose.

The two soldiers in the story - Dodd and Godfrey - resemble Holmes and Watson so closely that I don't believe it's a mere coincidence.  Godfrey - like Watson - was shot during the war and had to return to England.  Dodd - like Holmes - has an intense loyalty to his friend.  At the beginning of the story, Holmes writes, "It was in January, 1903, just after the conclusion of the Boer War, that I had my visit from Mr. James M. Dodd, a big, fresh, sunburned, upstanding Briton.  The good Watson had at that time deserted me for a wife, the only selfish action which I can recall in our association.  I was alone."  Here, Holmes resembles Dodd (or Dodd resembles Holmes) more specifically:  they are both lacking their friends.  I also find Holmes' remark "I was alone" interesting.  He states that he had a visit from Mr. Dodd but also that he is alone.  If Holmes did make up this story, and Dodd is purely a caricature of him, then he is alone... with himself.

I think Holmes has two purposes in making up this adventure and passing it off as true.  First, it's an-other way that he can practise his acting.  There are multiple instances in the Holmes stories where Holmes uses disguises to fool people into thinking that he's someone he isn't.  I think manufacturing this story is just an-other facet of that.  Instead of using wigs and different clothes, he's using words and playing on emotions.

Second, I think the story functions as a retribution of sorts aimed at Watson.  Holmes disguises his intense friendship for Watson in Dodd's intense friendship for Godfrey - who even goes so far as to confront Godfrey's father in order to find out what happened to Godfrey.  Couched in his adventure story, Holmes is telling Watson how strongly he feels about him and how Watson's marrying Mary Morstan feels like an abandonment.

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*(This is a stupid footnote that explains an obvious point but just to make it clear:) I realise that Holmes is fictional.  What I'm saying is that within the world that Doyle has created - one in which Holmes and Watson have adventures and then Watson chronicles them - Holmes has made up a story to resemble Watson's true accounts.