The Hound of the Baskervilles is saturated with concerns closely related to tourism—the power of imagination over landscape; the distinction between authentic and inauthentic history; the dangers posed by appealing cultural fictions. Conan Doyle's concern with tourism and historical authenticity in the novel resonates with his own anxieties about the Holmes stories overshadowing his 'serious' writing, where tourism emerges as a cultural phenomenon distorting British citizens' ability to accurately gauge history and politics. This article discusses what tourism meant to Conan Doyle. The Tragedy of the 'Korosko,' the novel Conan Doyle wrote immediately before The Hound of the Baskervilles, offers an explicit critique of tourism and the abuses of history it encourages. An examination of the two novels in the context of Conan Doyle's own statements about tourism and historical fiction reveals the author's anxiety about the place of his literary career in the history and politics of his time.
