What if there was a way for your thoughts, your words, to be sent into the future, and be understood and appreciated by someone anywhere on the planet… Would that not make us, in a way, immortal, and give us the power to communicate across time and space? When we were inquisitive children curled up under the blankets, flashlight in hand, and reading our favourite story – were we not actually inviting the author of that story into our innermost space, to share their thoughts, their stories with us in their words? Sir Arthur Conan Doyle died in 1930, but yet we know his character, Sherlock Holmes – we read Doyle’s words, Doyle’s thoughts… and Holmes, a fictional character of Doyle’s imagination, still gets fan mail to this day… is that not a form of immortality and communication with the author across the ether? I’m Bella St John – Join Professor Thomas Pavel and I as we venture together to explore the history of those words – in ‘A Novel Idea’.