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Elementary, my dear Watson
HUM 2212: British and American Literature IFall 2012
Dr. PerdigaoNovember 7-14, 2012
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Doyled Again• Sir Arthur Conan Doyle born in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1859
• Studied medicine at Edinburgh University and settled in London
• Wrote while in practice in London
• A Study in Scarlet as first successful story, appeared in Beeton’s Christmas Annual in 1887
• Left medicine after success of The Sign of Four in 1890 to write full-time
• Killed off Sherlock Holmes character in “The Final Problem,” published in 1893, but, due to public outcry and protest, resurrected the character
• Doyle as historian, whaler, athlete, war correspondent, and spiritualist
• Knighted in 1902 for work in South African field hospital during the Boer War
• Died in 1930
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Doyled Again• When A Study in Scarlet came out, Doyle received a flat fee of 25 pounds
(about $120)
• Magazine did not sell out, mixed reviews (some noting indebtedness to Edgar Allan Poe’s C. Auguste Dupin)
• Book publication led to Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine buying The Sign of Four in 1890
• The Strand magazine (the Life magazine of its era) published “A Scandal in Bohemia” in 1891 and new stories featuring Holmes sold out
• Magazine changed owners in 1951 and new issue featured Holmes on cover, showing longstanding connection between the magazine and the character
• The Hound of the Baskervilles offered return of Holmes that ran from August 1901 until April of the following year, then “The Empty House”
• Doyle continued writing stories until 1927, with Holmes retiring in 1903 or 1904 to tend bees, with “His Last Bow” taking him out of retirement
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Framing Holmes• 4 novels and 56 short stories featuring the character
• Holmes believed to have a birthdate of January 6, 1854
• Lives at 221b Baker Street, since 1881
• Studies at university—believed to be chemistry; chemistry lab in house
• Brother Mycroft, government official
• Lives with Dr. John H. Watson until his marriage, then again after his wife’s death
• Landlady Mrs. Hudson
• Stories as frame narratives (story within the story)
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Disguises• Watson appears in 56 of the 60 published adventures • 2 told by third-person narrator (“The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone” and
“His Last Bow”) and Holmes narrates “The Adventure of the Lion’s Mane” and “The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier”; “The Musgrave Ritual” and “Gloria Scott” are told from Holmes’ memories while Watson narrates
• Partnership between 1881-1914
• Masculinist character of the period in late nineteenth-century English society
• Guinness World Records lists Holmes as most portrayed movie character—75 actors in 211 films
• 1905 silent screen debut (although 1900 vignette Sherlock Holmes Baffled)
• Fourteen Universal features starring Basil Rathbone from 1939-1946, with Nigel Bruce as comical Watson character (overweight, bumbler)
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The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1939)Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce (Holmes and Watson)
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Deerstalker cap and pipe
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Buster Keaton
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Doyled Again• Buster Keaton in Sherlock Jr. (1924)
• The Return of Sherlock Holmes (1929), starring Clive Brook, first sound film to feature the character and one given credit for the line “Elementary, my dear Watson”
• Without a Clue (1988)
• On television, Jeremy Brett played role from 1984-1994
• House and CSI play with references to Holmes (“Who Shot Sherlock?”)
• BBC series Sherlock (2010-present) (by writers of Doctor Who)—blogging
• Elementary (2012-present)
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Cyberworld Sherlock?
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Cyberworld Sherlock?
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Doyled Again• Guy Ritchie: “What you’ve got going on with our movie is a complete re
invention process of an iconic figure . . . We have gone back to the books themselves. In them, Holmes is a very compelling hero: an inquisitive, tortured, complex genius, who is also an action man.” (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/6789921/Sherlock-Holmes-pipe-dreams.html)
• As “James Bond in 1891”
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Elementary…• Watson’s role as storyteller and buffer between Holmes and reader
• “appear[s] less astute than the reader, rendering himself more approachable than the aloof and awesome Holmes, without sacrificing respect for his native intelligence” (Estleman xiii).
• Characteristic Watson: bravery in The Hound of the Baskervilles and “The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton”; past 60 years old, offered surgical skills to England on eve of WWI (Estleman x).
• Gambling problem—Holmes with Watson’s checkbook locked away; theories about multiple marriages
• Holmes’ use of cocaine, morphine
• Watson’s rehabilitation of Holmes
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Reframing• Holmes’ characterization—counter to Lestrade (who jumps to conclusions,
like us)
• Flair for showmanship, arrogance
• Starts out poor, “A Scandal in Bohemia” brings him 1000 pounds (at time, 60-100 pounds as decent salary)
• Does pro bono work, charges wealthy clients more
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Another Fight Club?• Baritsu vs. Wing-Chun Kung Fu
• Bartitsu, martial art created by British engineer Edward-William Barton Wright (1860-1951)
• Misspelling in The Times article in 1901; two years later, “The Adventure of the Empty House” introduced the style
• Bartitsu is mix of Japanese jujitsu and English and French boxing
• Conan Doyle as amateur boxer
• Robert Downey Jr. and Guy Ritchie study Wing-Chun Kung Fu (Bruce Lee popularized), change for film
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Reasoning and unreasoning• Forensic science
• Pseudo-scientific approach—phrenology
• Abductive reasoning
• Criminology
• Fingerprints, gun powder residue
• Science vs. magic, supernatural
• Holmes as ultimate rationalist but Doyle as spiritualist, connection to Harry Houdini, the Cottingley fairy case
• Doyle reading Grimm’s fairy tales at time of writing “The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire”
• Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes, debunking magic, triumph of science
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The Woman• Irene Adler is only woman to impress him; she only appears in “A Scandal in
Bohemia” but is mentioned throughout the stories as his equal
• “In his eyes she eclipses and predominates the whole of her sex” (239).
• Idea that Holmes is asexual, doesn’t understand Watson’s interest in Mary
• Degrading to women
• Disguises—gender-bending performances in story
• March 1888 as setting
• References to Study in Scarlet (240)
• Watson comments that Holmes’ deductions would lead to accusations of witchcraft (241)
• Idea of unobserved life
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Secrets and Lies• Paper made in Bohemia
• German—syntax
• Count Van Kramm, Bohemian nobleman (244)
• King—Wilhlem Gottsreich Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein and hereditary King of Bohemia (245)
• Connection to Irene Adler
• Looks up in the index—American, NJ born in 1858, performed as prima donna Imperial Opera of Warsaw
• Marriage to Godfrey Norton
• Women as “naturally secretive” (255)
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Gender Equity?• “Fire”
• Proposed costume in “A Scandal in Belgravia”
• Leaves for the Continent
• Photograph of Irene Adler left
• Letter
• “Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage of the freedom which it gives” (261)
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Rebooting?• Resurrection of Holmes with “The Empty House” in 1903
• Lapse in Holmes narrative from 1891 to 1894 between “The Final Problem” and “The Empty House”
• Passing of Victorian age with turn to the twentieth century, now to the twenty-first century
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Traces• “The Speckled Band” (published in 1892, set in 1883)
• “The Speckled Blonde”
• Description of “methods”: http://www.thescienceofdeduction.co.uk/• http://www.johnwatsonblog.co.uk/
• Supernatural and fantastic
• Roylotts of Stoke Moran, Surrey
• Stepdaughter of last survivor • Usher? (Not that Usher)
• Stepfather—medical career in Calcutta
• Exotic—India
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Threads• Twin Julia • Usher Usher?
• Railway accident • Chopin story?
• Mania, residing in tropics—madness (1834)
• Violence, fear of exposure• Hyde?
• Sister died two years ago (1834)
• Aunt Miss Honoria Westphail
• Sister visited, engaged to major of Marines
• Died of shock
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Blogging 101• “Locked room” mystery
• “It was the band!” (1836)
• Or gipsies?
• Different interpretations
• “dark enough, and sinister enough” (1838), not most
• Grimesby Roylott appears (1839)
• Holmes’ strength—straightens poker
• Threat of danger (1844)• Come anyway
• Difficulty in reasoning, insufficient data (1848)
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Blogging 101• Eastern training—exotic, dangerous (to other scientists, British/India divide)