January 26, 2011
The return of Sherlock Holmes, take two
by Melville House
It seems that Sherlock Holmes is once again set to beat death and, one can assume, any mysteries he may encounter. The first time Holmes presumably entered the after life was in the 1893 tale “The Final Problem” in which author Arthur Conan Doyle had the brilliant detective seemingly fall to his death while engaged in mortal combat with his nemesis, Professor James Moriarty. However, while Conan Doyle had planned for the story to be the last for Holmes, the general public felt otherwise, and, after several years of pressure both from the public and publishers, Conan Doyle revived the Holmes in “The Adventure of the Empty House.” Following this tale, Conan Doyle went on to pen twelve more Holmes stories which culminated in 1903-1904 with the the detective very much alive, happily retired in Sussex Downs, and taking up the hobby of beekeeping. Only one of Doyle’s 56 Holmes stories take place after this retirement, “The Adventure of the Lion’s Mane,” leaving readers to speculate that Holmes presumably spent the rest of his life in a peaceful and uneventful manner.
This is all subject to change according to a Guardian report that says the Conan Doyle Estate has asked that Anthony Horowitz write a new episode of the Holmes saga. Horowitz, for those unfamiliar, has made a name for himself as the author of the incredibly popular Alex Rider children’s series. While he is well known for his work geared toward young adults, the Guardian says that Horowitz’s Holmes novel will be “for adult readers” and that “will retain Conan Doyle’s Victorian setting.” Horowitz himself as been quoted as saying that he has intended to create “a first-rate mystery for a modern audience while remaining absolutely true to the spirit of the original”.
Sherlock Holmes is hardly the first character to escape the fate of death when his original creator has died. Some may recall that James Bond has just as strongly endured after the death of his original author, Ian Fleming, thanks to the works of Sebastian Faulks, Kingsley Amis, John Gardner, Raymond Benson, and Charlie Higson.
However, in my opinion, there is something significantly different between these two characters and the way their legacies have been handled that makes me a little preemptively dismissive of Horowitz’s novel. James Bond has long since ceased to be the product of a single individual and has now morphed into something else — a pop culture figure whose existence, and understanding, no longer hinge on the input of his original creator. Bond has been a character that has been shared and used in such a wide variety of ways (movies, books, video games, etc.) that the sheer amount of representations of the character have totally overshadowed Fleming’s original writing. The fact that people argue about James Bond in terms of which actor (Sean Connery, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan) they feel best represents their understanding of the character shows just how far James Bond has been removed from Fleming’s ownership. On the other hand, it has always been clear that Sherlock Holmes is the product of, and belongs to, one person — Arthur Conan Doyle, his stories are all that exist of Holmes. Conan Doyle has defined the character in all senses. So for another writer to now take up the mantle, especially after it has been left untouched since Conan Doyle, seems, well, a little odd and unnecessary.
Perhaps this argument comes across as the rantings of one who poorly receives change, but the main concern I have is, is it too much to just let Mr. Holmes enjoy his retirement in peace? Conan Doyle reluctantly dragged the character out of the jaws of death once, does it really need to happen again?
Horowitz’s book will not be released until September, and in the mean time, I look forward to hearing back from others on how they feel about this. And if this proves to be a successful project, what could this mean for some of the other greatest minds of the 19th century? Perhaps we can expect to hear more from Monsieur Dupin in 2012?
15 Comments
I’m sorry, but: You Twit! Did you do any research at all? Even though the news sources are acting like this is the first new Holmes story in eighty years or more, there have been literally thousands of original Holmes stories since Doyle’s death in 1930, published as novels, short stories, films, radio and television shows, plays, comics, and fan fiction. Just do an internet search. Over the years, hundreds of these stories have been legitimately authorized by the Doyle estate, long before the new Horowitz book was conceived. You mentioned a few of the half-dozen or so actors who have played James Bond. There have been 70+ actors who have played Holmes on film, stage, television, and radio. He is the most filmed character ever, and many of the film adaptations have been of new and original stories. Holmes is an icon now, and has grown far beyond Doyle’s original sixty stories and books about him (not counting Doyle’s stories in “The Apocrypha”, a group of lesser-known Holmes stories and writings by Doyle). Doyle’s work is just a tiny fraction of the existing and ever-growing massive Holmes corpus.
I’m sorry, but: You Twit! Did you do any research at all? Even though the news sources are acting like this is the first new Holmes story in eighty years or more, there have been literally thousands of original Holmes stories since Doyle’s death in 1930, published as novels, short stories, films, radio and television shows, plays, comics, and fan fiction. Just do an internet search. Over the years, hundreds of these stories have been legitimately authorized by the Doyle estate, long before the new Horowitz book was conceived. You mentioned a few of the half-dozen or so actors who have played James Bond. There have been 70+ actors who have played Holmes on film, stage, television, and radio. He is the most filmed character ever, and many of the film adaptations have been of new and original stories. Holmes is an icon now, and has grown far beyond Doyle’s original sixty stories and books about him (not counting Doyle’s stories in “The Apocrypha”, a group of lesser-known Holmes stories and writings by Doyle). Doyle’s work is just a tiny fraction of the existing and ever-growing massive Holmes corpus.
Not a fan of being called a twit, but criticism noted. My desire to complain greatly outweighs my knowledge on the life of Holmes.
Not a fan of being called a twit, but criticism noted. My desire to complain greatly outweighs my knowledge on the life of Holmes.
Sorry. I take back the twit part. I’m trying to work on being a nicer person. I’m afraid my fan passion caused my rudeness. Some people follow sports teams and memorize statistics. My hobby, for better or worse, is mystery fiction, and especially the adventures of Mr. Holmes and Dr. Watson. I have actually read and collected thousands – yes thousands – of the stories, etc. that I mentioned over the last 36 years, so I feel like I’ve done my homework and can be a little defensive of The Master. I’m always glad for more stories, and I certainly welcome the latest contribution from Mr. Horowitz, but it bothers me that lots of places, and not just your site, are acting like there has been nothing new on the Holmesian front since the Great Depression.
Sorry. I take back the twit part. I’m trying to work on being a nicer person. I’m afraid my fan passion caused my rudeness. Some people follow sports teams and memorize statistics. My hobby, for better or worse, is mystery fiction, and especially the adventures of Mr. Holmes and Dr. Watson. I have actually read and collected thousands – yes thousands – of the stories, etc. that I mentioned over the last 36 years, so I feel like I’ve done my homework and can be a little defensive of The Master. I’m always glad for more stories, and I certainly welcome the latest contribution from Mr. Horowitz, but it bothers me that lots of places, and not just your site, are acting like there has been nothing new on the Holmesian front since the Great Depression.
Completely understand. Your reaction to this is exactly how I feel when H. P. Lovecraft is brought up and someone gets some tidbit wrong or I feel like he is not given the treatment he deserves. My own foray into the world of Mr. Holmes is relatively small and know nothing about the character aside from those works presented by Conan Doyle. As such, when a I read the aforementioned article that pretty authoritatively said that we are about to see the first new Holmes book since forever, I accepted it as the truth. Obviously, this turned out to be a mistake, so please excuse me for that. On the upside, this has turned into something of nice opportunity for myself being that I can ask, what would you recommend reading if one wanted to see other takes on Mr. Holmes and Dr. Watson?
Completely understand. Your reaction to this is exactly how I feel when H. P. Lovecraft is brought up and someone gets some tidbit wrong or I feel like he is not given the treatment he deserves. My own foray into the world of Mr. Holmes is relatively small and know nothing about the character aside from those works presented by Conan Doyle. As such, when a I read the aforementioned article that pretty authoritatively said that we are about to see the first new Holmes book since forever, I accepted it as the truth. Obviously, this turned out to be a mistake, so please excuse me for that. On the upside, this has turned into something of nice opportunity for myself being that I can ask, what would you recommend reading if one wanted to see other takes on Mr. Holmes and Dr. Watson?
Completely understand. Your reaction to this is exactly how I feel when H. P. Lovecraft is brought up and someone gets some tidbit wrong or I feel like he is not given the treatment he deserves. My own foray into the world of Mr. Holmes is relatively small and know nothing about the character aside from those works presented by Conan Doyle. As such, when a I read the aforementioned article that pretty authoritatively said that we are about to see the first new Holmes book since forever, I accepted it as the truth. Obviously, this turned out to be a mistake, so please excuse me for that. On the upside, this has turned into something of nice opportunity for myself being that I can ask, what would you recommend reading if one wanted to see other takes on Mr. Holmes and Dr. Watson?
Completely understand. Your reaction to this is exactly how I feel when H. P. Lovecraft is brought up and someone gets some tidbit wrong or I feel like he is not given the treatment he deserves. My own foray into the world of Mr. Holmes is relatively small and know nothing about the character aside from those works presented by Conan Doyle. As such, when a I read the aforementioned article that pretty authoritatively said that we are about to see the first new Holmes book since forever, I accepted it as the truth. Obviously, this turned out to be a mistake, so please excuse me for that. On the upside, this has turned into something of nice opportunity for myself being that I can ask, what would you recommend reading if one wanted to see other takes on Mr. Holmes and Dr. Watson?
There are so many stories to choose from that it’s hard to know where to begin, and of course many of them are sometimes obscure. However, the author who – in my opinion – has come closest to the original feeling of the stories is Denis O. Smith. His collections, various volumes under the name “The Chronicles of Sherlock Holmes,” have been published by Calabash Press. Also, the late Barrie Roberts produced some really good novel-length books. June Thomson has written some very solid short stories, many based on Holmes’s unwritten cases. Doyle’s son, Adrian Conan Doyle, helped to write “The Exploits of Sherlock Holmes”. Most of these books are probably available on www-dot-abebooks-dot-com.
On www-dot-fanfiction-dot-net, look under the “Books – Sherlock Holmes” heading, and find anything by “Westron Wynde” who is among the best authors of traditional stories that you’ll find. Also, there are stories at fanfic by “Aragonite”, who offers a look at the doings of Inspector Lestrade and the Scotland Yarders. “Aragonite” has re-worked some of her fan fiction stories into a novel, “You Buy Bones”, available at www-dot-lulu-dot-com, under her real name, Marcia Wilson. That, and the Westron Wynde stories, are highly recommended!
There are numerous other non-traditional books that explore various other aspects of The Canon, such as the Irene Adler series by Carole Nelson Douglas, and the Moriarty books by John Gardner. If you’re interested in radio shows, go to www-dot-theradiolady-dot-com and search under Sherlock Holmes. For about $36, you can get a half-dozen CD’s with hundreds of mp3 files, containing nearly every older Holmes radio show ever made, while spending a lot less than you would by ordering them somewhere else. Also, try www-dot-jimfrenchproductions-com under their Sherlock Holmes tab. They have produced over 100 new Holmes stories and adaptations of the original stories in the last few years, with excellent results.
Finally, if you want to read about Holmes in the Lovecraft world, there are books by Ralph Vaughan, “The Ancient Gods” and “The Dreaming Detective”, published by Gryphon, and “Pulptime” by P.H. Cannon, in which Holmes meets Lovecraft and his friends in the mid-1920′s. “Shadows Over Baker Street” is an easily-found massive volume of short stories with Holmes battling Lovecraftian surrealism with logic.
As a side note, a character named Solar Pons, a continuation of Holmes, was created in the late 1920′s by August Derleth, who later went on to be involved a great deal with the publication and extension of Lovecraft’s stories. There are approximately seventy Pons stories, written very much in the original Holmes style but set in the 1920′s and 1930′s, and they occasionally have vague references to the Lovecraft universe.
I hope that helps. As I said, there’s really so much to pick from that it’s hard to choose. Any recommendations for Lovecraft books, since all I know about them is obliquely from a Holmesian perspective?
There are so many stories to choose from that it’s hard to know where to begin, and of course many of them are sometimes obscure. However, the author who – in my opinion – has come closest to the original feeling of the stories is Denis O. Smith. His collections, various volumes under the name “The Chronicles of Sherlock Holmes,” have been published by Calabash Press. Also, the late Barrie Roberts produced some really good novel-length books. June Thomson has written some very solid short stories, many based on Holmes’s unwritten cases. Doyle’s son, Adrian Conan Doyle, helped to write “The Exploits of Sherlock Holmes”. Most of these books are probably available on www-dot-abebooks-dot-com.
On www-dot-fanfiction-dot-net, look under the “Books – Sherlock Holmes” heading, and find anything by “Westron Wynde” who is among the best authors of traditional stories that you’ll find. Also, there are stories at fanfic by “Aragonite”, who offers a look at the doings of Inspector Lestrade and the Scotland Yarders. “Aragonite” has re-worked some of her fan fiction stories into a novel, “You Buy Bones”, available at www-dot-lulu-dot-com, under her real name, Marcia Wilson. That, and the Westron Wynde stories, are highly recommended!
There are numerous other non-traditional books that explore various other aspects of The Canon, such as the Irene Adler series by Carole Nelson Douglas, and the Moriarty books by John Gardner. If you’re interested in radio shows, go to www-dot-theradiolady-dot-com and search under Sherlock Holmes. For about $36, you can get a half-dozen CD’s with hundreds of mp3 files, containing nearly every older Holmes radio show ever made, while spending a lot less than you would by ordering them somewhere else. Also, try www-dot-jimfrenchproductions-com under their Sherlock Holmes tab. They have produced over 100 new Holmes stories and adaptations of the original stories in the last few years, with excellent results.
Finally, if you want to read about Holmes in the Lovecraft world, there are books by Ralph Vaughan, “The Ancient Gods” and “The Dreaming Detective”, published by Gryphon, and “Pulptime” by P.H. Cannon, in which Holmes meets Lovecraft and his friends in the mid-1920′s. “Shadows Over Baker Street” is an easily-found massive volume of short stories with Holmes battling Lovecraftian surrealism with logic.
As a side note, a character named Solar Pons, a continuation of Holmes, was created in the late 1920′s by August Derleth, who later went on to be involved a great deal with the publication and extension of Lovecraft’s stories. There are approximately seventy Pons stories, written very much in the original Holmes style but set in the 1920′s and 1930′s, and they occasionally have vague references to the Lovecraft universe.
I hope that helps. As I said, there’s really so much to pick from that it’s hard to choose. Any recommendations for Lovecraft books, since all I know about them is obliquely from a Holmesian perspective?
Hi folks, just letting you know the gossip…Aragonite will be launching her second and third book soon. She had to lie low for a while due to domestic violence issues and she is working with a translator for the Breton language. Her hopes is that the reader will appreciate the use of fan sites as a format/sounding board, and to give “the honest copper” the respect one gives the veteran of war because they are fighting their own wars on the homefront.
Hi folks, just letting you know the gossip…Aragonite will be launching her second and third book soon. She had to lie low for a while due to domestic violence issues and she is working with a translator for the Breton language. Her hopes is that the reader will appreciate the use of fan sites as a format/sounding board, and to give “the honest copper” the respect one gives the veteran of war because they are fighting their own wars on the homefront.
on the subject of marcia wilson. she has two children that have not seen their father since mid-may 2010 because ms. wilson refuses to honor the court ordered visitation and apparently left the state of west virginia without informing the father or the court.