fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #2566 ]

[ SECRET POST #2566 ]

⌈ Secret Post #2566 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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So, because no one reads my journal because I never post anything on it, I thought I'd post this here. Due in part to the recent canon Holmes secrets on FS, I downloaded the entire series on my kindle on a whim and started to read it. I really don't know much about Sherlock Holmes other than the osmosis from fandom friends in my fandoms who are also Sherlock Holmes fans or Sherlock fans or Elementary fans. I don't think I've ever seen an adaptation either.

I decided to skip the first two novels because I didn't want my attention to wander off halfway through while trying to get through them. So far I've read A Scandal In Bohemia and The Red-Headed League and I LOVED them. I don't know if all the stories are this good, but I sure hope these two aren't huge anomalies or something. I was really surprised at how simple and clear and un-flowery the writing was for the period, and also at how many funny bits it had. My favorite bit so far was this one exchange between Holmes and Watson in A Scandal in Bohemia:

"...By the way, Doctor, I shall want your cooperation."
"I shall be delighted."
"You don’t mind breaking the law?"
"Not in the least."
"Nor running a chance of arrest?"
"Not in a good cause."
"Oh, the cause is excellent!"
"Then I am your man."

Yay! I'm glad your enjoying it so far.

I would say that Scandal and Red-Headed League are good stories but not exceptionally good stories. So I think if you like them, it's probably a sign that you'll dig a lot of the Holmes canon. I hope you do!

SA - you're. you're enjoying it.

I'm so ashamed.

Yeah, a lot of people don't realize that the writing itself isn't so flowery that it sounds unfamiliar by modern standards. It's really stood the test of time, IMO. Glad you're enjoying it! :)

I'm happy you liked them! And no, no, these two aren't exceptions. IMO, the vast majority of the stories are brilliant. There are only a couple of them I'm kind of cold towards (as much as I can be cold towards the Canon), The Thor Bridge being one.

The lack of flowery language is to my liking, too: it makes the few descriptive details present so vivid as for them to make a lasting impression on the reader. The color play (blue and various warm shades) in The Copper Beeches is a great example of that. And ACDs laconism is quite astonishing when compared to, say, Stevensons Kidnapped.

I can hardly believe that ACD said Watson "didn't make a single joke", tbh. His narrative is full of humor. Maybe Doyle just wasn't paying attention when writing all the ironic remarks.

Watson's quietly gleeful narrative lollery is the main reason screen adaptations just can't measure up to the canon for me no matter how good they are :) He's just not a frequent zinger-slinger in-dialogue like Holmes. (Or maybe he is but thought it felt weird to write down his own jokes so he just puts them into his narration instead.) My favorite probably being that part in A Study In Scarlet where he not-innocently-at-all enumerates the political sniping in all the different newspapers' coverage of the Lauritson Gardens murder.

ACD is like that one BNF that most fandoms have, the one who willfully misunderstands everything about the canon and repeats their dumb ideas all over the place while complaining about how much it sucks. I wanna go back in time and shake him and try to make him understand that people don't like his stories for being stupid little detective yarns.

I think putting some direct narration into an adaptation would be a good idea (The Seven-Per-Cent Solution did this, to some extent, and not entirely without success). Or giving the jokes to Watson himself. I really like the "thought it awkward to show off his own sense of humor" theory.

Haha yes :D When he says that Holmes is no more emotional than a Babbage`s calculating machine, it's all like... no, Doyle, you got it all wrong.

Actually, I find it heartbreaking. I always look for proof that Doyle was secretly fond of Holmes. So many bad things happened in his life; I don't want to think that the one thing everyone is so grateful to him for had also been bad.

I always am totally distracted by first person stories that are stated to be written accounts by figuring out how this character was feeling when s/he was writing the story in addition to when s/he was actually doing the actions in the story, so stuff like that always pops out at me ;)

I also find it kind of sad that he died so soon after writing the last stories, and it's clear he didn't care about Holmes at all at that point :( That's also when he started in with some little Rathbone-Bruce-esque little exchanges of nastiness/stupidity here and there, which make it hard to reconcile with The Game (I just say "okay, even though ACD was intending Holmes to be mean here, I'm gonna assume Watson was just repeating Holmes's light-hearted teasing and didn't realize how it came off).

Well, at least to my knowledge he never despised Holmes as personally as Agatha Christie despised Hercule Poirot. Although you're probably more of an expert on that than me ;)

Doyle didn't like Holmes? Awww, that's too bad :( I've heard of this with a lot of other writers of famous characters and it always makes me sad.

He got kind of bitter about how popular it became, I think. And I think at one point he continued writing only because he needed the money? I'm not too sure about this and it definitely doesn't show, but yeah.

The Greek Interpreter will give you even MORE of (*cough*the-one-true*cough*)Mycroft than The Red-Headed League, if you want to enjoy more of the Holmes brothers' oneupmanship.

...Mycroft wasn't in the Red-Headed League?

/sorry if I'm missing a joke

I'm so glad you're liking them! A Scandal in Bohemia is one of my top favorite Sherlock Holmes stories ever, but I think there are many others that are just as good or better. Same with The Red-Headed League. The only really crappy stories, IMO, are the ones in the last collection, written way later in the 1920s -- The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes. Or as I call it:

This is perfection. Sheer brilliance.

I actually stole it from this guy: http://cinderlight.tumblr.com/post/72679760606/sherlockah0lique-tabbystardust-anglofile

I'm glad you're enjoying them! I'd suggest going back later and reading at least the begining of A Study in Scarlet so you can see Holmes and Watson meet. The flashback to Utah is totally skippable, though.

Also, a word of warning: the second half of The Valley of Fear is a flashback that is even longer and less interesting than the one in A Study in Scarlet.

I was really surprised at how simple and clear and un-flowery the writing was

That's the joy of ACD. His short story writing's a miracle of conciseness.

I'm happy you enjoyed it! Now I have the urge to reread Holmes, I'd almost forgotten how delightful these stories are

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[ SECRET POST #2566 ]

My first Sherlock Holmes readthrough

Re: My first Sherlock Holmes readthrough

Re: My first Sherlock Holmes readthrough

Re: My first Sherlock Holmes readthrough

Re: My first Sherlock Holmes readthrough

Re: My first Sherlock Holmes readthrough

Re: My first Sherlock Holmes readthrough

Re: My first Sherlock Holmes readthrough

OP

Re: OP

Re: My first Sherlock Holmes readthrough

Re: My first Sherlock Holmes readthrough

Re: My first Sherlock Holmes readthrough

Re: My first Sherlock Holmes readthrough

Re: My first Sherlock Holmes readthrough

Re: My first Sherlock Holmes readthrough

Re: My first Sherlock Holmes readthrough

Re: My first Sherlock Holmes readthrough