fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #2580 ]

[ SECRET POST #2580 ]

⌈ Secret Post #2580 ⌋

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I guess I'm making this a weekly thing, huh? Okay, I was very busy this week so I only managed to get through the rest of the Adventures, but still, I thought I'd put down my thoughts here before starting the first two novels, as someone recommended I do last week.

So, last week I read the last four stories of the Adventures (Engineer's Thumb, Noble Bachelor, Beryl Coronet, Copper Beeches).

First thing: I like Lestrade. I knew he's a supporting character but I only saw him once or twice in the Adventures. Poor guy, going through all that worry in The Noble Bachelor and Holmes is like "oh that? haha you lose I solved offscreen it wanna see?" and Watson is like "lol". Also, is it me, or does Watson spend way too much time in this story wink-wink-nudge-nudge-ing at how much of a snob Lord St. Simon was? Also, Hatty Doran. LOVE her. I'm sure she'll never appear again, which is a crying shame.

Speaking of Watson writing the stories, I hadn't thought about that particular narrative conceit in too much depth until The Copper Beeches (my FAVORITE story of these four by far). That whole argument at the end where Holmes is a dick about Watson's stories and they have that whole extremely Meta discussion about style and sensationalism and ficionalization of real events and AAAAAAHHHHHHHH THAT IS SO AWESOME. THEY KNOW THEY'RE IN A STORY BUT THEY THINK THEY'RE ALSO REAL. I LOVE THIS KIND OF THING SO MUCH. It gives so much more room for interpretation!

So I thought about that during the story quite a bit and it didn't hurt that Copper Beeches was really really creepy. Like, Jane Eyre on absinthe creepy, with Rochester's pervy creep uncle instead of Rochester. And how much of that could be put down to how Watson wrote it versus how it appeared to the character in "real" life? And Watson trying to set up Holmes with Violet Hunter: haha, I can't imagine Holmes settling down, but a pretty good choice nonetheless: Violet Hunter was even more awesome than Hatty Doran. I love these cool ladies.

Also, while Holmes was a dick to Watson about the stories, he was really very sweet about Violet. He trusts her to do a lot of pretty difficult stuff, and worries about her in between meetings and even mutters about it and acts all jittery.

Also, Watson: "Running up, I blew its brains out." While the dog still has its teeth in the dude's neck, without blowing the dude's head off. Why is it that when you do something badass, you only get once sentence, whereas Holmes gets all these adjective-filled paragraphs? Watson is such a peach.

First thing: I like Lestrade. I knew he's a supporting character but I only saw him once or twice in the Adventures. Poor guy, going through all that worry in The Noble Bachelor and Holmes is like "oh that? haha you lose I solved offscreen it wanna see?" and Watson is like "lol".

Yessss. Lestrade is the best and so long-suffering. If you like him, you'll probably enjoy 'The Adventure of the Six Napoleons', when you get up to it. (Not for a while, unfortunately, if you're reading in order. It's in the 'Return' collection post-hiatus. But. Worth waiting for).

Also, is it me, or does Watson spend way too much time in this story wink-wink-nudge-nudge-ing at how much of a snob Lord St. Simon was?

Holmes and Watson being completely unimpressed by St. Simon's status was one of my favourite parts of that story. Between this and 'Scandal', you get the sense that they were not very impressed with Victorian classism at all, at least to a certain extent. Rather subversive of them, really.

Also, while Holmes was a dick to Watson about the stories, he was really very sweet about Violet. He trusts her to do a lot of pretty difficult stuff, and worries about her in between meetings and even mutters about it and acts all jittery.

I know! It's one of my favourite things. This and Violet herself are the reasons that Copper Beeches is probably my favourite of the early stories. That whole first interview where she basically tells him 'I have to do this, but I hoped you could back me up' and Holmes just goes 'Absolutely, summon me whenever you need'. It's wonderful. He doesn't tell her she can't go and take the job, doesn't tell her she can't handle it, he just tells her that he's got her back. I love that so much.

Why is it that when you do something badass, you only get once sentence, whereas Holmes gets all these adjective-filled paragraphs? Watson is such a peach.

Because boasting on your own behalf is crass, and not gentlemanly ;) Yes, Watson is an absolutely peach.

The Copper Beeches is one of my favorite Sherlock Holmes stories too. I'm laughing at your description of it as "Jane Eyre on absinthe." It's so creepy, I think especially because the atmosphere is so calm and cheery, and the fact that there's so many weird things that are rather superfluous to the plot, which makes the situation all the more believable. I'm so glad you're enjoying these stories so much. And if you're going to be reading the novels next, you'll get quite a lot of Lestrade in A Study in Scarlet. You'll also get more Holmes being mean to Watson about his stories.

The whole "Watson wrote the stories" thing is a HUGE preoccupation for hardcore Sherlock Holmes fans -- they love coming up with theories about the context of certain un-elaborated-on aspects of the stories, and the dates of the stories that don't have dates or have contradictory dates. They sometimes come up with the most insane theories, although it's (usually) all in fun. The practice is called "the great game."

Like, Jane Eyre on absinthe creepy, with Rochester's pervy creep uncle instead of Rochester.

AHAHA this is the best thing I've read all day. :D And yes, that story is really really creepy, and Holmes being worried about Violet is one of my favorite character moments for him ever.

Lestrade is the cutest. I don't recall the exact number of stories he appears in, but he's such a doll and always so admiring of Holmes even when he's grumbly about it. I have a certain headcanon about one of his appearances that I don't want to spoil for you...

Watson sneakily portraying St. Simon as a snooty tool is like the best thing ever. He goes into so much superfluous detail over it and it's just hilarious. I can imagine Holmes reading it and shaking his head. The two of them get in quite a few choice slams against nobility -- the general theme of upper-class propriety serving as a thin veneer over a crumbling hot mess of dysfunction and pettiness comes up several times throughout the stories.

Watson sometimes does this thing where he glosses over his own actions or phrases them in the passive voice, which is both somewhat irritating and endearingly in-character. Almost the only times he gives himself credit is in order to establish his credibility as a writer: for example, he will admit that he can fight pretty well in order to emphasize just how big and strong this dude strangling him was, or that he's been on loads of thrilling chases before to reassure the reader that THIS chase was the greatest chase of all even by his standards, or will say he's romanced a ton of women in order to convince us that he knows what he's talking about when he says this one woman was really, truly that amazing. (Or maybe that's his sneaky way of bragging. Who knows?)

Actually, I think this last one is due to an elegant, albeit a little lazy, literature device some 19th century authors were extremely fond of using. It was considered good manners to start your story, or even just a paragraph of your story, in a roundabout manner that would give the reader only a subtle hint as to what was going to come next. Thus, you wouldn't write "he walked up to me and hit me square in the jaw"; rather, you'd write something like this:

"I cannot say that I'm a man with little experience when it comes to these situations in which one finds himself hard pressed to continue confronting his opponent verbally and considers resorting to the more physical methods of persuasion. Nor would I claim that I have never been on the receiving end of the deal. But, admittedly, it did come as a surprise when the foppish gentleman with a white moony face walked up to me and hit me square in the jaw."

Edited 2014-01-26 00:44 (UTC)

Oh yeah, I'm pretty sure I've seen that in other books of that period as well, but I meant that that's the only way that Watson says cool things about himself, not that it's a way of writing specific to the SH stories. ;)

Also LOLOLOL at that paragraph. ACD would never write anything so flowery, but that could fit almost perfectly into the mouth of a character from, like, Oscar Wilde.

True; I was rather thinking about ACD's intentions - maybe it wasn't a deliberately crafted part of Watson's characterization so much as a "man how do u start a story" case. Which is, of course, authorial intent and stuff *sighs*. My attraction to the matters of authorial intent shall be the ruin of me, I feel.

But on a lower meta-level, certainly. Watson is a humble fellow :D

I don't trust myself to say anything meaningful at this point (what with the late hour and the fatigue), but IA with you and all the previous commenters. And The Copper Beeches is my favourite case. (or one of the. But Violet Hunter is definitely my favourite secondary character. And is her name not awesome? Doyle had a remarkable knack for naming his characters.)

+1 to everything!

It's so adorabe in Copper Beeches when Watson's all "Dude, you should ask her out!" and Holmes is all "Dude, shut up!"

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[ SECRET POST #2580 ]

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Re: First Time Sherlock Holmes Readthrough III (ignore if you're uninterested, etc)