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neadodsAt long last, the return to Our Heroes as we wrap up Study in Scarlet! What I find most interesting about this book is the rather hilarious description of Holmes as quiet and tidy, considering how he's going to be described later
Rather than read only a single chapter of Sign of the Four, which is next, I'm going to jump ahead chronologically to A Scandal in Bohemia. And I'm going to pimp Stanford University.
For a couple of years, S.U. had a reading project where they wanted to give people the feeling of what it was like to read classic serial publications as actual serials. So you could sign up and get Hard Times and some Sherlock Holmes delivered to you weekly in little newsprint booklets. (My life feeling as out of control then as now, I saved them all up to read later. *sigh*)
All of these booklets are up online as readable/downloadable .pdf files. I highly recommend them because I just flat out like the way they're presented - using the same typeface and illustrations as the original Strand Magazine, plus with neat little notes at the end explaining some things. (I particularly like that these are endnotes and not footnotes/annotations scattered throughout the text distracting you from the actual story.
A Scandal in Bohemia can be downloaded here.
Rather than read only a single chapter of Sign of the Four, which is next, I'm going to jump ahead chronologically to A Scandal in Bohemia. And I'm going to pimp Stanford University.
For a couple of years, S.U. had a reading project where they wanted to give people the feeling of what it was like to read classic serial publications as actual serials. So you could sign up and get Hard Times and some Sherlock Holmes delivered to you weekly in little newsprint booklets. (My life feeling as out of control then as now, I saved them all up to read later. *sigh*)
All of these booklets are up online as readable/downloadable .pdf files. I highly recommend them because I just flat out like the way they're presented - using the same typeface and illustrations as the original Strand Magazine, plus with neat little notes at the end explaining some things. (I particularly like that these are endnotes and not footnotes/annotations scattered throughout the text distracting you from the actual story.
A Scandal in Bohemia can be downloaded here.
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Study in Scarlet, Part 2, Chapter 6
Date: 2011-02-05 02:15 pm (UTC)The biggest comment I've got on this chapter is that I truly cannot understand why it comes *after* the massive digression to Utah. The shock-shift of scene to and from America is jarring, and in many cases, the American part of it isn't told from Jefferson Hope's point of view, although that is how we're going to learn the story.
It's sloppy writing, IMO. I realize that's blasphemy to say, but considering that Doyle will forget where Watson was shot and even what his name is, it's not like he was ever paying *that* much attention to keeping his universe straight.
Frankly, I think the whole Mormon digression is a steller example of "paid by the word-itis."
Re: Study in Scarlet, Part 2, Chapter 6
Date: 2011-02-05 03:29 pm (UTC)Re: Study in Scarlet, Part 2, Chapter 6
Date: 2011-02-05 04:35 pm (UTC)Good point - both of them! (The New Annotated goes into several of the things he got flat-out wrong and obviously made up, as well as mentioning in passing a couple of the big news items of the day that he was using to freely base his fantasies on.)
Study in Scarlet, Pt 2, Ch 7
Date: 2011-02-05 02:16 pm (UTC)Benedict Cumberbatch has bitched about the "extraordinary number of lines" he had to memorize as Sherlock. He should be glad he didn't have to deliver that massive exposition at the end of Study in Scarlet summing it all up!
Two parts I'm going to comment on. One is that Watson, who has passively admired Holmes all along suddenly gets somewhat demanding of him - "You should publish an account of the case. If you won't, I will for you." Yes, it's all in the service of Holmes' reputation and glory, but that line also comes across as ever so faintly threatening - Watson isn't offering Holmes an option here, just a choice of authors.
Holmes obviously doesn't care ("You can do what you like, Doctor") and once the stories come out and get famous, he waffles between irritation at their "romance" and pleasure at the ego stroking he gets by the shedload.
But it's a sudden flip in their relationship. The man who has passively trotted behind Holmes making admiring noises has suddenly put his foot down. I find that a bit interesting.
The other thing is that the New Annotated Sherlock Holmes translates the final quote as: "The people hiss at me but I applaud myself in my own home as I gaze fondly at the coins in my strong-box." Holmes might not care about fame, but he certainly cares about cash, especially in these early stories.
The new Annotated also has lots of notes about the English view of Mormons and some of the history thereof; I found the annotations a lot more interesting than the actual text and am wondering if I want to backfill the comments for the last couple of weeks. On the high chance I won't, I will pass on two notes here:
1) The Mormons were known to be very generous to fellow travellers across the west, but did NOT demand conversion in return; in fact, their own wagon trains carried non-Mormons.
2) Apparently the reputation of Mormons as white slavers came from two things; the first was polygamy (of course) but according to the New Annotated the other was a high level of defection among English servant girls who "compared their lot below-stairs with the prospects offered of life in a state which has never known unemployment" (not to mention a much different, more fluid view of class and social status). The English employers would leap to the conclusion that the girls had been stolen instead of stolen away on their own steam to try for a better life.
A Scandal in Bohemia
Date: 2011-02-05 02:17 pm (UTC)Re: A Scandal in Bohemia
Date: 2011-02-05 03:33 pm (UTC)Re: A Scandal in Bohemia
Date: 2011-02-05 04:22 pm (UTC)That said, yes of course, Holmes is traditionally an ass to everyone.
Re: A Scandal in Bohemia
Date: 2011-02-05 04:43 pm (UTC)Yes, so I don't see his attitudes as being out of the ordinary towards women. He's nice enough towards the women who impress him with their minds anyway - Irene's not the only one, but she made the biggest impression, because she's one of the few who's ever *beaten* him in a braino-a-braino contest.
Re: A Scandal in Bohemia
Date: 2011-02-05 05:08 pm (UTC)Re: A Scandal in Bohemia
Date: 2011-02-05 05:12 pm (UTC)Re: A Scandal in Bohemia
Date: 2011-02-05 10:16 pm (UTC)I'll grant that, and I'll grant that in text he's more surprised when women show bravery and intellect than men do. My counterargument is "Is that Holmes being a sexist jerk or is that Holmes being the average guy of 1890?" More the latter, IMO.
Re: A Scandal in Bohemia
Date: 2011-02-05 10:51 pm (UTC)That does not redact a charge of misogyny, simply because it was common/expected. Better to argue that he had contempt rather than hatred, but there is no particular term for that, other than "ass."
Re: A Scandal in Bohemia
Date: 2011-02-05 11:45 pm (UTC)But my memory is based only on the stories I liked well enough to reread often, and in all of *them* Holmes treats the women gallantly enough. So I need to read more to know if I'm self-selecting or not.
Re: A Scandal in Bohemia
Date: 2011-02-05 09:43 pm (UTC)Re: A Scandal in Bohemia
Date: 2011-02-05 04:40 pm (UTC)Also, Watson tends to show Holmes in a particularly bad light because Watson is so very solicitous towards women.
That said, I'm probably going to drop the Mary Sue bomb on
Re: A Scandal in Bohemia
Date: 2011-02-05 05:09 pm (UTC)Re: A Scandal in Bohemia
Date: 2011-02-05 09:47 pm (UTC)Re: A Scandal in Bohemia
Date: 2011-02-05 05:52 pm (UTC)Re: A Scandal in Bohemia
Date: 2011-02-05 10:12 pm (UTC)- always described as beautiful, gracious, etc by everyone
- other characters find her attractive and desirable/she conquers all major canon characters (she appeals to the King's lust, Holmes' brain, and Geoffrey's heart; that's only a Watson short of a clean sweep of all the male characters in the story)
- she has been in (and triumphed against) multiple plots by the king
- she succeeds in every attempt against her by the king and Holmes
- the king is envious of her beauty; Holmes is envious of her brains and that she beat him
- she's exotic (an American and an actress among a bunch of European men)
- she has a "forbidden" job (actresses weren't "nice" people)
- she's just as good/even better than Holmes (outthinking him)
- she single-handedly accomplishes what no one else does (outthink Holmes)
Re: A Scandal in Bohemia
Date: 2011-02-05 10:50 pm (UTC)Watson never actually sees her, but he does get as close as he can to the window, trying. Hell, any woman Holmes describes as having "a face that a man might die for" is worth a good gawk!
I once had an entire room at Media*West turn to rend me because I suggested that Harriet Vane was Dorothy L. Sayers's Mary Sue-- she's a mystery writer, and Lord Peter Wimsey falls for her at first sight. But they informed me that "if it's GOOD, it's not a Mary Sue!" Same with Irene Adler, then.
Re: A Scandal in Bohemia
Date: 2011-02-05 11:42 pm (UTC)This strikes me as being a very subjective rule of thumb!
Re: A Scandal in Bohemia
Date: 2011-02-07 03:15 am (UTC)As a side note, in contrast to Sherlock, Holmes both accepts money from his client and eats during a case.
Thank you for the S.U. link; the illustrations are wonderful, especially Holmes as a clergyman.
Re: A Scandal in Bohemia
Date: 2011-02-11 08:27 pm (UTC)it's mostly people talking about her, rather than us seeing her directly.
And yet she's one of the most famous characters in the canon - possibly even moreso than Lestrade. I can't entirely figure that out. Because she beat Holmes? Because shipping wars have gone on for almost a century?
As a side note, in contrast to Sherlock, Holmes both accepts money from his client and eats during a case
I was about to type that Sherlock doesn't entirely match up with the canonical Holmes, but the truth is that Holmesian canon is as muddled as Doctor Who canon. In Study in Scarlet, Watson describes Sherlock as tidy and early to go to bed. Later he'll describe him as messy and almost dangerous in his habit of leaving poisons around. In early stories he eats; in later ones Watson describes seeing him passed out from lack of food or drink.
On the other hand, Bohemia is the clear foundation for Sherlock mentioning that Molly's gained weight in a happy relationship and the "I'd be lost without my blogger" line.
Isn't the clergyman drawing delightful? I keep staring between that and the drunken groomsman to see if the artist used different models, but I don't think he did. I think he just did a good job of costuming the various undercover outfits.
no subject
Date: 2011-02-05 03:41 pm (UTC)Would you mind if I pointed 4-6 friends to these? If so, no problem.
BTW, Channel 26 (WETA) is having a marathon "Sherlock" showing on Sunday evening starting at 8.
no subject
Date: 2011-02-05 04:41 pm (UTC)If you're just looking for links to Stanford (I just typed "Stamford" and had to change it!), then look for the "Not Saturday Sherlock" reading list I posted on Wednesday, as it has the links to everything they did.
WETA is? Oh, so tempting! I shamefully still haven't watched my DVDs; I want to hear the commentary.
no subject
Date: 2011-02-05 05:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-05 09:59 pm (UTC)That said, I want to know who I bribe at Stanford to do all the stories and novels.
no subject
Date: 2011-02-05 05:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-05 05:59 pm (UTC)But some of the Bretts are pure gold, Scandal in Bohemia at the top of the list!
no subject
Date: 2011-02-05 09:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-06 02:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-06 02:38 am (UTC)I'm happy to be an official Adventuress of Sherlock Holmes.
no subject
Date: 2011-02-06 03:14 am (UTC)AFAIK, he never wrote anything that was published, but he did read a couple of the journals.
And I may have given the wrong impression in calling him a major Holmes fan. I didn't mean that he was a well-known Sherlock BNF, just that it was a major interest of his. (As a teen, he even experimented with smoking a pipe because of it. Gave it up pretty fast, too.)
no subject
Date: 2011-02-06 03:29 am (UTC)I experimented with a pipe myself because I was trying to write about Holmes, and James Barrie in My Lady Nicotine pointed out that non-smokers make stupid errors in writing about smoking. It wasn't bad for a rare occasion-- it smells much better than cigarettes, and you don't inhale the smoke-- but I didn't stick with it long.
no subject
Date: 2011-02-06 04:22 am (UTC)FWIW to jog your memory, he was 5'8", heavyset, medium brown hair & moustache, & wore wirerim glasses.
no subject
Date: 2011-02-05 09:44 pm (UTC)I find myself eyeing up Without a Clue and all the Holmes pastiches I have with renewed interest.
no subject
Date: 2011-02-06 02:21 am (UTC)I don't have any of the pastiches right now. I should fix that.
no subject
Date: 2011-02-06 12:58 pm (UTC)And if you haven't seen Without a Clue, I couldn't recommend it more highly.