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Sherlock Holmes Notes (ENGL 210)
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Sherlock Holmes Notes (ENGL 210)
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Topic 15: Sherlock HolmesFebruary 10th, 2023
Justice
Holmes is a “good guy” that solves crimes and helps people (consulting detective)
● Becomes the arbiter of right and wrong … indirect cause of Grimsby-Roylott’s death bt it
doesn’t matter that much to him.
● Malleable character: he becomes judge, jury, and executioner when he sees fit. Doyle
plays with our ideas of retribution.
Watson and Holmes
Chronicler also adds as an audience: we are consistently aligned with Watson (continually awed
by what Holmes can accomplish as a detective).
● Inspired fanfiction: first ones written by Holmesians in 1890s in response to the Final
Problem – Doyle as a sci-fi, historical, genre writer.
The Structural Operation of Stories
How does Dr. Watson help to situate us in these stories?
● Sherlock Holmes is being described from the outside (we see him in the way that Dr.
Watson sees us – his reaction to Holmes also provides a structure for our reactions)
● Watson is always amazed because Holmes is always doing amazing things.
Detective stories often encourage us to pay attention to the wrong things (red herring).
February 13th, 2023
Narrative Pattern: often replicated over and over again.
● Able to determine facts from trivial sources of information: client visits, client leaves,
there’s an escalation, an investigation happens, and then there’s a resolution.
○ All of this happens in a relatively short textual frame.
○ Time frame is very tight!
Holmes’ Deductive Reasoning
Interview with Helen Stoner, or perhaps when Holmes talks about where the objects are?
● Holmes will say things that are vaguely infuriating.
● Makes a big distinction between different forms of perception (to observe something is
not only to view it but to interpret it)
○ Theatrical element to the way that Holmes behaves in front of other people – he
has a flare for the dramatic in his approach to resolving these mysteries.
● The client comes to Holmes, and then Holmes unnerves them but puts them at ease as
they know that they have come to the right place.
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