Everything is open interpretation. Take number ten on innocent people: the example of Milverton's maid is often site as cavalier treatment on Homes' part. That assumes the maid is some doe-eyed innocent being cruelly wooed by Holmes for information. The housemaid may be a woman of the world, using Escott the plumber to get a complacent current suitor jealous. Like the shocked Watson, the people who cite this seem to have a Victorian attitude about women. I tend to think they're a bit more complex. I submit we have insufficient evidence to say who was using who and who benefited more. I also don't get the author's point about using the Baker Street Irregulars. He is providing pay to street urchins who would otherwise beg or steal for money. He never, as far as we know, asks them to do anything more dangerous than they normally would living their life on the mean streets of London. In fact he maybe a positive influence in their lives. I may also have a few nits to pick with number seven, but all-in-all a good list.
Also, I was thinking about point nine--socially advanced: " It is also interesting to note that many scholars believe The Adventure of the Three Gables, which had the most obvious racism, was actually a forgery and not written by Arthur Conan Doyle at all. This would not be particularly surprising as Sherlock Holmes fan fiction has been popular for a long time." While Sherlockians, most notably, D. Martin Dakin, have doubted that *Watson* wrote 3GAB, I am not familiar with any reputable scholar suggesting it was a forgery. It would seem impossible that the Strand would print a forgery under Doyle's byline (his manuscripts were handwritten and was very familiar to the Strand editorship), and that Doyle, not recognizing a forgery would include it in "The Case-Book" in 1927. The fact is, Doyle had used the n-word in his fiction as early as "The Mystery of Sasassa Valley" (1879) and "The Stockbroker's Clerk" contains a slur word for Jew. As Gregory Myers points out, such attitudes were commonplace at the time, and it is not wise to assume the words an author puts in his character's mouths are an accurate reflection of the author's own views, However, "The Three Gables" is a work that continually challenges Sherlockians, and increasingly, instead of facing the problem head-on, they tend to deny Watson wrote the story, or invent non-racist reasons for Holmes' remarks. The fact is "The Three Gables" is a product of Doyle's pen and I don't think that anyone has asserted otherwise.
Everything is open interpretation. Take number ten on innocent people: the example of Milverton's maid is often site as cavalier treatment on Homes' part. That assumes the maid is some doe-eyed innocent being cruelly wooed by Holmes for information. The housemaid may be a woman of the world, using Escott the plumber to get a complacent current suitor jealous. Like the shocked Watson, the people who cite this seem to have a Victorian attitude about women. I tend to think they're a bit more complex. I submit we have insufficient evidence to say who was using who and who benefited more. I also don't get the author's point about using the Baker Street Irregulars. He is providing pay to street urchins who would otherwise beg or steal for money. He never, as far as we know, asks them to do anything more dangerous than they normally would living their life on the mean streets of London. In fact he maybe a positive influence in their lives. I may also have a few nits to pick with number seven, but all-in-all a good list.
ReplyDeleteGood argument, thanks.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I was thinking about point nine--socially advanced: " It is also interesting to note that many scholars believe The Adventure of the Three Gables, which had the most obvious racism, was actually a forgery and not written by Arthur Conan Doyle at all. This would not be particularly surprising as Sherlock Holmes fan fiction has been popular for a long time." While Sherlockians, most notably, D. Martin Dakin, have doubted that *Watson* wrote 3GAB, I am not familiar with any reputable scholar suggesting it was a forgery. It would seem impossible that the Strand would print a forgery under Doyle's byline (his manuscripts were handwritten and was very familiar to the Strand editorship), and that Doyle, not recognizing a forgery would include it in "The Case-Book" in 1927. The fact is, Doyle had used the n-word in his fiction as early as "The Mystery of Sasassa Valley" (1879) and "The Stockbroker's Clerk" contains a slur word for Jew. As Gregory Myers points out, such attitudes were commonplace at the time, and it is not wise to assume the words an author puts in his character's mouths are an accurate reflection of the author's own views, However, "The Three Gables" is a work that continually challenges Sherlockians, and increasingly, instead of facing the problem head-on, they tend to deny Watson wrote the story, or invent non-racist reasons for Holmes' remarks. The fact is "The Three Gables" is a product of Doyle's pen and I don't think that anyone has asserted otherwise.
ReplyDeleteYou can see something like that happening after Doyle's death, but not while he was still a working writer.
DeleteGood points, thanks.