#HolmesPeerReading Introduction
February 09, 2018
❝Lɪᴛᴇʀᴀᴛᴜʀᴇ ɴᴇᴠᴇʀ ᴘʀᴏᴅᴜᴄᴇᴅ ᴀ ғʀɪᴇɴᴅꜱʜɪᴘ ᴍᴏʀᴇ ꜱʏᴍʙɪᴏᴛɪᴄ ɴᴏʀ ᴀ ᴡᴀʀᴍᴇʀ ᴀɴᴅ ᴍᴏʀᴇ ᴛɪᴍᴇʟᴇꜱꜱ ғʀɪᴇɴᴅꜱʜɪᴘ.❞ |
I just finished reading the introduction by Loren D. Estleman entitled ❛ON THE SIGNIFICANCE OF BOSWELLS❜. Aside from tackling the contents of the stories provided in the two volumes of this collection that are more or less general summaries about notable titles, the essay also touched upon the role of Dr. John Watson. M.D, who is Holmes' biographer and chronicler of his cases.
I definitely agreed with the points raised regarding the unfair treatment which Watson had suffered throughout the decades in regards to his portrayal on-screen ever since Nigel Bruce in those series of black and white films from Hollywood starring Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes came out. In those movies, he only served as a comic foil, this bumbling fool. They emphasized that he was fat, ignorant and useless. And that never made sense to me at all, given the meaningful contributions his character has made and how much of a self-insert of Doyle he was supposed to be himself. A man as brilliant as Holmes will never live with someone like that nor will he allow Watson to be involved in his criminal cases if he truly was unintelligent. The fact of the matter was that though Watson may not be the genius sleuth like Holmes and was celebrated for his prowess of unmatched deductive reasoning, the humble doctor remains just as important and pivotal of a character for entirely distinct reasons in the Doyle stories. One, he is the man who framed the adventures and cases of his friend with a dash of literary liberties that make them so compelling to read in the first place. He engaged the readers with his prose and painted Holmes in a sympathetic light which in turn made readers want to know more about this Great Detective. |
Two, he is very much competent as a partner, one whom Holmes had time and time again relied upon because he was loyal and had on occasions risked his own life for the both of them. The fact that he was not only a doctor but an army doctor was also critical; this meant he has the taste and the temperament that would suit chasing around criminals and solving crimes.
As a character in an objective sense, Watson is also well-nuanced, even more so than Holmes ever was since the man remains ever a mystery which is where his appeal through the decades depended upon. Meanwhile, Watson is someone readers would find warm and enjoyable especially during his private musings and observations about people including his stoic friend. His love and devotion to Holmes, as well as his thirst for intrigue and higher sensibilities are qualities that would continue to endear him as the stories went on.
I'm glad that the introduction touched upon how Watson made so much difference for the character of Holmes and the tales they were written in. Fortunately, the more modern adaptations had been kinder and more in spirit of what Doyle intended him to be. In BBC Sherlock with Martin Freeman, the Guy Ritchie films with Jude Law and, of course, even in his gender-bent version for Elementary as played by Lucy Liu, Watson's significance had finally been developed and realized for a younger generation of audiences to appreciate and adore.
#HolmesPeerReading: Initial thoughts on SCARLET
February 11, 2018
❛ Tнεяε'ѕ тнε ѕcαяlεт тняεαd σƒ мυяdεя яυииιиg тняσυgн тнε cσlσυяlεѕѕ ѕкειи σƒ lιƒε,
αиd συя dυтч ιѕ тσ υияανεl ιт, αиd ιѕσlαтε ιт, αиd εχρσѕε ενεяч ιиcн σƒ ιт. ❜
Reading through the first twenty-five pages for A STUDY IN SCARLET was most certainly very nostalgic. My peer for this endeavor, Airiz, just told me that it was the only Holmes story she had read a while back in high school, so this is more or less a re-read for us both in that aspect.
My impression after coming back to this Holmes story (which was the Great Detective's first appearance ever in the Strand Magazine back in 1887 for their Christmas Annual) was not the same as the one I had before when I read it for the first time at thirteen years old. There was so much wild intrigue and fascination for me back then because I was viewing in the fresh eyes of a budding bibliophile. Doyle was also the first author in classical literature whose work I've had the pleasure to experience, and he had since opened the doors to that genre of fiction for me. Still, reading it tonight made me very excited, and it was still a rewarding pursuit for me to pick up his books again.
I still recall every passage and dialogue that had occurred in those measly twenty-five pages, all of which I envisioned now with the knowledge of someone who had seen the more modern adaptations for Holmes and Watson on-screen. The closest thing their first meeting was adapted approximately was back in BBC Sherlock's pilot episode entitled "A Study in Pink". Of course, that had its tweaks since it was set in our current times as opposed to Victorian London.
Not even the Granada series starring Jeremy Brett had depicted the very first time Holmes and Watson met which for me is a disappointing if not completely missed opportunity. After all, Brett remains to me as the 'definitive' Holmes, and I would love to have seen him act out the scene in the laboratory. In it, Holmes had just discovered a more proficient way to examine blood by establishing timeline. This was a crucial discovery because it would aid immensely in crime detection back in that period.
From the get-go, author Doyle had characterized his Sherlock Holmes as a scholar who prided himself in his scientific experiments especially the results he would yield from them. He was bold, innovative and unabashed in taking his studies one step further, no matter how eccentric they prove to be. Watson would later figure out just how both encompassing and limited Holmes' knowledge is when it comes to certain branches of studies, and that was one of the notable things I'd like to tackle here in my expanded notes.
The next pages detailed succinctly not only Holmes' profound grasp in subjects like Chemistry, Botany (notably poisons), Geology (soil samples) and Sensational Literature (he avidly follows crimes), Doyle also touched upon his ignorance of more 'practical' knowledge such as the Copernican Theory. Holmes asserts that it was useless to him if the earth revolved around the sun since it had little meaning in his work. The man also believed that the human brain is an attic, and you must only store valuable information in it so as not to crowd it with senseless data.
But what was his work? Later on, Watson will discover this right after he read an essay called 'The Science of Deduction'. He thought the observations made by the analyst in the paper are absurd, but Holmes countered it by saying deductive reasoning is the most practical scientific method of all. He revealed that he wrote that article and he can attest to its credibility.
Ah, the science and art of deductive reasoning. Where do we begin with that? Well, in BBC Sherlock, the writers had depicted it as some sort of superpower in which only Holmes and his older brother and rival Mycroft are gifted with it. However, the American adaptation Elementary had grounded it in more reasonable terms, and it was therefore much more in spirit of how Doyle intended it to be.
Deductive reasoning is a science; it can be both taught and learned provided that someone shows devotion and passion in the art of observation and analysis. It isn't some superpower that only genuises like Holmes are readily bestowed with like some sort of karmic provenance. No, it is a cultivated way of living in which a scientist makes a real study of it and constantly harnesses and improves their skills on deducing events right from the most banal and mundane.
This is one of the things I enjoy about the Holmes books and why I think Elementary (next to the Granada series) is the closest adaptation to Doyle's method of approach concerning Holmes' supposedly crime-detecting genius. Sure, it is impressive in scope how Holmes can deduce things in near perfection by just looking at clues in a person's clothing or many other details in appearance when he's within a crime scene.
But Doyle had always treated it with a more pragmatic sense of wonder for the readers' benefit than glamorize it that it becomes an alienating sort of parlor trick that only serves to impress and entertain. Unlike in the BBC adaptation, in which we have Moffat and co. make it seem like deductive reasoning is inaccessible to the average man and Sherlock Holmes is a superhero simply gifted with it, Doyle instead presented that anyone can study deduction.It does take someone who puts in constant hard work, however, and has the drive and patience that such a rigorous endeavor entails, in order for him or her to fully master said craft. Sherlock Holmes is one such individual. But you could be too, if your heart and soul is in it. The Holmes books had taught me that science shouldn't be put in some pedestal never to be touched and only admired from afar, but rather a goal in which one can aspire to achieve and make a difference in.
#HolmesPeerReading: A STUDY IN SCARLET
March 04, 2018
Here I am, 120 pages into A STUDY IN SCARLET, and the story has just reached its inevitable conclusion. As a debut story for a fictional character who will go to live on in such a way that his own creator never could have perceived, SCARLET didn't exactly have all the makings that would lead anyone who first read it to believe that Doyle can pen another story starring Holmes and Watson again, but that didn't make it any less engrossing or worth the second read.
Detective work (especially forensic science) has been made to be so fascinating in televised adaptation that I believe the original medium in which it spawned from (the written form) may not be as captivating, considering that the entire thing was set-up in an era lacking the technology of today. But any good detective work is truly a matter of deductive reasoning which Doyle had done his best to capture in his Holmes canon. |
I've watched the very first CSI show in 2003 just months after I bought my copy of this book, and it was an interesting comparison for me to make that even with the stark contrast between the Victorian era and the advancements of the modern age that help in solving crimes, Holmes stories can definitely hold up their own as a compelling narrative solely because readers (through Watson as a representative) can experience the nuances of deductive reasoning in full force.
To pick up from what I've said in my last twitlonger post, I'll comment first on the groundwork of the mystery/case itself. Anyone who may read this short review and has seen the BBC Sherlock with the pilot A STUDY IN PINK will recognize the elements easily enough. I'll always view this story in the eyes of my thirteen year old self who has never encountered anything like a gritty murder mystery before, but I would be hard pressed not to make comparisons now with the BBC adaptation.
For starters, the murder scene in SCARLET plays out exactly like it did in the show for PINK with a few notable changes. The victim whose corpse Holmes and Watson examined was male as opposed to female, and it was never revealed until later on as part of the first of three twists by the nearing end that the victim had been poisoned. Holmes was accompanied by Watson and two other detectives too, Lestrade and Hopkins, who were in direct competition with one another and therefore are on a race against time as to who can settle this ugly business.
It's interesting to see how the three men tried to work out scenarios as to how the crime played out, but readers can determine already that Holmes was the one who can most potentially untangle the seams of this mystery because of his methods that are unheard of for Scotland Yard; a method he had cultivated over the years and devoted much of the expansion of his knowledge to. Earlier in the story, Watson had enumerated Holmes' strengths and weaknesses as an academic whose expertise can be desultory and sporadic. This had purpose and meaning to the overall process of the events that took place next. In revealing what encompasses Holmes's knowledge, Doyle makes a believable argument as to why this consulting detective had what it takes to solve murders in a fresh and exciting way using real science, which is, of course, the groundwork for forensic studies centuries later.
Without delving too much into it, I would say that I enjoyed reading the version of Lestrade and Hopkins' sleuthing where they each followed different leads. The two of them taking the time to present their cases before Holmes was fun for me to see unfold but not because they were erroneous in their findings (and Holmes inevitably was victorious) but because of how well it informed readers that this was the way police work back in that era was conducted.
Watson had also observed that although Holmes took pride in his prowess, he doesn't mind giving the credit and spotlight to the two other detectives, because recognition and accolades meant that little to him. All he cared about was demonstrating how the crime was committed and how it can be solved so the ones who are responsible can be brought to justice.
The thing about SCARLET is how there is so much more depth to the murder mystery than just uncovering the identity of the killer and bringing him to trial. Doyle had even spent the second part of his novella by employing a flashback concerning the character Jefferson Hope, the perpetrator for the crimes. Here Doyle contextualized and justified why Hope has killed, and therefore made him a sympathetic, almost anti-hero of a tale that's surreptitiously boils down to that of love and vengeance. The motives this murderer has is to avenge what happened to the woman he loves and the methods he employed to get even with the men who had taken away the love of his life were complex and quite symbolic.
Rather than just explicitly killing them, his two victims were given a choice between two pills inside a bottle in which one of them is lethal. It's a roulette of death then, but with pharmaceuticals instead of loaded gun. Hope wanted to taunt these men since they are of religious faith and to force them to gamble their lives by making a fatal choice is agonizing for them, and that makes for the ultimate satisfactory bonus for Hope's vendetta.
The murder mystery in SCARLET was an unconventional one, relying on the trappings of what was supposedly a straightforward plot about killers and their victims but was fleshed out enormously by Doyle by giving the killer a humanizing backstory as opposed to a nefarious one. His so-called victims were the real villains as far as reader perspective is concerned, and so there was a bittersweet pay-off on Jefferson Hope's end when he had taken justice in his own hands and served it best cold. I don't know about you, but that's how I like my justice.
I don't really have any definitive closing thoughts about SCARLET except to say that this had been a great introduction to what will be a celebrated canon for centuries. Watson's deftness in laying out the groundwork that Holmes is this enigmatic figure who can read people and situations with a sharpness unlike anyone has ever done before is what enhanced the Great Detective for me. Doyle deciding to write using Watson as the POV character also made the prose enjoyable especially as the next stories come along.
This is going to sound as an anti-climactic way to end this post, but this is all I could come up with for now on the fly until the next story in the mix which is THE SIGN OF FOUR. I actually really loved this story much more than I did SCARLET. And I'm excited to get into it soon! But first, Airiz will post her own thoughts next about SCARLET before I start on my intro for SIGN. I'm looking forward to what she has to say!
To pick up from what I've said in my last twitlonger post, I'll comment first on the groundwork of the mystery/case itself. Anyone who may read this short review and has seen the BBC Sherlock with the pilot A STUDY IN PINK will recognize the elements easily enough. I'll always view this story in the eyes of my thirteen year old self who has never encountered anything like a gritty murder mystery before, but I would be hard pressed not to make comparisons now with the BBC adaptation.
For starters, the murder scene in SCARLET plays out exactly like it did in the show for PINK with a few notable changes. The victim whose corpse Holmes and Watson examined was male as opposed to female, and it was never revealed until later on as part of the first of three twists by the nearing end that the victim had been poisoned. Holmes was accompanied by Watson and two other detectives too, Lestrade and Hopkins, who were in direct competition with one another and therefore are on a race against time as to who can settle this ugly business.
It's interesting to see how the three men tried to work out scenarios as to how the crime played out, but readers can determine already that Holmes was the one who can most potentially untangle the seams of this mystery because of his methods that are unheard of for Scotland Yard; a method he had cultivated over the years and devoted much of the expansion of his knowledge to. Earlier in the story, Watson had enumerated Holmes' strengths and weaknesses as an academic whose expertise can be desultory and sporadic. This had purpose and meaning to the overall process of the events that took place next. In revealing what encompasses Holmes's knowledge, Doyle makes a believable argument as to why this consulting detective had what it takes to solve murders in a fresh and exciting way using real science, which is, of course, the groundwork for forensic studies centuries later.
Without delving too much into it, I would say that I enjoyed reading the version of Lestrade and Hopkins' sleuthing where they each followed different leads. The two of them taking the time to present their cases before Holmes was fun for me to see unfold but not because they were erroneous in their findings (and Holmes inevitably was victorious) but because of how well it informed readers that this was the way police work back in that era was conducted.
Watson had also observed that although Holmes took pride in his prowess, he doesn't mind giving the credit and spotlight to the two other detectives, because recognition and accolades meant that little to him. All he cared about was demonstrating how the crime was committed and how it can be solved so the ones who are responsible can be brought to justice.
The thing about SCARLET is how there is so much more depth to the murder mystery than just uncovering the identity of the killer and bringing him to trial. Doyle had even spent the second part of his novella by employing a flashback concerning the character Jefferson Hope, the perpetrator for the crimes. Here Doyle contextualized and justified why Hope has killed, and therefore made him a sympathetic, almost anti-hero of a tale that's surreptitiously boils down to that of love and vengeance. The motives this murderer has is to avenge what happened to the woman he loves and the methods he employed to get even with the men who had taken away the love of his life were complex and quite symbolic.
Rather than just explicitly killing them, his two victims were given a choice between two pills inside a bottle in which one of them is lethal. It's a roulette of death then, but with pharmaceuticals instead of loaded gun. Hope wanted to taunt these men since they are of religious faith and to force them to gamble their lives by making a fatal choice is agonizing for them, and that makes for the ultimate satisfactory bonus for Hope's vendetta.
The murder mystery in SCARLET was an unconventional one, relying on the trappings of what was supposedly a straightforward plot about killers and their victims but was fleshed out enormously by Doyle by giving the killer a humanizing backstory as opposed to a nefarious one. His so-called victims were the real villains as far as reader perspective is concerned, and so there was a bittersweet pay-off on Jefferson Hope's end when he had taken justice in his own hands and served it best cold. I don't know about you, but that's how I like my justice.
I don't really have any definitive closing thoughts about SCARLET except to say that this had been a great introduction to what will be a celebrated canon for centuries. Watson's deftness in laying out the groundwork that Holmes is this enigmatic figure who can read people and situations with a sharpness unlike anyone has ever done before is what enhanced the Great Detective for me. Doyle deciding to write using Watson as the POV character also made the prose enjoyable especially as the next stories come along.
This is going to sound as an anti-climactic way to end this post, but this is all I could come up with for now on the fly until the next story in the mix which is THE SIGN OF FOUR. I actually really loved this story much more than I did SCARLET. And I'm excited to get into it soon! But first, Airiz will post her own thoughts next about SCARLET before I start on my intro for SIGN. I'm looking forward to what she has to say!
#HolmesPeerReading: THE SIGN OF THE FOUR
May 12, 2018
Airiz and I have been unfortunately slacking off in our Holmes Peer Reading, but she probably has a better excuse than I have, what with the demands of her work and abundant social life. Me I'm always online and writing for Twitter RP, and that's where most of my creativity is focused on. I was really hoping to turn it around this year, however, which was why I've been writing fanfiction again and even started this peer reading for Sherlockian canon, and I'll do myself an injustice if I don't become consistent with these other commitments.
On my end at least, I've accomplished the first two novels of the canon. My previous twitlonger post about A STUDY IN SCARLET indicated that I've always thought that THE SIGN OF (the) FOUR is a better story, and I definitely stand by that although I should clarify that this is an objective comparison with regards as to how Doyle approached the groundwork of SIGN that feels more intact than the one for SCARLET.
The debut story in question has a few enjoyable aspects for me which had more to do with getting to know Holmes and Watson individually and how they would later on work well together as detective and biographer and eventual loyal friends. The mystery and murder case were only secondary when it came to the appeal of SCARLET, although they did provide memorable instances that we now associate with the Holmes canon. The revenge plot was quintessential in a lot of whoddunnit stories and the detective genre itself, and Doyle was definitely one of the pioneers who would become better at rehashing this trope in a few Holmes short stories after SCARLET.
My main yet slight nitpick of SCARLET, however, was the flashback device Doyle has employed, which also covered the better half of the closing chapters in the novella. One can admire his willingness to experiment on the narrative, of course, although some of that too was indulgent, and I much rather preferred how he wrapped things up here in SIGN that used that kind of flashback device but kept it within the dialogue/confession of the culprit. This was opposed to dedicating an entire three-four chapters of it where the POV completely shifts to a character we will never meet again over the course of the Holmes canon later on.
I won't needlessly discuss each scene sequence and turning point for THE SIGN OF (the) FOUR here in this post since I want to be as succinct about it as possible and just raise the parts that struck me as crucial to discuss. That way, anyone who might read this won't get spoiled of the details concerning the plot in case they are encouraged to pick up the Holmes canon to enjoy for themselves.
(1) THE PLOT (not an in-depth look)
A client by the name of Mary Morstan consulted Sherlock Holmes for an advice regarding a bizarre predicament she's facing. An anonymous sender has offered her expensive pearls as a compensation for an injustice they did not specify but still felt she was owed. Morstan also spoke about her father who disappeared many years ago, and Holmes pointed out the the possible connection between that and this generous patron. Later on she brought them to a man who claimed to be an associate of her father back when they served in the infantry. Things escalated soon enough as a murder took place and the wrong man was arrested. Holmes and Watson had a brief yet entertaining chase across the sea between boats, and the real culprits were revealed to have motives that both humanized them, much like it was in SCARLET. The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a historical point that was contextualized in this story as well. Themes of avarice and revenge were once again used but of a different shade and scale than SCARLET. Hidden treasure and the secrecy surrounding it as well as the betrayal among supposed allies was explored. And then we even got a dash of romance in between pages for Dr. Watson and Mary Morstan whose feelings for one another were apparently mutual.
(2) JOHN WATSON FALLS IN LOVE
There is great reprieve for me to read about the personal narrative of the good doctor regarding his feelings for Mary. One would have thought it would be jarring to read two lovebirds shyly courting one another while all around them chaos prevailed, but this is a Victorian-era novel, so nothing blatantly over-the-top really occurred and the plot never got lost along.
Watson mostly talked about how admirable in spirit Mary was; that her attractiveness was not only because of her 'delicacy of face and manners' but also the iron and calm underneath that. He's essentially a school boy tackling how much he wishes he could hold hands with a girl. Holmes was made aware of Watson's infatuation with Mary from the beginning, but since it had no bearing on the interesting case he was saddled with, he half-heartedly made snarky comments that highlighted his distrust of the opposite sex yet (classic Sherlock) but still told Watson that he's free to pursue the lass if that's what he wanted.
[SPOILER ALERT: He eventually marries Mary some time before the next case happens for The Adventures]
I liked these intervals in the story because they've entertained me. Watson had been a total sap for SIGN when it came to Mary, but he's also a very endearing one who has expressed more of himself as a real person which contrasted the workaholic automaton that Holmes will always be on the other hand. It's worth mentioning that the good doctor was there for Holmes all the way through in the case, acting as a reliable ally and companion who genuinely supported Holmes with every ludicrous idea the Great Detective would have, as Watson often played the role of a sparring partner when it came to Holmes' mental acumen as he goes about solving the case.
Watson mostly talked about how admirable in spirit Mary was; that her attractiveness was not only because of her 'delicacy of face and manners' but also the iron and calm underneath that. He's essentially a school boy tackling how much he wishes he could hold hands with a girl. Holmes was made aware of Watson's infatuation with Mary from the beginning, but since it had no bearing on the interesting case he was saddled with, he half-heartedly made snarky comments that highlighted his distrust of the opposite sex yet (classic Sherlock) but still told Watson that he's free to pursue the lass if that's what he wanted.
[SPOILER ALERT: He eventually marries Mary some time before the next case happens for The Adventures]
I liked these intervals in the story because they've entertained me. Watson had been a total sap for SIGN when it came to Mary, but he's also a very endearing one who has expressed more of himself as a real person which contrasted the workaholic automaton that Holmes will always be on the other hand. It's worth mentioning that the good doctor was there for Holmes all the way through in the case, acting as a reliable ally and companion who genuinely supported Holmes with every ludicrous idea the Great Detective would have, as Watson often played the role of a sparring partner when it came to Holmes' mental acumen as he goes about solving the case.
(3) HOLMES AND THE SEVEN-PERCENT SOLUTION
That is not to say that Holmes' characterization was treated in a wholly clinical manner for this story. In fact, it was in THE SIGN OF (the) FOUR that Doyle revealed that his seemingly perfect Great Detective has a drug habit. Oh yeah, Holmes looooves his cocaine (and the occasional morphine). By modern standards, a drug habit is not only a worrying practice but one that is detrimental to the user and their loved ones. The show ELEMENTARY's focal point of character interpretation for Sherlock Holmes relied heavily on discussing the dangers of him being a heroin addict and how that affects his relationships with his family and the people he works with on a daily basis including his partner (and previous sober companion) Joan Watson. But since the Holmes canon operated on the Victorian era of sexual repression and nilly-willy drug indulgences, his habit can be taken as just another passing quirk that wouldn't really define him as a person except that it really does.
It can be considered as the one fatal flaw of his character. Watson knew it too, and he was rightfully enraged to see his friend using harmful substances that can cause serious repercussions on his brilliant mind in the long run. Holmes, of course, justified it by being a smug dick, citing he needed constant stimulation or else he gets 'bored:
It can be considered as the one fatal flaw of his character. Watson knew it too, and he was rightfully enraged to see his friend using harmful substances that can cause serious repercussions on his brilliant mind in the long run. Holmes, of course, justified it by being a smug dick, citing he needed constant stimulation or else he gets 'bored:
❝mч mínd rєвєls αt stαgnαtíσn. gívє mє prσвlєms, gívє mє wσrk, gívє mє thє mσst αвstrusє crчptσgrαm,
σr thє mσst íntrícαtє αnαlчsís, αnd í αm ín mч σwn prσpєr αtmσsphєrє.
вut í αвhσr thє dull rσutínє σf єхístєncє. í crαvє fσr mєntαl єхαltαtíσn.❞
This is also one of the reasons ELEMENTARY sets itself apart from all the Holmes adaptations as so refreshing and progressive because the writers tackled how damaging a drug addiction could be, and a brilliant man like Sherlock Holmes should never have been exempt to the ill effects it has not only on neurological and emotional levels but also interpersonal. Here in SIGN, Doyle provides a two-fold interpretation of such a behavior where Holmes glorified it as some sort of saving and temporary solution to his 'boredom' whilst a medical professional like Watson argued that it is debilitating and shameful that the most intelligent and sophisticated analyst he has ever met would fall victim to such a vile habit. I could go on and on about his drug habit but I won't. It was still crucial to bring it up though, considering it was the story's cold open and its grim conclusion. The next on the pipeline would be the twelve collected works comprised in THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES. The canon was divided into anthologies like this, so it's more or less like the procedural shows we watch on TV. I'll go so far as to say that modern detective shows borrowed this format from Doyle's canon. I really hope I could get started on A Scandal in Bohemia before this month ends, and that Airiz can catch up to me soon and share her thoughts ✬
#HolmesPeerReading: ADVENTURES part 1
June 09, 2018
I've reached the first anthology of the Holmes canon at last! THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES is comprised of twelve short stories or standalone cases. Think crime procedurals in television shows. That genre of serials might as well hail from Doyle's Holmes canon itself. My idea for my next reviews of this book is that I'll divide the stories in groups of three so that I can discuss everything and hopefully make it as succinct as possible. After all, I can't really spoil too many details for each story, seeing as they are shorts and so the content of my reviews should also reflect that brevity. In the interest of furthering my reviews as an insightful reading material about the Holmes canon, I also want to raise a few observations not necessarily in regards of the plot or mystery/case presented, but also on the characterizations or themes made in each piece. Holmes and Watson's respective development as characters, particularly their personal and/or working relationship, should be a focal point that I must address and tackle as I go on. They are such interesting individuals who continue to capture the imagination of generations of readers throughout the ages, whether here in the source material or in other adaptations.
It's worth noting that the Holmes short stories are not always in chronological order. The Great Detective had a long and illustrious career, and so some cases often never get told or only revealed later in another volume. Watson as the boswell would often publish stories out of order which will become noticeable only with the references he would make here and there to clarify certain dates. There were also references to cases that author Doyle himself never wrote and only added to give the impression of the multitude of cases Holmes had solved (or never solved), hence the reason why writers of today can still write (and had written) their own cases to add as supplemental material. I own six Holmes anthologies complied from several authors, and I can attest that there were a spectacular few I consider worthy enough to be added into the canon itself. But I digress. Let's start talking about the first three cases in ADVENTURES, shall we?
⇠⇠⇠⇠⇠⇠⇠⇠⇠❁⇢⇢⇢⇢⇢⇢⇢⇢⇢
✫⎣Case #01 ✫ A SCANDAL IN BOHEMIA
❛tσ shєrlσck hσlmєs, shє ís αlwαчs /thє/ wσmαn. í hαvє sєldσm hєαrd hím mєntíσn hєr undєr αnч σthєr nαmє. ín hís єчєs, shє єclípsєs αnd prєdσmínαtєs thє whσlє σf hєr sєх. ít's nσt thαt hє fєlt αnч єmσtíσn αkín tσ lσvє fσr írєnє αdlєr. αll єmσtíσns, αnd thαt σnє pαrtículαr, wєrє αвhσrrєnt tσ hís cσld, prєcísє вut αdmírαвlч вαlαncєd mínd...
...αnd чєt thєrє wαs вut σnє wσmαn tσ hím, αnd thαt wσmαn wαs thє lαtє írєnє αdlєr, σf duвíσus αnd quєstíσnαвlє mєmσrч.❜
﹂✦ Next to Professor James Moriarty, Irene Adler was another character strongly associated to Holmes. Most of it was because of the adaptations on screen and the fan fiction they spawned. Readers can interpret Watson's opening paragraph for SCANDAL in the obvious way, which is the fact that Irene Adler must have been Holmes' great (if not only) romantic love. When I was thirteen and started writing fanfics myself, I was understandably sold with this idea. It stemmed mostly from my own self-insert fantasies about being Holmes' own love interest. Young girls tend to do that about their heroes, don't they? Over the years, I've learned to view the potential relationship between them objectively.
﹂✦ Some would argue that Watson himself had already abolished any notion or speculation of a romantic affair by explaining that the Great Detective never allows emotions to govern him, and that his feelings for Ms. Adler remain that of admiration and professional respect. After all, during the course of SCANDAL, she has shown what a remarkably astute and intelligent woman she was and therefore has even bested a great mind like Sherlock Holmes.
﹂✦ It was brought up in THE SIGN OF THE FOUR that Holmes distrusts the opposite sex. Whether or not this makes him a misogynist would depend on more examples that I'm prepared to make as I move along with the volume. There are notable scenes and dialogue that would point out that he sees women in general in an unfavorable light, as much as there are examples where he fought and defended an exceptional woman who impressed him. Irene Adler was one, and so is the governess Violet Hunter who will make her appearance in the last story found in ADVENTURES.
﹂✦ RATING: 8/10
* This story was a good opening for ADVENTURES. We get to see Holmes put on a few disguises as he spies on Irene Adler to uncover a certain photograph. And, as added bonus, he got to put a member of a prominent royal family in his place.
✫⎣Case #02 ✫ THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE
﹂✦ A notable moment in this story had to be Watson's descriptions of Holmes' mood swings. He made observations regarding the man's consuming lethargy when he has no cases to solve or interests to pursue at the moment, which were then contrasted with his high energy and infectious charm every time he was hot upon the scent of a mystery. There were speculations among Holmes scholars and fans that he had a bipolar disorder since the symptoms of his behavior point to that nature. My favorite definitive Holmes actor Jeremy Brett shared this disorder, which lent his performance of the Great Detective some incidental authenticity.
﹂✦ Holmes' passion for the violin and classical masterpieces was also tackled in this story. I think this was the first time Watson and the readers witnessed the softer side of Holmes in which he has displayed keen interested towards arts and music and not just towards science and crime-solving. According to Watson, ❛“thє stαgє lσst α fínє αctσr, єvєn αs scíєncє lσst αn αcutє rєαsσnєr, whєn [hσlmєs] вєcαmє α spєcíαlíst ín crímє.”❜
﹂✦ RATING: 7/10
* The amusing con involving red-headed men is interesting to see get solved. Holmes' shrewdness is enjoyable especially because he was rather cheeky about it too. He also imparted more great lessons about what he does as a scientist and detective, such as: ❛As a rule, the more bizarre a thing is t̲h̲e̲ l̲e̲s̲s̲ ̲m̲y̲s̲t̲e̲r̲i̲o̲u̲s̲ it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless crimes which are r̲e̲a̲l̲l̲y̲ p̲u̲z̲z̲l̲i̲n̲g̲, just as a commonplace face is the most difficult to identify.❜
✫⎣Case #03 ✫ A CASE OF IDENTITY
﹂✦ This story was actually a weak point for me, not only because of how easy it was to figure out the 'mystery' element of the case, but also due to the fact that it ended on a weirdly detached tone in which Holmes didn't even care to disclose the truth to his client, whom he dismissively claimed will never believe it anyway because of her sentiments of the heart. It just didn't sit right with me, is all. Holmes operates on his own morality scale, true, but he just sounded thoroughly negligent here when he never had a problem with brutal honesty before. Not even Watson protested about it when he's the type of fellow who's always eager to jump on a woman's defense, especially if she has been wronged.
﹂✦ RATING: 6/10
* We also don't get to see Holmes and Watson engage in anything remotely resembling an action sequence or a good mental sparring with the 'antagonist'. It really felt as if Doyle was half-asleep while penning this one.
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#HolmesPeerReading: ADVENTURES part 2
June 30, 2018
Why do people love the Sherlock Holmes stories so much, or at least some adaptation of it or another?
Save the Russian drama (which I've heard was pretty brilliant), I've watched a lot of Holmesian adaptations already; from the silver screen series of Basil Rathbone (not as great as I would have wanted), different interpretations from the canon (ᴛʜᴇ ᴘʀɪᴠᴀᴛᴇ ʟɪғᴇ ᴏғ sʜᴇʀʟᴏᴄᴋ ʜᴏʟᴍᴇs and ᴛʜᴇ sᴇᴠᴇɴ ᴘᴇʀᴄᴇɴᴛ sᴏʟᴜᴛɪᴏɴ are great standalones; ʏᴏᴜɴɢ sʜᴇʀʟᴏᴄᴋ ʜᴏʟᴍᴇs, sʜ ᴀɴᴅ ᴛʜᴇ sɪʟᴠᴇʀ sᴛᴏᴄᴋɪɴɢ and ᴀ ᴄᴀsᴇ ᴏғ ᴇᴠɪʟ are unfortunately average) and down to the more recent Guy Ritchie ones with Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law that surprisingly pack a punch. I also loved the animation ᴛʜᴇ ɢʀᴇᴀᴛ ᴍᴏᴜsᴇ ᴅᴇᴛᴇᴄᴛɪᴠᴇ and definitely thought the cinematography and feature film aspect of ʙʙᴄ sʜᴇʀʟᴏᴄᴋ every season to be astounding and entertaining, although I'm much more inclined to still believe its American cousin ᴇʟᴇᴍᴇɴᴛᴀʀʏ to be the more nuanced series when it comes to character development and overall faithful tribute to Doyle's canon itself, especially on the more subtle yet meaningful aspects of his Holmes and Watson and the spirit of how he frames the cases.
The definitive Sherlock Holmes for me, as I've stated over and over since this Peer Reading has begun, is the Granada series with Jeremy Brett as the Great Detective. I've been using him as my GIFs for my posts as well. He's phenomenal in the role and the closest who has ever gotten to what many fans who grew up with the stories would envision Holmes to be in the flesh. So why do people love Sherlock Holmes stories? Well, I think it's because mysteries are a universal staple of storytelling in fiction that often translate to the real world events especially cases that have a hold on our imagination. In an era where serial killings are glorified by the mainstream media, a great majority of people have a morbid fascination for murders and mysteries. What separates Doyle's canon from other works by Pie, Agatha Christie or Raymond Chandler (these authors are big names in the genre, by the way, and y'all should check them out) is not only Holmes himself as the lead detective but how he progresses in the stories which also involved his relationship with Watson, his ever loyal Boswell and associate.
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This review of the next three stories for THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES may be shorter than the previous ones and would barely have enough content in them, but rest assured that the next one will be better.
THE REVIEW WILL BE SPOILER-FREE.
✫⎣Case #04⎦✫ THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY
﹂✦ RATING: 8 / 10
There was something about the way Doyle had penned this story that was the very first one of the Holmes stories so far that managed to build up a creeping sort of suspense. The balance among flashback, exposition and actual action is also consistent; something I've always pointed out as Doyle's weak point in the beginning of his canon that truly does improve the more he keeps writing Holmes stories. I enjoyed the fact that this was a case in which the Scotland Yard has closed already, technically, but a client came forward to Holmes and Watson and asked them to clear the name of the main suspect based only on her woman's intuition that he did not do it. The reason it got a high rating for me aside from the objective elements I've cited was because of its resolution that further sealed to me that Holmes does operate on his own terms of justice. It isn't vigilantism, not even close, but he tends to use a more flexible moral judgment in which he respects that there is a karmic force that needs to be honored and goes beyond what the law he serves would prescribe. That's pretty much as vague as I'm going to get here to avoid a spoiler.
✫⎣Case #05⎦✫ THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS
﹂✦ RATING: 8 / 10
I waa so torn about this story at first, and most readers would probably not find it memorable enough to earn a rating like this. It unfolded solely via flashback during a client's account of events. The ending too didn't offer any definitive resolution. What I did love about it was the level of dread during the flashback that Doyle has captured spectacularly through secondhand description alone.
The name dropping of a certain organization being used here, for me, was a bold move. It revealed Doyle's own political leanings that in turn have influenced how Holmes acted in the story. Midway through Five Orange Pips, readers glimpsed an emotion in Holmes that I felt was necessary to further develop him as not just this crime-solving analytical 'machine' who gives insightful lectures on deductive reasoning and the science of it, but also as a righteous man who does care about his clients and the evils they may face; ones he feels responsible enough to abolish for their sake.
✫⎣Case #06⎦✫ THE MAN WITH A TWISTED LIP
﹂✦ RATING: 7 / 10
This story is so entertaining! It also started differently than most of the stories so far where Watson was in the middle of figuring out a mystery of his own about a friend of his wife's. The entire plot unraveled rather cheekily next, considering the 'mystery' involved was so simple that Doyle had to get very clever about its revelation in the end. It was reminiscent of A CASE OF IDENTITY which was, as I've said in the previous review, rather crappy.
I think Doyle has realized that himself later on and tried to find a way to redeem that shit show through writing another story similar in its aspects yet far more superior in execution. And it worked. There was wit and humor in the way he crafted each scene that kept me engaged enough. Holmes and Watson too felt more like they have developed a real fondness for one another that hasn't yet been that present in the previous stories.
#HolmesPeerReading: ADVENTURES part 3
August 05, 2018
The next three stories for ADVENTURES provided memorable action sequences that truly showcased Doyle's knack for descriptive prose and predilection towards the most mundanely bizarre. I know I haven't been exactly consistent in my reading lately, let alone posting my thoughts about it, but make no mistake: I'm still willing to see this peer reading through. I only have three more stories to go before I'd be finished with ADVENTURES, and, so far, this collection has a varied range of cases that are riveting, baffling and humorous (sometimes even downright unsettling for a few notable exceptions).
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✫⎣Case #07⎦✫ THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE
This can be readily seen as a Christmas story, given that it was set during the yuletide season. I remember this story well mainly because of the Granada adaptation. It started with Watson and Holmes examining a hat whose owner's identity they were trying to discern. It should be no surprise that Holmes had been able to deduce the kind of man who wore it based solely on the physical clues he could see. He's used this truck time and time again, and Watson still finds himself floored about it.
The real case that followed after tackled a thievery which involved a precious royal gem called the blue carbuncle. It was apparently famous and had gone missing. The leads were measly at best, so Holmes had to get creative in how he deduced the stone's whereabouts and how the burglar managed to stash it away without being detected. The answers to that were funny, making the tone of this entire narrative lighthearted and almost comical.
I enjoyed this story because it was goddamn funny in a few places, especially when it was at last resolved, and Holmes confronted the perpetrator. In a twist I should have seen coming, the Great Detective let the man go simply because it was Christmas. That twist was pretty credible to me. After all, Holmes has done the same thing before in which he took it upon himself to not bring a criminal to justice, mostly because of the gray area of the circumstances.
However, doing the same for this case was of petty consequence unlike that other time. Holmes assessed that the thief was not inherently a bad man but only a desperate and foolish one. He also reasoned out that sending said nervous wreck into prison and subjecting him into such harsh conditions may only refine him as a more cynical man who might be more susceptible to commuting worse crimes in the future. It actually made a whole lot of sense. Not sending the man to prison may have been a good way to reform him as opposed to the real punishment of serving time.
So it was essentially a Christmas favor that Holmes let this man off the hook.
﹂✦ RATING: 7/ 10
✫⎣Case #08⎦✫ THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND
I. love. this. story. This was one of the few in ADVENTURES that really stayed with me and captured my imagination because of how seamlessly it flowed from beginning to end. It reeled me instantly as a reader from the moment the client was introduced and she began narrating the odd and subtly sinister situation she was experiencing that prompted her to consult the Great Detective.
This woman had a twin sister who died under suspicious circustmances and whose dying words while delirious haunted her. Holmes and Watson were in-sync at this point of their partnership even though the latter wasn't sure what to expect and was kept in the dark most of the time. Still he trusted Holmes knew what he was doing, and his friend never failed him in that regard.
It's worth noting that SPECKLED is a locked mystery story, which is a staple of the detective genre to this day. Doyle has done an exceptional job building up the tension and suspense by giving up enough clues which would aid us readers to figure them out along with Holmes, although in reality we were just as confused about the events as Watson, who was still a pretty reliable narrator in spite of the chaos and shocking murder twist at the end of the story.
Playing up both the mystery and murder aspects of a detective story is always a delicate balance to maintain, and Doyle for SPECKLED did an excellent job conveying this. I don't want to describe the details of this story at all because I would be hard pressed not to spoil the entire thing. All I can say is that this was clearly one of the best Doyle has written and certainly one of the striking ones.
﹂✦ RATING: 9 / 10
✫⎣Case #09⎦✫ THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB
Fresh from the heart-stopping previous story about a speckled band, this one also delivered when it came to the action and suspense. A good eighty-percent of the short stories in Holmes canon was usually told in flashbacks in which the client would describe in detail events that have transpired before they found themselves in the safety of Baker Street. This one was no exception.
I can say that the riveting account for this one has rivaled that of THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS from last time. The man who told his tale was a hydraulic engineer hired to examine and do repairs for a hydraulic press owned by a family. He had a sinking feeling about the job already, but since it paid well enough, he decided to throw precaution to the wind, which was a big mistake. He found that later on and regrettably so.
The build-up and the actual attempted murder was rendered with chilling passages about how the engineer narrowly escaped death thanks to his perseverance and the kindness and guilty conscience of a stranger in the household. He had lost his thumb, however, but gained a second chance at life at least. The ending was a good simmer from that suspense, although Holmes was unable to apprehend the criminals who tried to kill the engineer since they arrived to late to the scene.
For that lukewarm lack of real resolution, I'm taking another star from my rating although the climactic events were still pretty damn engrossing to read anyway.
﹂✦ RATING: 8 / 10