Sherlock Holmes in Context [Hardcover]

This book of interdisciplinary essays serves to situate the original Sherlock Holmes, and his various adaptations, in a contemporary cultural context. This collection is prompted by three main and related questions: firstly, why is Sherlock Holmes such an enduring and ubiquitous cultural icon; secondly, why is it that Sherlock Holmes, nearly 130 years after his birth, is enjoying such a spectacular renaissance; and, thirdly, what sort of communities, imagined or otherwise, have arisen around this figure since the most recent resurrections of Sherlock Holmes by popular media?  Covering various media and genres (TV, film, literature, theatre) and scholarly approaches, this comprehensive collection offers cogent answers to these questions.This edited collection is distinctive in covering a wide range of media, geographical locations, genres and perspectives, with a central focus on the enduring and ubiquitous appeal of the figure of Sherlock Holmes. It positions Holmes in relation to intellectual history and, in so doing, uses Holmes as a lens of thinking about a range of pressing social issues. The underlying argument in this book, then, is twofold: it demonstrates how Holmes has historically engaged with contemporary social issues, and shows some of the new directions of this tradition across contemporary reincarnations.

Introduction.- Chapter 1. All that Matters is the Work; Ann McClellan.- Chapter 2. Clients who disappear and colleagues who cannot compete; Benedick Turner.-  Chapter 3. I, Too, Mourn the Loss ; Charlotte Beyer.- Chapter 4. The Trickster, Remixed: Sherlock Holmes as Master of Disguise; Benjamin Poore.- Chapter 5. Holmes and his Boswell in Cosplay and Roleplay; Lynn Duffy.- Chapter 6. A Horrific Breakdown of Reason; Sam Naidu.- Chapter 7. Sherlock Holmes and the Fiction of Agency; Martin Wagner. Chapter 8. The Savage Subtext of The Hound of the Baskervilles; David Grylls.- Chapter 9. Holmes into Challenger.; Douglas Kerrl#1