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.

Offers a wide-ranging reconceptualization of the role of Sherlock Holmes within contemporary culture Takes an interdisciplinary approach to exploring the enduring appeal of Arthur Conan Doyle's best-loved creation Approaches Holmes from surprising alternative angles to explore the scope of the character's influence across the literary world

Autorentext

Sam Naidu is Associate Professor in the Department of English, Rhodes University, South Africa. Her main research and teaching areas are crime and detective fiction and transnational literature. She has published widely on South African crime and detective fiction and also on indigenous folklore and ethnography in colonial South Africa.

Inhalt

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 Kerr.- Chapter 10. Modernising Holmes; Emily Garside.