The Game Is Afoot

May 16, 2022
Historian Black (A Brief History of Portugal) aims to provide in this sloppy study “a history of England both from the perspective of the Holmes stories and so as to help in their elucidation.” The author explores the economics behind rebuilding sites in London as referenced in Conan Doyle’s stories, describes the political controversies of the late Victorian and early Edwardian era that inform Holmes’s motivations, explains Holmes’s relation to society given the times (with its “emphasis on individuals and their propensity to good or evil”), and breaks down how “empire is always present in the Holmes world.” But his historical analysis is marred by granular details that add little value (such as early 20th-century coal, lignite, and pig-iron production statistics). A baffling conclusion—that Holmes’s “most amazing characteristic, indeed, is not his prodigious intellect but, instead, his ability to bridge social groups in appearance and behaviour”—won’t resonate with most who’ve read the stories, and Black’s larger points are lost among some other strange conclusions—for instance his comment that since villain Moriarty is described as “very tall pale,” rather than “swarthy,” he “certainly” could not be Jewish. Readers interested in the political and social lives of Holmes’s contemporaries will be much better served by Leslie Klinger’s The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes.

April 1, 2022
Why has Sherlock Holmes stood the test of time? The answer might not be elementary, according to this thought-provoking book. Black, a veteran historian who has published more than 180 books, is interested in why Holmes has been so popular for so long. The author, a meticulous researcher, begins with Victorian England, where most of Arthur Conan Doyle's stories are set. It was a time of radical cultural change, with technology and reason supplanting religious faith and the mercantile class beginning to push the old aristocracy aside. Holmes' capacity for deductive reasoning and forensic science fit well in this milieu, and many of the villains are nouveau riche types. A surprising number of Americans, usually of the robber baron variety, wander through the pages of Doyle's stories as well. Black, while acknowledging Holmes' legendary intelligence, emphasizes that he was also a man of action, ready to don working-class disguises and fight if necessary. This duality that allowed Holmes to transcend his 19th-century origins also inspired a legion of imitators. As the stories developed, Holmes became more rounded and fully fleshed alongside his steady partner, Watson. The Holmes character is perfect for the big screen, with Basil Rathbone depicting him as a sophisticated, moral figure. Many actors have portrayed Holmes, and Robert Downey's recent version brought a broad streak of dark comedy and emphasized the Holmes-Watson relationship. In the TV series Sherlock, Holmes, played by Benedict Cumberbatch, was transplanted to modern London, and Watson's casebook morphed into a blog. The innovative series Elementary put them in New York, with Holmes as a recovering addict and Watson as his sober partner. One unfortunate omission from the book is the 2015 movie Mr. Holmes, in which Ian McKellen deftly plays Holmes as an aged, lonely figure, terrified of the dementia closing in. But this is a small point, and Black delivers an interesting, authoritative read. A detailed study that adds new depth to an iconic character.

COPYRIGHT(2022) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.