“Now Watson, the Fair Sex Is Your Department”: Gender and Sexuality in Post-2010 Sherlock Holmes Adaptations

“NOW WATSON, THE FAIR SEX IS YOUR DEPARTMENT”: GENDER AND SEXUALITY IN POST-2010 SHERLOCK HOLMES ADAPTATIONS by ANNETTE EILEEN WREN Bachelor of Arts - English, 2011 University of Texas at Austin Austin, Texas Bachelor of Arts - History, 2011 University of Texas at Austin Austin, Texas Master of Arts - Literature, 2014 Auburn University Auburn, Alabama Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of AddRan College of Liberal Arts Texas Christian University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy December 2019 For the College of Liberal Arts Copyright by Annette Eileen Wren 2019 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I dedicate this dissertation to the women who inspired, encouraged, and taught me to persevere in pursuing my dreams. I would not be here, writing this massive piece of text, without their love and support. To my mother, who never told me “no” when I asked for a new book and pushed me to aim for independence, intelligence, and achievement. Thank you for your unconditional love, pep talks, campus visits, and life advice. To my nana, for her encouragement, love, and enthusiasm for everything I did. You showered me with attention and showed me how to appreciate and spoil the people I cherish in my life. I know you’re proud of me. To my granny, for showing me how to be unfailingly kind and patient. While I will never live up to your example, you will always inspire me to give back to my friends and family. To my sister, for her inspiring fierceness and independent spirit. To my sister-in-law, for her friendship and kindness. To the (s)heroes who, while not my blood relations, hold special meaning to me. To T., for the late-night Skype talks, encouragement, and laughs. To K., for her exuberant spirit and refusal to say “no” to any adventure. And to W., for her intelligence and admirable warrior spirit. And, of course, to my dissertation co-chairs, Dr. Linda K. Hughes and Dr. Sarah Robbins. Without their guidance, support, and enthusiastic encouragement of my work, I would not be here today. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS……………………………………………………………………….ii LIST OF FIGURES………………………………………………………………………………iv Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………..1 Chapter One……………………………………………………………………………………...37 Chapter Two……………………………………………………………………………………...89 Chapter Three…………………………………………………………………………………...147 Chapter Four……………………………………………………………………………………201 “The Adventure of the Elephant Figurine” (Conclusion)………………………………………262 Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………………288 iii LIST OF FIGURES Introduction Figure I.1..………………………………………………………………………………..11 Chapter Two Figure 2.1………………………………………………………………………………...95 Figure 2.2……………………………………………………………………………….105 Figure 2.3……………………………………………………………………………….108 Figure 2.4……………………………………………………………………………….110 Figure 2.5……………………………………………………………………………….113 Figure 2.6……………………………………………………………………………….115 Figure 2.7……………………………………………………………………………….121 Figure 2.8……………………………………………………………………………….124 Figure 2.9……………………………………………………………………………….132 Figure 2.10……………………………………………………………………………...133 Figure 2.11……………………………………………………………………………...138 Figure 2.12……………………………………………………………………………...139 Figure 2.13……………………………………………………………………………...143 Chapter Three Figure 3.1……………………………………………………………………………….167 Figure 3.2……………………………………………………………………………….172 Figure 3.3……………………………………………………………………………….178 Figure 3.4……………………………………………………………………………….179 Figure 3.5……………………………………………………………………………….193 Chapter Four Figure 4.1……………………………………………………………………………….211 Figure 4.2……………………………………………………………………………….223 Figure 4.3……………………………………………………………………………….227 iv Introduction “So, with Sherlock Holmes, the ball – the original nucleus deposited by Edgar Allan Poe nearly forty years earlier – was at last set rolling. As it went, it swelled into a vast mass – it set off others – it became a spate – a torrent – an avalanche of mystery fiction.” -Dorothy L. Sayers, “The Omnibus of Crime” Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Murder in the Rue Morgue” (1841) with protagonist C. Auguste Dupin is often cited as the first piece of detective fiction. While recent studies and investigations into detective fiction’s roots have put forth other contenders for the “first” detective story (such as Catherine Crowe’s The Adventures of Susan Hopley, or, Circumstantial Evidence [1841]), 1 the larger point is not the first detective story or detective figure but rather the genre’s enduring and pervasive popularity. This popularity comes, in part, from the genre’s cultural and social significance. The detective genre has “long-been heralded as an especially useful vehicle for social commentary and critique – indeed, since the detective novels (and detective films) are products of mass consumption they have the ability to make this commentary to quite a large and diverse audience” (Humann 16). Thus, I highlight the detective genre’s increasing attention to its elasticity, which is embodied in its ability to operate “as different things to readers at different times”; most recently, trends in detective fiction have focused on re-casting, re-imagining, and generally deconstructing the genre itself (Humann 16). This ability is a worthwhile point of study because it emphasizes wider social and cultural movements that challenge societal norms. This dissertation specifically examines how the detective genre reflects social and cultural conversations regarding gender and sexuality. Sherlock Holmes of 221B Baker Street is the quintessential detective in Anglo-American culture. The product of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s imagination and inspired by his mentor Dr. 1 Catherine Crowe (1790-1872) rose to popularity as a novelist primarily for her works regarding spiritualism and middle- and lower-class domestic life (Wilkes). Susan Hopley is considered a contender to the title of the first crime novel and Susan herself the first detective. 1 Joseph Bell, Sherlock Holmes made his entrance in Beeton’s Christmas Annual in 1887 with “A Study in Scarlet.” Holmes is the “Great Detective” whose identity, according to Lynnette Porter, “is determined by the way he processes information” (“Introduction” 1-2). Conan Doyle’s consulting detective was an instant success; while there are certainly precursors to Holmes, “no one brought it all together like [Conan] Doyle. Sherlock Holmes comes alive in his stories. [Holmes] stands out from the pages because he not only seems real…but he also feels wholly original” (Ashley 49-50). As a result, Sherlock Holmes is of paramount importance to the development of the detective genre. His narratives, hugely popular and running from 1887-1927, created a formula for future detectives to follow (or, alternatively, challenge) and his almost immediate adaptation to other media like the theater and radio gave Holmes a versatility that means he is never far from popular culture’s imagination. Moreover, as a product of mass consumption and best-recognized figure in detective fiction, Sherlock Holmes “allows the audience to relate or be attracted to him” (“Introduction” 3). This reciprocal relationship emphasizes not only Holmes’s popularity, but his elasticity. He can signify different social, cultural, and even political values to his audiences across time and place. In this dissertation, I examine the Sherlock Holmes canon’s2 post-2010 adaptations and appropriations from the perspective of gender and sexuality. I will argue that the adaptations and appropriations under discussion in the next four chapters are outlets for experimenting with the reevaluation of gender norms and sexuality in contemporary Anglo-American society and culture. This experimentation aims to combat and challenge those norms, with varying degrees of success. I also make additional connections to how this contribution both contradicts and continues themes present in the Sherlock Holmes canon. The radical shift between canon and 2 I use the term “canon” to refer to the original Sherlock Holmes stories written by Conan Doyle. 2 post-2010 adaptation emphasizes Heather Duerre Humann’s argument that the detective genre participates in and reflects “widely held (and still-shifting) societal attitudes about gender norms” (27). This participation reflects the genre’s inherent elasticity and these Sherlock Holmes adaptations and appropriations explore more nuanced views of gender and sexuality, a development at odds with the Sherlock Holmes canon. As a whole, the new developments in adaptation and appropriation contribute to a wider trend in the detective genre away from conservative, heteronormative values and towards embracing the genre’s elasticity and providing a more nuanced and radical understanding of gender and sexuality. Detective Fiction and its History Detective fiction originates from the more general genre of “crime fiction,” a genre which grew first and foremost from worsening conditions in crowded, industrial cities where “the newspaper coverage kept the focus on the issue of crime and increased the public’s appetite” for sensationalized stories (Thompson and Fitzgerald 6). This volume of crime writing greatly influenced subsequent representations of criminality, but “allowed no ‘textual space’ for the figure of the detective” (Priestman 3). Instead, the fictional detective and the detective genre had to wait for the first real-life detectives to emerge. The word “detective” originated in an article for Chambers’s Journal from 1843, which referred to plain clothes “detective police” (Ashley 41). This article, “The London Police,” outlines the history of law enforcement in London and introduces this new type

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