The Evolution of Sherlock Holmes: Adapting Character Across Time
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The Evolution of Sherlock Holmes: Adapting Character Across Time and Text Ashley D. Polasek Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY awarded by De Montfort University December 2014 Faculty of Art, Design, and Humanities De Montfort University Table of Contents Abstract ........................................................................................................................... iv Acknowledgements .......................................................................................................... v INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................... 1 Theorising Character and Modern Mythology ............................................................ 1 ‘The Scarlet Thread’: Unraveling a Tangled Character ...........................................................1 ‘You Know My Methods’: Focus and Justification ..................................................................24 ‘Good Old Index’: A Review of Relevant Scholarship .............................................................29 ‘Such Individuals Exist Outside of Stories’: Constructing Modern Mythology .......................45 CHAPTER ONE: MECHANISMS OF EVOLUTION ............................................. 62 Performing Inheritance, Environment, and Mutation .............................................. 62 Introduction..............................................................................................................................62 Becoming Sherlock Holmes: Inheriting Character ..................................................................66 Gendering Sherlock Holmes: Environment and Character .....................................................87 Sartorial Sherlock Holmes: Mutations in Character .............................................................122 Conclusion .............................................................................................................................146 CHAPTER TWO: MODES OF SELECTION ........................................................ 148 Directional Shifts and Stabilizing Forms .................................................................. 148 Introduction............................................................................................................................148 Periodisation and Directional Selection: The Hound of the Baskervilles (1939) .................151 Anti-Heroism and Stabilizing Selection: The Post-Millennial Sherlock Holmes ...................170 Conclusion .............................................................................................................................187 CHAPTER THREE: THE EXTENDED PHENOTYPE ........................................ 189 Fan Discourse and Creative Regulation .................................................................... 189 Introduction............................................................................................................................189 Sherlockian Practices: Fan Discourse as Extended Phenotype ............................................193 Copyright and Authority: Ownership as Extended Phenotype ..............................................221 Conclusion .............................................................................................................................242 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................ 244 Sherlock Holmes Across Time and Text ................................................................... 244 Primary Works Cited ................................................................................................. 249 Secondary Works Cited .............................................................................................. 251 APPENDIX A .............................................................................................................. 264 Personal Interview with Stephen Moffat .................................................................. 264 APPENDIX B .............................................................................................................. 268 Personal Interview with Rob Doherty ....................................................................... 268 APPENDIX C .............................................................................................................. 271 Personal Interview with Rob Doherty and Carl Beverly ........................................ 271 APPENDIX D .............................................................................................................. 276 Official Court Filings in the Case of Klinger v. Conan Doyle Estate Ltd. ............. 276 Document 1: Court Complaint ...............................................................................................276 Document 2: Exhibit A ...........................................................................................................284 Document 3: Exhibit B ...........................................................................................................286 Document 4: Exhibit C ...........................................................................................................286 Document 5: Conan Doyle Estate’s Response to Motion for Summary Judgment ................288 APPENDIX E .............................................................................................................. 301 ‘The Elite Devotee Redux’ .......................................................................................... 301 Abstract The aim of this thesis is to introduce, justify, and apply a better framework for analysing Sherlock Holmes, one of the most adapted characters of all time. The project works to resituate the focus of those involved in studying adaptations of Sherlock Holmes from an examination of the discrete transition of a text from page to screen, to the evolution of the character as it changes across various intertexts and through time. The purpose is to show that it is the character specifically, and not the literary text with its narrative, genric, and aesthetic qualifications, that is being adapted, and that with this in mind, studying adaptations of Sherlock Holmes should involve a study of the various processes, pressures, and mechanisms that shape, change, and define the character throughout its hundreds of screen afterlives. This thesis then analyses many of these processes with the aim of contributing to our understanding of how a character like Holmes is moulded through remediation. It takes into account how the character’s indices shift and accumulate as they are variously performed. It also considers how the mechanisms of selection function to privilege certain incarnations of the character, and how that privileging becomes a part of future readings. Finally, it addresses how reception and perception by audiences influence how the character is read, and thus how it is understood. By considering all of these aspects of the evolutionary process, and by avoiding a chronological or even a linear organization of the texts under scrutiny, this work seeks to offer a more complete answer to the question of how a single source can support a multitude of varied, even contradictory adaptations and remain relevant and interesting through the years. iv Acknowledgements This project would not have been possible without the time and effort of a number of people. First and foremost, I owe a deep debt of gratitude to Professor Deborah Cartmell, my principle supervisor during the majority of my PhD work. Her generosity with her time and her expertise have been matched only by her enthusiasm and tireless will to see me succeed. I cannot overstate the value of her positive reinforcement, high expectations, and flexibility as I balanced life in two countries, doctoral research, personal obligations, and a teaching career. I also wish to thank Professor Imelda Whelehan, for sharing both her knowledge and good humour as I sought to begin my work and settle in to life in the UK. We took the first steps along this road together, and I would not have reached the end without her. In addition, I am grateful to other members of the faculty of the School of Art, Design, and Humanities who have never failed to make themselves available when I asked for help, in particular Dr. James Russell for challenging me to think about my work in new ways. I am indebted as well to the membership, and particularly the trustees, of the Association of Adaptation Studies, who have warmly welcomed me into their research community. Professors Jonathan Bignell, Thomas Leitch, Barton Palmer, and Jeremy Strong have each made the time to offer much-appreciated feedback on conference papers, and their willingness to discuss my work with me has helped me shape and refine much of what follows. I have also found valuable assistance and ceaseless encouragement within many disparate, but equally enthusiastic communities of Sherlockians. I am much obliged to the Adventuresses of Sherlock Holmes, the Baker Street Babes, the Baker Street v Irregulars, The Sherlock Holmes Society of London, and many other unaffiliated, but no less supportive Sherlockians for their encyclopaedic knowledge of all things Sherlock and for their eagerness to champion my research. Finally, the pursuit, much less the completion, of this project would not have been possible without my family. I could not have produced this thesis