| The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes | |
|---|---|
Dust-jacket illustration of the first edition of The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes |
|
| Author(s) | Arthur Conan Doyle |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Series | Sherlock Holmes |
| Genre(s) | Detective fiction short stories |
| Publisher | John Murray |
| Publication date | 1927 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback) |
| Pages | 320 pp |
| ISBN | NA |
| Preceded by | His Last Bow |
The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes is the final set of twelve Sherlock Holmes short stories (56 total) by Arthur Conan Doyle first published Strand Magazine October 1921 - April 1927. Copyright end is year 1980 Canada, 2000 UK, but not till 2016-23 US. [1]
Contents |
The first British edition and the first American edition of the collection were both published in June 1927. However, they had slightly different titles. The title of the British collection was The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes (hyphenated "Case-Book"), whereas title of the American was The Case Book of Sherlock Holmes ("Case Book" as two words).
Further confusing the issue of the title, some later publishers publish the collection under the title The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes ("Casebook" as a single word).
The original chronological order in which the twelve stories in The Case-Book were published is as follows:
However, many newer editions of The Case-Book favour the following ordering:
Because of the two orderings, "The Adventure of the Retired Colourman" has often been incorrectly identified as the last Sherlock Holmes story written by Arthur Conan Doyle to be published, when the last such story to be published is in fact "The Adventure of Shoscombe Old Place".
The original title "Reminiscences of Mr. Sherlock Holmes" was to be for occasional tales to "reflect particular concerns of Conan Doyle beyond exciting whodunit plots ... exploring changes in the modern world". The first Reminiscence about Wistaria Lodge, "a dictator who has ruined a small country", fictionalizes his later "blistering indictment of the Belgian treatment of the people of the Congo". [2]
The Case-Book is notable for containing three stories not narrated by Dr. Watson, as most Sherlock Holmes stories are. "The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone" is narrated in the third person, since it was adapted from a stage play in which Watson hardly appeared. "The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier" and "The Adventure of the Lion's Mane" are both narrated by Holmes himself, the latter being set after his retirement.
Although some of the stories are comparable with Doyle's earlier work, this collection is often considered a lesser entry in the Sherlock Holmes canon. David Stuart Davies has commented that "The Adventure of the Creeping Man" "veers towards risible science fiction"; in the 1974 novel The Seven-Per-Cent Solution, author Nicholas Meyer's Watson claims that this entry, as well as three others from the Case-Book ("The Mazarin Stone", "The Three Gables" and "The Lion's Mane"), are forged "drivel".
Accordingly, many Holmesian aficionados and scholars consider the stories contained in The Case-Book to be among the least impressive in the Holmes canon, claiming that they were written at a time when Doyle was preoccupied with Spiritualism and séances, and less interested in continuing to produce Sherlock Holmes stories, which he regarded as a distraction. (By the time The Case-Book was published, 40 years had passed since publication of the first Holmes adventure, although sales remained very strong.)
However, this view is challenged by the experimental nature of the collection, which suggests that Doyle, rather than cranking out stories by formula, was keeping his interest in Holmes alive by exploring unconventional storytelling methods, such as having Holmes narrate the stories. Additionally, The Case-Book features some of the most unusual villains in the Holmesian canon, including children and animals. The collection is also notable for its recurring depictions of mutilation and disfigurement (as in "The Adventure of the Illustrious Client," "The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier," "The Adventure of the Lion's Mane," and "The Adventure of the Veiled Lodger") and mental derangement ("The Problem of Thor Bridge," "The Adventure of the Creeping Man," "The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire"), indicating the effect that the first World War had upon Doyle. As a result, The Case-Book stands as one of the darkest Holmesian collections.
Texts on Wikisource:
Wikilivres is hosted in Canada, where the full book is already out of copyright.
|
||||||||||||||||