Editing Sherlock Holmes (section)

==Legacy==
==={{anchor|Role in the history of the detective story}}The detective story===
[[File:Statue of Sherlock Holmes in Edinburgh.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=Statue of Holmes, holding a pipe|Statue of Holmes in an [[Inverness cape]] and a [[deerstalker]] cap on Picardy Place in [[Edinburgh]] (Conan Doyle's birthplace)]]
Although Holmes is not the original fictional detective, his name has become synonymous with the role. Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories introduced multiple literary devices that have become major conventions in detective fiction, such as the companion character who is not as clever as the detective and has solutions explained to him (thus informing the reader as well), as with [[Dr. Watson]] in the Holmes stories. Other conventions introduced by Doyle include the arch-criminal who is too clever for the official police to defeat, like Holmes's adversary [[Professor Moriarty]], and the use of forensic science to solve cases.<ref name=":1"/>

The Sherlock Holmes stories established crime fiction as a respectable genre popular with readers of all backgrounds, and Doyle's success inspired many contemporary detective stories.<ref name=smith/> Holmes influenced the creation of other "eccentric [[gentleman detective]]" characters, like [[Agatha Christie]]'s fictional detective [[Hercule Poirot]], introduced in 1920.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: Detecting Social Order|last=Jann|first=Rosemary|publisher=Twayne Publishers|year=1995|isbn=978-0805783841|page=16}}</ref> Holmes also inspired a number of anti-hero characters "almost as an antidote to the masterful detective", such as the [[gentleman thief]] characters [[A. J. Raffles]] (created by [[E. W. Hornung]] in 1898) and [[Arsène Lupin]] (created by [[Maurice Leblanc]] in 1905).<ref name=smith>{{Cite book|last=Smith|first=Daniel|title=The Sherlock Holmes Companion: An Elementary Guide|publisher=Aurum Press|location=London|year=2014|edition=Updated|orig-year=2009|pages=107–108|isbn=978-1-78131-404-3}}</ref>

==="Elementary, my dear Watson"===
The phrase "Elementary, my dear Watson" has become one of the most quoted and iconic aspects of the character. However, although Holmes often observes that his conclusions are "elementary", and occasionally calls Watson "my dear Watson", the phrase "Elementary, my dear Watson" is never uttered in any of the sixty stories by Conan Doyle.<ref name="bostrom183">{{cite book|title=From Holmes to Sherlock|last=Boström|first=Mattias|publisher=[[Mysterious Press]]|year=2018|isbn=978-0-8021-2789-1|page=182|title-link=From Holmes to Sherlock}}</ref> One of the nearest approximations of the phrase appears in "[[The Adventure of the Crooked Man]]" (1893) when Holmes explains a deduction: {{"'}}Excellent!' I cried. 'Elementary,' said he."<ref name="snopes">{{cite web|url=https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/elementary-my-dear-watson/|title=Sherlock Holmes and 'Elementary, My Dear Watson'|last=Mikkelson|first=David|date=2 July 2006|website=[[Snopes.com]]|access-date=27 December 2019|archive-date=31 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211031104708/https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/elementary-my-dear-watson/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="yale">{{cite book | last = Shapiro | first = Fred | author-link = Fred R. Shapiro | title = The Yale Book of Quotations | date = 30 October 2006 | publisher = [[Yale University Press]] | page = [https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780300107982/page/215 215] | url = https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780300107982 | url-access = registration | isbn = 978-0300107982}}</ref>

[[William Gillette]] is widely considered to have originated the phrase with the formulation, "Oh, this is elementary, my dear fellow", allegedly in his 1899 play ''[[Sherlock Holmes (play)|Sherlock Holmes]]''. However, the script was [[Sherlock Holmes (play)#Revisions|revised numerous times]] over the course of some three decades of revivals and publications, and the phrase is present in some versions of the script, but not others.<ref name="bostrom183" /> The appearance of the line "Elementary, my dear Potson" in a Sherlock Holmes parody from 1901 has led some authors to speculate that, rather than this being an incidental formulation, the parodist drew upon an already well-established occurrences of "Elementary, my dear Watson."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2013/07/19/sherlock-holmes/|title=A Study in Sherlock: Holmesian homages for Benedict's birthday|last=Tovey|first=Beth|date=19 July 2013|website=Oxford Dictionaries|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180711042152/https://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2013/07/19/sherlock-holmes/|archive-date=11 July 2018|access-date=30 December 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Shapiro |first=Fred R. |title=The New Yale Book of Quotations |publisher=Yale University Press |year=2021 |isbn=978-0-300-20597-8 |pages=226}}</ref>

The exact phrase, as well as close variants, can be seen in newspaper and journal articles as early as 1909.<ref name="bostrom183" /><ref>{{cite web|url=http://quoteinvestigator.com/2016/07/14/watson/|title=Elementary, My Dear Watson|website=Quote Investigator|date=14 July 2016 |access-date=3 January 2017}}</ref> It was also used by [[P. G. Wodehouse]] in his novel ''[[Psmith, Journalist]]'', which was first serialised in ''[[The Captain (magazine)|The Captain]]'' magazine between October 1909 and February 1910; the phrase occurred in the January 1910 instalment. The phrase became familiar with the American public in part due to its use in [[Sherlock Holmes (1939 film series)|the Rathbone-Bruce series of films]] from 1939 to 1946.<ref>{{cite book | last = Bunson| first = Matthew |author-link=Matthew Bunson | title = Encyclopedia Sherlockiana | publisher = [[Macmillan Publishers]] | year=1997| pages = 72–73 | isbn =0-02-861679-0 }}</ref>

==={{anchor|"The Great Game"}}The Great Game===
{{Main|Sherlockian game}}
[[File:221B Baker Street.JPEG|thumb|alt=Overhead floor plan of Holmes's lodgings|Russ Stutler's view of [[221B Baker Street]]]]{{multiple image
| align = right
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| header = Sherlock Holmes Museum, London
| image1 = Sherlock Holmes Museum Study 2.jpg
| alt1 = Cluttered desk with books, jars, sculpted elephants and other objects
| caption1 = [[Study (room)|Study]]
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| alt2 = Cluttered room with fireplace, three armchairs and a violin
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}}Conan Doyle's 56 short stories and four novels are known as the "[[Canon of Sherlock Holmes|canon]]" by Holmes aficionados. The Great Game (also known as the Holmesian Game, the Sherlockian Game, or simply the Game, also the Higher Criticism) applies the methods of literary and especially [[Biblical criticism]] to the canon, operating on the pretense that Holmes and Watson were real people and that Conan Doyle was not the author of the stories but Watson's [[literary agent]]. From this basis, it attempts to resolve or explain away contradictions in the canon—such as the location of Watson's war wound, described as being in his shoulder in ''A Study in Scarlet'' and in his leg in ''The Sign of Four''—and clarify details about Holmes, Watson and their world, such as the exact dates of events in the stories, combining historical research with references from the stories to construct scholarly analyses.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Todd |first=David |date=16 November 1987 |title=The enduring cult of Sherlock Holmes |url=https://archive.macleans.ca/article/1987/11/16/the-enduring-cult-of-sherlock-holmes |access-date=2 January 2023 |website=Maclean's |language=en-US |archive-date=2 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230102185355/https://archive.macleans.ca/article/1987/11/16/the-enduring-cult-of-sherlock-holmes |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="wnyc.org">{{cite web|url=https://www.wnyc.org/story/108864-study-sherlock/|title=A Study in Sherlock|last=Montague|first=Sarah|date=13 January 2011|publisher=WNYC: New York, New York Public Radio|access-date=14 June 2018|archive-date=15 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190415164256/https://www.wnyc.org/story/108864-study-sherlock/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://bakerstreetirregulars.com/2011/01/15/grand-game-volume-one/|title=The Grand Game Vol. One: 1902–1959|date=15 January 2011|website=The Baker Street Irregulars|language=en|access-date=31 December 2019|archive-date=31 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191231181037/https://bakerstreetirregulars.com/2011/01/15/grand-game-volume-one/|url-status=live}}</ref>

For example, one detail analyzed in the Game is Holmes's birth date. The chronology of the stories is notoriously difficult, with many stories lacking dates and many others containing contradictory ones. [[Christopher Morley]] and [[William Baring-Gould]] contend that the detective was born on 6 January 1854, the year being derived from the statement in "His Last Bow" that he was 60 years of age in 1914, while the precise day is derived from broader, non-canonical speculation.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/06/the-curious-case-of-a-birthday-for-sherlock/|title=The Curious Case of a Birthday for Sherlock|last=Lee|first=Jennifer|date=6 January 2009|website=The New York Times|access-date=15 June 2018|archive-date=14 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180114021244/https://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/06/the-curious-case-of-a-birthday-for-sherlock/|url-status=live}}</ref> This is the date the Baker Street Irregulars work from, with their annual dinner being held each January.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sherlockian.net/investigating/about-holmes/|title=About Sherlock Holmes|website=Sherlockian.Net|access-date=15 June 2018|archive-date=4 April 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200404170057/http://www.sherlockian.net/investigating/about-holmes/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bsiweekend.com/|title=Baker Street Irregulars Weekend Activities|date=5 November 2011|website=Baker Street Irregulars Weekend Activities|access-date=28 August 2012|archive-date=20 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190520185949/http://www.bsiweekend.com/|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Laurie R. King]] instead argues that details in "The ''Gloria Scott''" (a story with no precise internal date) indicate that Holmes finished his second (and final) year of university in 1880 or 1885. If he began university at age 17, his birth year could be as late as 1868.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.laurierking.com/?page_id=769|title=LRK on: Sherlock Holmes|last=King|first=Laurie R.|website=Laurie R. King|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110127142236/http://www.laurierking.com/?page_id=769#chronology|archive-date=27 January 2011|access-date=10 January 2011}}</ref>

===Museums and special collections===
For the 1951 [[Festival of Britain]], Holmes's [[living room]] was reconstructed as part of a Sherlock Holmes exhibition, with a collection of original material. After the festival, items were transferred to [[The Sherlock Holmes]] (a London pub) and the Conan Doyle collection housed in [[Lucens]], Switzerland, by the author's son, [[Adrian Conan Doyle|Adrian]]. Both exhibitions, each with a Baker Street sitting-room reconstruction, are open to the public.<ref name="Swissinfo">{{cite web|url=http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/two-sherlock-holmes-museums-in-switzerland--elementary-/14590|title=Two Sherlock Holmes museums in Switzerland? Elementary!|website=Swissinfo|date=9 August 2001|access-date=26 October 2014|archive-date=25 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181025154941/http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/two-sherlock-holmes-museums-in-switzerland--elementary-/14590|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1969, the [[Toronto Reference Library]] began a collection of materials related to Conan Doyle. Stored today in Room 221B, this vast collection is accessible to the public.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/books-video-music/specialized-collections/literature-genre-doyle.jsp|title=Arthur Conan Doyle Collection|website=Toronto Public Library|language=en|access-date=31 December 2019|archive-date=4 January 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200104113832/https://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/books-video-music/specialized-collections/literature-genre-doyle.jsp|url-status=live}}</ref> Similarly, in 1974 the [[University of Minnesota]] founded a collection that is now "the world's largest gathering of material related to Sherlock Holmes and his creator". Access is closed to the general public, but is occasionally open to tours.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.lib.umn.edu/holmes|title=Sherlock Holmes · University of Minnesota Libraries|website=www.lib.umn.edu|access-date=31 December 2019|archive-date=11 September 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190911142423/https://www.lib.umn.edu/holmes|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.mprnews.org/story/2015/06/27/books-thread-sherlock-archive-minnesota|title=Exploring the largest Sherlock Holmes archive in the world|last=Mumford|first=Tracy|date=27 June 2015|website=MPR News|access-date=31 December 2019|archive-date=7 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210507005054/https://www.mprnews.org/story/2015/06/27/books-thread-sherlock-archive-minnesota|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1990, the [[Sherlock Holmes Museum]] opened on Baker Street in London, followed the next year by a museum in [[Meiringen]] (near the Reichenbach Falls) dedicated to the detective.<ref name="Swissinfo" /> A private Conan Doyle collection is a permanent exhibit at the [[Portsmouth City Museum]], where the author lived and worked as a physician.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.visitportsmouth.co.uk/conandoyle|title=Conan Doyle Collection|website=www.visitportsmouth.co.uk|access-date=31 December 2019|archive-date=31 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191231065342/https://www.visitportsmouth.co.uk/conandoyle|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Postcolonial criticism===

The Sherlock Holmes stories have been scrutinized by a few academics for themes of empire and colonialism.

Susan Cannon Harris claims that themes of contagion and containment are common in the Holmes series, including the metaphors of Eastern foreigners as the root cause of "infection" within and around Europe.<ref name=":04">{{Cite journal|last=Harris|first=Susan Cannon|date=2003|title=Pathological Possibilities: Contagion and Empire in Doyle's Sherlock Holmes Stories|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25058636|journal=Victorian Literature and Culture|volume=31|issue=2|pages=447–466|doi=10.1017/S1060150303000238|doi-broken-date=1 November 2024 |jstor=25058636|s2cid=162476755|issn=1060-1503|access-date=11 May 2021|archive-date=29 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210529015806/https://www.jstor.org/stable/25058636|url-status=live}}</ref> Lauren Raheja, writing in the Marxist journal ''Nature, Society, and Thought'', claims that Doyle used these characteristics to paint eastern colonies in a negative light, through their continually being the source of threats. For example, in one story, Doyle makes mention of the [[Sumatra]]n cannibals (also known as [[Batak]]) who throw poisonous darts, and in "The Speckled Band", a "long residence in the tropics" was a negative influence on one antagonist's bad temper.<ref name=":13">Raheja, Lauren. "Anxieties of Empire in Doyle's Tales of Sherlock Holmes". ''Nature, Society, and Thought'', vol. 19, no. 4, 2006, p. 417, ProQuest Central.</ref> Yumna Siddiqi argues that Doyle depicted returned colonials as "marginal, physically ravaged characters that threaten the peace", while putting non-colonials in a much more positive light.<ref name=":23">{{Cite journal|last=Siddiqi|first=Yumna|date=2006|title=The Cesspool of Empire: Sherlock Holmes and the Return of the Repressed|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25058745|journal=Victorian Literature and Culture|volume=34|issue=1|pages=233–247|doi=10.1017/S1060150306051138|jstor=25058745|s2cid=162557404|issn=1060-1503|access-date=11 May 2021|archive-date=19 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210419050827/https://www.jstor.org/stable/25058745|url-status=live}}</ref>