Editing Sherlock Holmes (section)

==={{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
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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]]
| image2 = Sherlock Holmes Museum 001.jpg
| alt2 = Cluttered room with fireplace, three armchairs and a violin
| caption2 = [[Drawing room]]
}}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>