Sherlock Holmes once again, persona letters, and "Finding Neverland"

[newmoonstar]

I've finally finished reading all the Sherlock Holmes stories. *cries*

(And as I predicted, I did feel slightly as though I had cheated on Valley of Fear so I did go back and skim over the flashback, just so I would have closure.)

In my grief, I have now decided to venture into the vast and frightening world of pastiche. Cross your fingers for me.

I've noticed that traces of Sherlock Holmes have been unconciously wending their way into my writing. On going over my first letter to my friend Abby for our game of persona letters, I found a lot of elements from The Sign of Four in it. Even the names! But I don't think Abby's ever read any Holmes, so hopefully she won't notice!

I finally did see Finding Neverland the other day. It was a beautiful film. Everyone in the theater was crying by the end, myself included. But it wasn't syrupy or sentimental, which is always a miracle in Hollywood. And the child actors they got weren't hammy, which is an even greater miracle in Hollywood. And once again I was confirmed in my belief that Kate Winslet is the most beautiful actress on screen today. (And Johnny Depp was quite pretty himself! ;-D)

Comments

pastiches

[hanspfall.livejournal.com]

Ugh. I was trying to think of some pastiches that I could recommend to you - I've read hundreds - but really, there are none. Hopefully you will have better luck (and if so, write about it! I'd love to find a good one).

My personal experience is that too many people try to take the Holmes format to long form and make it into a novel - like The Seven Per-Cent Solution - although it did not try the classic Holmes format.

I've found the only acceptable pastiches were of the short story variety - of which there are several dozens of collections available. Each collection might have a few good stories that are worthy - not a ringing endorsement, but that is part of the fun of being a Holmes snob.

One book that I read that was at least interesting was Mark Frost's The List of Seven (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0380720191/qid=1110292691/sr=2-4/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_4/102-0631318-6485714). It takes a position similar to the movie you mentioned, Murder Rooms, in that it focuses on Doyle as a young man. ACD stumbles upon some occult mysteries (types of things that he would embrace later in his life) and a brilliant operative for The Crown that battles malicious occult doings. The operative, along with Doyle's adventures with him, are suggested to be the origins of Sherlock Holmes.

It is an interesting book (even if, at times, it tries to hard for a connection) - there appears to be a sequel tho' I have not read it yet. The author, Frost, was the co-creater of Twin Peaks and works with David Lynch a lot - so the weird factor and visual writing is pretty far up there.

[hanspfall.livejournal.com]

Sorry for the spam, but . . .

Also try Agatha Christie's Poirot. Short form "sitting room" mysteries that is obviously inspired by Holmes. Hercule is probably closer in format and content that any pastiche that I have read.

What I was saying before about long form was that a proper novel, which even ACD never did with SH, is too hard to pull off and the leave the reader satified with Holmes' brilliance. Even the novellas that ACD did had a substantial part of the interior dedicated to flashbacks - except for The Hound which, of course, is my personal least favorite of the peak works.

Re: pastiches

[newmoonstar]

I really do think the reason most pastiche novels don't work is because the ARE novels. Holmes is very strong. He needs to be taken in small doses. ;-D

(Even in the novels of the canon, Holmes is out of the picture for at least half the time!)

I've been looking for some pastiche short story collections, but my local library is quite barren in that department. And I never buy books before I read them.

[newmoonstar]

I love Poirot!

At least, I love the filmed versions; I've never actually sat down and read any of the books, which is perfectly shocking for somebody named after Agatha Christie, so I'm sure I'll have to someday.

And I love The Hound! It was the first Holmes story I ever read, and it's what got me hooked! But it is substantially different in style and tone from almost every other work in the canon, so I could see why some people might not like it as well. Of course, it's for that same reason that some people call it the best work in the canon!

[hanspfall.livejournal.com]

My wife and I watch the David Suchet Poirot like a religion. We did not catch them on A&E or PBS, so we netflix them on a regular basis. We're down to the last disc of episodes - but we have several of feature length specials left.

Just watched ...Case at Styles last night as a matter of fact.

Two more recommendations - hopefully not unwelcomed: First, Edgar Allen Poe's GOLD BUG and all of the C. Auguste Dupin mysteries. These are the ACD admitted "origins" of Sherlock Holmes.

I have a Poe Virtual Library link over on my LJ page - I can't remember it right now.

Second would be Lawrence Block's BUGLAR series. These are easily identified by title, THE BUGLAR WHO . . .

These are set in modern day NYC, but they are nothing more than an update to the English Mystery made famous by Doyle and Christie. Block is not one of the many hacks out there writing that kind of mystery these days - he is one of the post-noir American Mystery Masters. Block is humorous with outstanding dialogue as well.

I might have a soft spot for the protagonist, a gentlemen cat burglar (think TO CATCH A THEIF) named Bernie Rhodenbarr, because he owns a used book store - as me and my wife do ;).

Ah, if you are interested, check out my book and movie reviews - recipes and short fiction located on at my LJ.