120691 PS Proseminar Cultural and Media Studies (2023S)

This course focuses on the evolution of “idea of Sherlock Holmes” through a selection of filmic adaptations of the famous literary detective created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle who first appeared in print in 1887.

Sherlock Holmes is a staple not only of British literature, but also of popular culture in a broader sense. Indeed, the publication of Doyle’s texts in _The Strand_ at the end of the nineteenth century famously led to what are considered to be historic instances of fan activity: as Katharine Brombley explains in her article “A case study of early British Sherlockian fandom” (2017), fan letters to Doyle – but also to Sherlock Holmes himself – flooded the offices of the publisher’s, libraries stayed open longer on publication days, and many writings about Holmes began to appear, ranging from imagined interviews to essays criticising the canon. This demonstrates a high level of emotional involvement with the Holmes texts, famously culminating in the character being written back to life after his death led to public outcry.

In this course, we will discuss part of the so-called “canon of Sherlock Holmes” (two of the Sherlock Holmes novels as well as several short stories will be part of our primary material) and attempt to trace the evolution of the character in its many filmic adaptations throughout the twentieth- and twenty-first centuries. We will examine the kind of emotional involvement created and sustained by the character from its original late-Victorian context to its more modern versions, by exploring the techniques used to in these many versions to emphasise their common threads, but also their vast differences.

Participants will gain knowledge of a few filmic adaptations of the twentieth- and twenty-first century in relation to a precise cultural topos, as well as an understanding of how cultural texts function and evolve in response to historical and cultural contexts, as well as to changing audiences. The course will also enable participants to develop their practical skills in the critical analysis of a cultural text, and will tackle the basic techniques of academic writing.