Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Introduction: Sherlock Holmes Belongs to Everyone

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Sherlock Holmes from Screen to Stage

Part of the book series: Adaptation in Theatre and Performance ((ATP))

Abstract

This chapter makes the case for the longstanding connection between Sherlock Holmes and the theatre, and develops the concept of ‘live Sherlockiana’, whereby contemporary Sherlock Holmes plays affirm or transform elements of the characters’ story-world and play with intertextuality. The chapter argues for the significance of the Victorian setting for Holmes adaptations on the stage, and the special appeal of 221B Baker Street. Research methods and terminology for the book are explained, and an outline of the rest of the volume is provided.

In 2014, a protracted legal dispute in the United States ended after the Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal by the estate of Arthur Conan Doyle regarding the copyright status of the Sherlock Holmes characters and stories. ‘This means that the 50 Sherlock Holmes works published before 1923 are in the public domain as copyright protections have expired’ 1 . A phrase frequently used in reporting the court case was ‘Sherlock Holmes Belongs to Everyone’, a variation on plaintiff Leslie S. Klinger ’s motto, ‘Sherlock Holmes belongs to the world’. 2

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Bibliography

  • Agane, Ayaan. “Conflations of ‘Queerness’ in 21st Century Adaptations.” In Gender and the Modern Sherlock Holmes: Essays on Film and Television Adaptations since 2009, edited by Nadine Farghaly, 160–173. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2015.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barefoot, Guy. Gaslight Melodrama. London: Bloomsbury, 2001.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boehm-Schnitker, Nadine and Susanne Gruss, eds. Neo-Victorian Literature and Culture: Immersions and Revisitations. London & New York: Routledge, 2014.

    Google Scholar 

  • Davies, Helen. Gender and Ventriloquism in Victorian and Neo-Victorian Fiction: Passionate Puppets. Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2012.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. Neo-Victorian Freakery: The Cultural Afterlife of the Victorian Freak Show, Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2015.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dundas, Zach. The Great Detective: The Amazing Rise and Immortal Life of Sherlock Holmes. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2015.

    Google Scholar 

  • Faye, Lyndsay. “Upon the Clear Distinction Between Fandom and the Baker Street Irregulars,” Criminal Element. 2012. Accessed Sept 15, 2016. http://www.criminalelement.com/blogs/2012/11/upon-the-clear-distinction-between-fandom-and-the-baker-street-irregulars-lyndsay-faye-sherlock-holmes-arthur-conan-doyle-elementary.

  • Free Sherlock!. “December 2013: Ruling,” Free Sherlock!. 2013. Accessed Sept 15, 2016. https://free-sherlock.com/2013/12/27/december-2013-ruling/.

  • Heilmann, Ann and Mark Llewellyn. Neo-Victorianism: The Victorians in the Twenty-First Century, 1999-2009. Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2010.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hellekson, Karen, and Kristina Busse. “Introduction: Why a Fan Fiction Studies Reader Now?.” In The Fan Fiction Studies Reader, edited by Karen Hellekson and Kristina Busse, 1–17. Iowa City, IA: University of Iowa Press, 2014.

    Google Scholar 

  • Huls, Alexander. “How Hollywood Killed Death,” The New Yorker. 2014. Accessed Dec 4, 2014. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/20/magazine/how-hollywood-killed-death.html?_r=0.

  • Hurley, Lawrence. “Elementary, my dear Watson: U.S. court rejects Sherlock Holmes dispute,” Reuters. 2014. Accessed Sept 26, 2016. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-court-copyright-idUSKBN0IN1D420141103.

  • Jenkins, Henry. “Transmedia Storytelling 101,” Confessions of an Aca-Fan. 2007. Accessed Sept 26, 2016. http://henryjenkins.org/2007/03/transmedia_storytelling_101.html.

  • Hadley, Louisa. Neo-Victorian Fiction and Historical Narrative: The Victorians and Us. Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2010.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kabatchnik, Amnon. Sherlock Holmes on the Stage: A Chronological Encyclopaedia of Plays Featuring the Great Detective. Plymouth: Scarecrow Press, 2008.

    Google Scholar 

  • Krasner, James. “Watson Falls Asleep: Narrative Frustration and Sherlock Holmes.” English Literature in Transition 1880-1920 40, no. 4 (1997): 424–436.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lane, Kathryn E. “‘Now, Watson, the fair sex is your department’: The BBC’s Sherlock and Interpersonal Relationships.” In Gender and the Modern Sherlock Holmes: Essays on Film and Television Adaptations since 2009, edited by Nadine Farghaly, 223–244. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2015.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leitch, Thomas. Film Adaptation and its Discontents: From Gone with the Wind to The Passion of the Christ. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2007.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mitchell, Kate. History and Cultural Memory in Neo-Victorian Fiction: Victorian Afterimages. Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2010.

    Google Scholar 

  • Parody, Clare. “Franchising/Adaptation.” Adaptation 4, no. 2 (2011): 210–218.

    Google Scholar 

  • Poore, Benjamin. Heritage, Nostalgia and Modern British Theatre: Staging the Victorians. Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2012.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. Theatre and Empire. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. “Sherlock Homes and the Leap of Faith: The Forces of Fandom and Convergence in Adaptations of the Holmes and Watson Stories.” Adaptation 6, no. 2 (2013): 158–171.

    Google Scholar 

  • Saler, Michael. As If: Modern Enchantment and the Literary Prehistory of Virtual Reality. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012. Kindle edition.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sanders, Julie. Adaptation/Appropriation. Abingdon: Routledge, 2006.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stivea, Rebecca. “‘We solve crimes, I blog about it, he forgets his pants.’ Balancing Traditional and Non-Traditional Sherlockians in a Modern World.” In The One Fixed Point in a Changing Age, edited by Kristina Manente, Maria Fleischhack, Sarah Roy and Taylor Blumenberg, 239–252. Indianapolis, IN: Gasogene, 2014.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thomas, James. Script Analysis for Actors, Directors and Designers. 4th ed. Oxford: Focal Press, 2009.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tribe, Steve. Sherlock: Chronicles. London: BBC Books, 2014.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wynne, Catherine. “Introduction: From Baker Street to Undershaw and Beyond.” In Sherlock Holmes and Conan Doyle: Multi-Media Afterlives, edited by Sabine Vanacker and Catherine Wynne, 1–18. Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2013.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Theatre, Film and Television, University of York, Heslington, UK

    Benjamin Poore

Authors
  1. Benjamin Poore
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Benjamin Poore .

Copyright information

© 2017 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Poore, B. (2017). Introduction: Sherlock Holmes Belongs to Everyone. In: Sherlock Holmes from Screen to Stage. Adaptation in Theatre and Performance. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-46963-2_1

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation