Doomed. Doooooooomed!

[extemporanea]

So much for the good intentions, such as the road to Hell is paved with. Allegedly. Went to bed early on Friday night in a spirit of Sid-appeasement, couldn't sleep because the nice cleaning lady is in the rising phase of her "put too much softener in the washing up" oscillation, and my sheets made me itch. (I shall remonstrate gently with her on

Comments

[extemporanea]

"It was not that he felt any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a nature such as his." ("A Scandal in Bohemia").

I think your first option: lack of romance is seen as an intrinsic part of intellectualism, and thus an essential part of Holmes's eccentric genius. ACD has absolutely no problem with romance, Watson gets married first off after falling from a dizzy height for a lovely lady, and various doomed/tragic/passionate/happy love affairs wander in and out of the various stories, including a bunch of vengeful discarded mistresses and faithful but unmarried lovers. This is also very late-period Victorian, moving into Edwardian and beyond, and morals were loosening up in preparation for the Roaring 20s. So, no, I don't think it was a repression thing to make Holmes celibate; I think it was a fairly consistent portrayal of an extreme eccentric.

Extemporanea, randomly analysing in far more detail than you could possibly want since 2005. Now with added primary source quotes. And at least I didn't mention postmodernism.

[dicedcaret]

Thank you :) For the sagacious analysis, relevant quotations and, above all, not mentioning postmodernism.

[extemporanea]

In retrospect, your original comment was clearly an essay question for the Victorian Gothic seminar I plan to run next year. Score!