lazy weekend; thoughts on Holmes
Had a great time over at lyrakristine's house; she's in town with her whole family, whom I'm quite close to. So nice to spend time with all of them again. It really only needed angelthorn to make things perfect; in fact if A had been there I think we might actually have got round to Ly teaching me how to sew. Next time, I swear.
Got back home and am having a lazy day reading instead of painting or anything productive. Picked up Volume 1 of the Complete Novels and Stories of Sherlock Holmes at Fully Booked some days ago and just finished The Sign of Four.
Doyle was famous for proving a half-Indian colleague of his innocent through his methods of deduction. His perceptions of other races are advanced for his time; unfortunately, 'advanced for his time' meant giving Sikhs credit for being more or less human beings, and little else.
I'm really confused by ACD's treatment of other races. He does have a white man being invited into a pact by Indians, and taking it very seriously despite derision from his own countrymen--'Black or blue, they are in with me, and we all go together.' This man is clearly a villain though, participating in a murder and robbery, and his pactmates (is that a word?) are also villains for initiating it. Don't even get me started on Tonga.
But he was certainly not sparing on his own country. One of the Sikhs says, 'We only ask you to do that which your countrymen came to this land for. We ask you to be rich.' The tone of bitterness rings true.
Another thing is the bit near the end where Holmes is upset to hear about Watson proposing to Mary Morstan. I didn't remember him being so complimentary to Mary herself. Other people of the time could also have called her 'charming', and Watson makes a big deal out of her being 'sweet and brave', but only Holmes considers her 'most useful' and even notes that she showed a 'decided genius'. Which of course makes me want fics with all three of them running around solving cases!
I guess what I'm saying is I wish ACD wrote more stuff I was comfortable with, but he seems to have really tried his best (except in Tonga's case). I think he does have enough forward thinking in his work to be translatable to a more diverse cast of characters, and that's why his stories are so appealing. Wish more of his creative descendants would use that in their adaptations, though.
This book really made me want to visit Agra, though. I want to see the fort and read up on the history now. Nice to see a bit of colonial history from the POV of the man on the ground. Wonder what the Indian textbooks read like. Anybody know?
The really sad bit is the last line of the story. Watson says, 'You have done all the work in the business. I get a wife out of it, Jones gets the credit, pray what remains for you?'
I was expecting Holmes to say something pithy about the work being its own reward, but I got this:
'For me,' said Sherlock Holmes, 'there still remains the cocaine-bottle.' And he stretched his long white hand up for it.
No wonder all the ACD canon fic is choked with angst. Damn.
Got back home and am having a lazy day reading instead of painting or anything productive. Picked up Volume 1 of the Complete Novels and Stories of Sherlock Holmes at Fully Booked some days ago and just finished The Sign of Four.
Doyle was famous for proving a half-Indian colleague of his innocent through his methods of deduction. His perceptions of other races are advanced for his time; unfortunately, 'advanced for his time' meant giving Sikhs credit for being more or less human beings, and little else.
I'm really confused by ACD's treatment of other races. He does have a white man being invited into a pact by Indians, and taking it very seriously despite derision from his own countrymen--'Black or blue, they are in with me, and we all go together.' This man is clearly a villain though, participating in a murder and robbery, and his pactmates (is that a word?) are also villains for initiating it. Don't even get me started on Tonga.
But he was certainly not sparing on his own country. One of the Sikhs says, 'We only ask you to do that which your countrymen came to this land for. We ask you to be rich.' The tone of bitterness rings true.
Another thing is the bit near the end where Holmes is upset to hear about Watson proposing to Mary Morstan. I didn't remember him being so complimentary to Mary herself. Other people of the time could also have called her 'charming', and Watson makes a big deal out of her being 'sweet and brave', but only Holmes considers her 'most useful' and even notes that she showed a 'decided genius'. Which of course makes me want fics with all three of them running around solving cases!
I guess what I'm saying is I wish ACD wrote more stuff I was comfortable with, but he seems to have really tried his best (except in Tonga's case). I think he does have enough forward thinking in his work to be translatable to a more diverse cast of characters, and that's why his stories are so appealing. Wish more of his creative descendants would use that in their adaptations, though.
This book really made me want to visit Agra, though. I want to see the fort and read up on the history now. Nice to see a bit of colonial history from the POV of the man on the ground. Wonder what the Indian textbooks read like. Anybody know?
The really sad bit is the last line of the story. Watson says, 'You have done all the work in the business. I get a wife out of it, Jones gets the credit, pray what remains for you?'
I was expecting Holmes to say something pithy about the work being its own reward, but I got this:
'For me,' said Sherlock Holmes, 'there still remains the cocaine-bottle.' And he stretched his long white hand up for it.
No wonder all the ACD canon fic is choked with angst. Damn.