Sherlock Holmes The Man and His World by Keating Illustrated Fictional Biography Vintage Hardcover in Original Dust Jacket 1979

Sherlock Holmes The Man and His World by Keating Illustrated Fictional Biography Vintage Hardcover in Original Dust Jacket 1979

<Condition is Good as Pictured> (normal wear, some markings, foxing/toning, visible edge-wear, gift inscription inside front cover)

—In Sherlock Holmes: The Man and His World, H.R.F. Keating offers the historical context for Sherlock Holmes's personal story. This is not so much a fictional biography as a historical scene-setting; Keating combs through Arthur Conan Doyle's canonical texts and teases out all we can learn about Holmes from the historical clues provided. For example, Keating explains why portraits of General Gordon and Henry Ward Beecher might be hanging in the sitting room of 221B Baker Street, and what these two figures represented to men such as Holmes and Watson (two very different men and two very different conclusions). Keating also pulls out particular quotes from Holmes that indicate his worldview and concerns, and puts these in their context; the concept of atavism, for instance, gets full treatment from Keating, from its portrayal in popular fiction and drama (Jekyll and Hyde, anyone?) to its relevance to contemporary forensic science (such as the anthropological measuring system of Alphonse Bertillion). One of the greatest strengths of this volume is its 136 illustrations, which Keating puts to very good use. (I loved the sample of the Agony Column from The Times!)

Keating's insights on Holmes's paradoxical nature are compelling. He makes a persuasive case for why Holmes was both a creature of his era and an extraordinary figure who transcended it. In short, this is a brief but densely-packed and thoroughly enjoyable intellectual history of Holmes and his moment in history, a rewarding read for anyone interested in the Great Detective or the Victorian/Edwardian periods in general.


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