Strawberry Curls
02-24-2008, 07:23 PM
I'm not that sure there is much interest here on this course, but I did say I would post a précis (this was a 6+ hour class) so here it goes.
I pulled up to the line of cars waiting to pay the parking fee and noticed the very nice car in front of me had a personalized license plate that referenced Holmes so using "the method" I deduced this might be either a fellow attendee or the presenter. The gentleman got out of his car to say something to the attendant and I immediately know this was Leslie Klinger. Medium height, dressed in black slacks, black collarless dress shirt and a black jacket that was striking in contrast to his gray/white hair. My deductions were confirmed when he entered the classroom approximately ten minutes after me and went to the podium.
There were approximately 25 people (I never got around to doing a head count) attending the class more woman than men. The ages ranged from early twenties to 60+ with it heavily weighted toward the mid-50s. Everyone was given a folder with the following handouts inside. A class syllabus, a brief biography of S.H. adapted from Jack Tracy's "The Encyclopedia Sherlockiana" (which I own -- a great reference book BTW) a listing of the codes used for the Canon tales and books, and a list of the suggested cornerstones of a definitive collection broken down by Canon, Apocrypha, Books about S.H and his world, Parodies and Pastiches and Periodicals. If anyone would like a copy of any of these please contact me by email or PM.
Mr. Klinger started off by giving his background and how he came to start studying Canon. He was in law school (is a tax attorney by profession) and had been given Wm. Baring-Gould's Annotated S.H. and started reading it as a break from his text and was captured. He is a member of the BSI (his investiture name is Abbey Grange) and his Annotated S.H. came out in three volumes a couple of years ago.
My very first note says "He's playing the game," Mr. Klinger explained, with a decided twinkle in his eye, that Doyle was a friend of Watson's and had already been published so he helped his old friend get his stories published. Also that Holmes didn't like having the cases published in this manner and that was why there were such gaps in the publication dates. There were only two stories published prior to Holmes' "death" then the three years of his absence saw a flurry of stories, 24 by count. Then there is a gape between late 1893 until 1901 when HOUN (a case from earlier in Holmes' career) was publish. The next tale was not published until 1903 when Holmes retired to Sussex to keep bees. A total of 33 were published after Holmes retired. The conclusion being Watson was restricted from publishing his stories when Holmes was around and when Holmes was gone, the checks were off and Watson published up a storm. The rather large count during "Holmes' death" 1891-1894 was a way for Watson to grieve over his lost friend.
Here I should say Klinger described the friendship between Holmes and Watson as typical of the Victorian age, a close, warm friendship between two gentleman. He went on to say they were not gay.
Using a chronological approach Mr. Klinger went through all the case that make up the Canon, listing each by the date of the case and giving information on those of note. He pointed out that the genius of the stories is the friendship. This was the beginning of "the buddy" story, and the idea of a scientific method, a rational detective. In the Victorian age the police were still relatively new, and the populace were still uncertain of them so the idea of Sherlock Holmes captured the imagination of a public who's middle class was becoming literate. The timing of these types of stories was perfect and The Strand Magazine was just the type of publication the "middle class" were purchasing. Mr. Klinger passed around his copy of The Strand dated Oct. 1903 in which the story EMPT appears, signaling the return of Sherlock Holmes. Holding something like that is magic, and along with seeing, at the U. of Minn. Sherlock Holmes Collection, the two copies of the Beeton's Christmas Annual that have STUD and the manuscript page from HOUN in Doyle's handwriting, will stand out as thrilling experience for me.
Mr. Klinger also made the point that the mystery clichés such as "the butler did it" (MUSG) originated with Canon. That anyone reading that a corpse was found with its face obliterated by a shotgun blast (VALL) would today immediately think this isn't who everyone thinks it is, but these were new, exciting and mystifying plot contrivances when the Canon was first on the scene.
We were treated to listening to the Rathbone/Bruce radio presentation of (SPEC) and the Mercury Theater production of the William Gillette play of Sherlock Holmes, with Orson Welles playing Holmes. When Mr. Klinger spoke about HOUN he showed the beginning of several movie adaptations (Rathbone, Cushing, Richardson and for a giggle Peter Cook and Dudley Moore) and we started to count the errors in each. There have been over 200 films of Holmes, but most were silent and prior to the 1939 Rathbone "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" none had used the Victorian age, but had simply plopped Holmes and Watson down in whatever date the movie was produced. The first color version was Cushing's HOUN. All strayed from Canon, some even, inexplicably, didn't use the "footprint of a gigantic hound" line.
I was interested to hear that CARD was omitted (suppressed) when that collection of stories called "His Last Bow" was first published. The theme of adultery being just too shocking for the Victorians.
Mr. Klinger told us his favorite tale is BLUE and showed the entire Granada episode staring Jeremy Brett and David Burke. He likes the friendship and the sense of the holiday that comes out in this story. He also gave a nod to J. Brett's portrayal of Holmes and the fact Mr. Brett fought so diligently for Canon in the episodes. Sadly everyone agreed the Granada HOUN was lackluster and a disappointment.
The founding of the BSI and the Sherlock Holmes Society in London were discussed starting with the gathering of friends in New York in 1934 to present time. In the beginning woman were a part of the group, but were excluded when it became a more formal group. It wasn't until the 1970s that it became coed.
Sherlockian scholarship was touched upon, with a note that the inconsistencies in Canon have sparked volumes of papers, essays and books. I should digress here and say that during one of the breaks someone asked about Ms. King's books, and Mr. Klinger said "Laurie is a close friend. She writes a series of books about a woman who marries Sherlock Holmes, but they aren't my cup of tea."
During the discussion of some of the inconsistencies in Canon (Watson's wife's from one to five) Mr. Klinger was physically demonstrating how Watson could have been wounded in two locations at the same time. He bent double as if slung over a horse (although I have to ask why if Watson wasn't already wounded he would be slung over a horse) or squatting for some reason :rolleyes: then Mr. Klinger shared that Ms. King had presented a paper at the 2007 BSI dinner that proposed the homemade bullet fired from a native weapon might have fragmented as it left the barrel and thus hit Watson in two places.
Finally Mr. Klinger discussed collecting and what to collect. He finished by saying he personally answered the question of "What to collect when you have everything" by starting a collection of Sherlock Holmes porn (his word, he did not say erotica) and that there was a great deal of it of "both persuasions." Mr. Klinger even wrote an essay justifying the collection for the BSI Journal.
In closing I will add that I own the Klinger Annotated Sherlock Holmes and love it. He reproduced all but one of the Paget drawings and several of the Steele drawings. His notes are fascinating and worth the time it takes to read. I'm no scholar on this or any other subject, but I throughly enjoyed this class. What surprised me the most was how much information I already possessed. I came to read the Canon only during the past three years. My collection of books relating to Holmes now fills two large bookshelves. I'm but a casual collector and enthusiast, but it is very easy to see how people become obsessed with Holmes. There is just so much out there to read and learn.
Sorry I have only hit the high points with this, but as you can see if I went into more detail this would be a tome. If anyone has a question please let me know.
Alice
AKA Strawberry Curls
I pulled up to the line of cars waiting to pay the parking fee and noticed the very nice car in front of me had a personalized license plate that referenced Holmes so using "the method" I deduced this might be either a fellow attendee or the presenter. The gentleman got out of his car to say something to the attendant and I immediately know this was Leslie Klinger. Medium height, dressed in black slacks, black collarless dress shirt and a black jacket that was striking in contrast to his gray/white hair. My deductions were confirmed when he entered the classroom approximately ten minutes after me and went to the podium.
There were approximately 25 people (I never got around to doing a head count) attending the class more woman than men. The ages ranged from early twenties to 60+ with it heavily weighted toward the mid-50s. Everyone was given a folder with the following handouts inside. A class syllabus, a brief biography of S.H. adapted from Jack Tracy's "The Encyclopedia Sherlockiana" (which I own -- a great reference book BTW) a listing of the codes used for the Canon tales and books, and a list of the suggested cornerstones of a definitive collection broken down by Canon, Apocrypha, Books about S.H and his world, Parodies and Pastiches and Periodicals. If anyone would like a copy of any of these please contact me by email or PM.
Mr. Klinger started off by giving his background and how he came to start studying Canon. He was in law school (is a tax attorney by profession) and had been given Wm. Baring-Gould's Annotated S.H. and started reading it as a break from his text and was captured. He is a member of the BSI (his investiture name is Abbey Grange) and his Annotated S.H. came out in three volumes a couple of years ago.
My very first note says "He's playing the game," Mr. Klinger explained, with a decided twinkle in his eye, that Doyle was a friend of Watson's and had already been published so he helped his old friend get his stories published. Also that Holmes didn't like having the cases published in this manner and that was why there were such gaps in the publication dates. There were only two stories published prior to Holmes' "death" then the three years of his absence saw a flurry of stories, 24 by count. Then there is a gape between late 1893 until 1901 when HOUN (a case from earlier in Holmes' career) was publish. The next tale was not published until 1903 when Holmes retired to Sussex to keep bees. A total of 33 were published after Holmes retired. The conclusion being Watson was restricted from publishing his stories when Holmes was around and when Holmes was gone, the checks were off and Watson published up a storm. The rather large count during "Holmes' death" 1891-1894 was a way for Watson to grieve over his lost friend.
Here I should say Klinger described the friendship between Holmes and Watson as typical of the Victorian age, a close, warm friendship between two gentleman. He went on to say they were not gay.
Using a chronological approach Mr. Klinger went through all the case that make up the Canon, listing each by the date of the case and giving information on those of note. He pointed out that the genius of the stories is the friendship. This was the beginning of "the buddy" story, and the idea of a scientific method, a rational detective. In the Victorian age the police were still relatively new, and the populace were still uncertain of them so the idea of Sherlock Holmes captured the imagination of a public who's middle class was becoming literate. The timing of these types of stories was perfect and The Strand Magazine was just the type of publication the "middle class" were purchasing. Mr. Klinger passed around his copy of The Strand dated Oct. 1903 in which the story EMPT appears, signaling the return of Sherlock Holmes. Holding something like that is magic, and along with seeing, at the U. of Minn. Sherlock Holmes Collection, the two copies of the Beeton's Christmas Annual that have STUD and the manuscript page from HOUN in Doyle's handwriting, will stand out as thrilling experience for me.
Mr. Klinger also made the point that the mystery clichés such as "the butler did it" (MUSG) originated with Canon. That anyone reading that a corpse was found with its face obliterated by a shotgun blast (VALL) would today immediately think this isn't who everyone thinks it is, but these were new, exciting and mystifying plot contrivances when the Canon was first on the scene.
We were treated to listening to the Rathbone/Bruce radio presentation of (SPEC) and the Mercury Theater production of the William Gillette play of Sherlock Holmes, with Orson Welles playing Holmes. When Mr. Klinger spoke about HOUN he showed the beginning of several movie adaptations (Rathbone, Cushing, Richardson and for a giggle Peter Cook and Dudley Moore) and we started to count the errors in each. There have been over 200 films of Holmes, but most were silent and prior to the 1939 Rathbone "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" none had used the Victorian age, but had simply plopped Holmes and Watson down in whatever date the movie was produced. The first color version was Cushing's HOUN. All strayed from Canon, some even, inexplicably, didn't use the "footprint of a gigantic hound" line.
I was interested to hear that CARD was omitted (suppressed) when that collection of stories called "His Last Bow" was first published. The theme of adultery being just too shocking for the Victorians.
Mr. Klinger told us his favorite tale is BLUE and showed the entire Granada episode staring Jeremy Brett and David Burke. He likes the friendship and the sense of the holiday that comes out in this story. He also gave a nod to J. Brett's portrayal of Holmes and the fact Mr. Brett fought so diligently for Canon in the episodes. Sadly everyone agreed the Granada HOUN was lackluster and a disappointment.
The founding of the BSI and the Sherlock Holmes Society in London were discussed starting with the gathering of friends in New York in 1934 to present time. In the beginning woman were a part of the group, but were excluded when it became a more formal group. It wasn't until the 1970s that it became coed.
Sherlockian scholarship was touched upon, with a note that the inconsistencies in Canon have sparked volumes of papers, essays and books. I should digress here and say that during one of the breaks someone asked about Ms. King's books, and Mr. Klinger said "Laurie is a close friend. She writes a series of books about a woman who marries Sherlock Holmes, but they aren't my cup of tea."
During the discussion of some of the inconsistencies in Canon (Watson's wife's from one to five) Mr. Klinger was physically demonstrating how Watson could have been wounded in two locations at the same time. He bent double as if slung over a horse (although I have to ask why if Watson wasn't already wounded he would be slung over a horse) or squatting for some reason :rolleyes: then Mr. Klinger shared that Ms. King had presented a paper at the 2007 BSI dinner that proposed the homemade bullet fired from a native weapon might have fragmented as it left the barrel and thus hit Watson in two places.
Finally Mr. Klinger discussed collecting and what to collect. He finished by saying he personally answered the question of "What to collect when you have everything" by starting a collection of Sherlock Holmes porn (his word, he did not say erotica) and that there was a great deal of it of "both persuasions." Mr. Klinger even wrote an essay justifying the collection for the BSI Journal.
In closing I will add that I own the Klinger Annotated Sherlock Holmes and love it. He reproduced all but one of the Paget drawings and several of the Steele drawings. His notes are fascinating and worth the time it takes to read. I'm no scholar on this or any other subject, but I throughly enjoyed this class. What surprised me the most was how much information I already possessed. I came to read the Canon only during the past three years. My collection of books relating to Holmes now fills two large bookshelves. I'm but a casual collector and enthusiast, but it is very easy to see how people become obsessed with Holmes. There is just so much out there to read and learn.
Sorry I have only hit the high points with this, but as you can see if I went into more detail this would be a tome. If anyone has a question please let me know.
Alice
AKA Strawberry Curls