Sherlock Holmes: The Major Stories with Contemporary Critical Essays (Bedford Series in History & Culture

by Arthur Conan Doyle, John A. Hodgson (Editor)

Containing fifteen Sherlock Holmes stories, this volume of Sherlock Holmes features concise commentary on how each story relates to the author, the series, and the detective genre as well as nine accompanying essays which reflect the recent critical interest in Holmes and examine the stories from a variety of contemporary critical perspectives.

Genres: Fiction, Classics, School, Mystery Thriller, Mystery

12 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1993

About the author

Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle was a Scottish writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for A Study in Scarlet, the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Holmes and Dr. Watson. The Sherlock Holmes stories are milestones in the field of crime fiction.

Doyle was a prolific writer. In addition to the Holmes stories, his works include fantasy and science fiction stories about Professor Challenger, and humorous stories about the Napoleonic soldier Brigadier Gerard, as well as plays, romances, poetry, non-fiction, and historical novels. One of Doyle's early short stories, "J. Habakuk Jephson's Statement" (1884), helped to popularise the mystery of the brigantine Mary Celeste, found drifting at sea with no crew member aboard.

Reviews

[Jenny Lynn Cheatham · Rating 5 out of 5]

I worked through this book in my College English Comp Class. Very good examples of Critical Essays but I wish there had been some more examples. Also, A Study in Scarlet is not complete in this book.
Enjoyed reading the classic Sherlock Holmes.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have been teaching Sherlock Holmes stories in my Brit. Lit. Classes as a means of introducing genre fiction into the discussion of literature and as a way of promoting reading for pleasure.

I have used this book as the primary text for a couple of reasons: 1) the selection is judicious, containing the short stories that Doyle himself thought were the best, and 2) the essays are useful without being ponderous or intrusive.The excerpt from “A Study in Scarlet” detailing how Holmes and Watson met, and the informative introduction both provide a useful context for the appreciation of the stories.

The only thing preventing me from giving it 5 stars is the cost; like most textbooks, it is overpriced.

[Vicki · Rating 2 out of 5]

The majority of the book is made up of reprints of Holmes-Watson stories that can easily be found elsewhere. The so-called "critical essays " are, for the most part, boring and very stuffy. While I'm delighted that some scholars are taking the Baker Street material seriously, could they please remember that literature is not supposed to be deadly dull?

[Deborah Parker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very well-written, paced. Ideal for those who like reading stories where something happens, followed by something else happening.

[Stacy · Rating 4 out of 5]

For me the first few Doyle stories were interesting but the formula became predictable and started to bore...like the predictability of action movies and romantic comedies; you know how it ends before it starts. I did like many of the critical essays in the back of this edition and throughout the readings I found the physical interaction between Watson (the narrator) and Holmes smile worthy. Two stories I particularly enjoyed were "A Scandal in Bohemia" where the women gets the better of Holmes (or does she?) and "Charles August Milverton" which is filled with....read it closely and you will see.

Structuralist response to "A Scandal in Bohemia"
The Holmes stories follow the same pattern. The stories are told through Watson the character (internal) focolizer who addresses the reader(s) “…..said I” typically arrives at the Baker Street flat where Holmes is either speaking with a client or sitting in his comfy chair deep in opium induced thought. Watson is then invited to hear about a case, and then he is asked by Holmes to participate in solving a mystery. Watson continuously marvels at his own ignorance in regards to how Holmes “thinks”. Despite how many solved mysteries Watson has been witness to or participant in, his awe of Holmes’s ability is consistent in all of the stories. Watson, an intelligent doctor almost blindly follows Holmes on whatever he is doing, no matter the risk. Holmes is his profession. Where Watson is a doctor, husband, chronicler and friend; in contrast Holmes’s primary existence revolves around being a detective.

A Feminist response can be found on my website.http://stacysorrells.com/critical-ess...

[Othy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Somehow I've never gotten around to reading Sherlock Holmes, and I wish I had done so a lot earlier. These stories are great, and most of them were really hard to figure out. I'm interested in reading more, especially the longer ones, as I feel like Holmes' tales would do really well in novel form as well.

The four stars comes not from Doyle's stories but from the edition, to which I 'd give three stars. The essays at the end were really boring, and I only got halfway through a few of them before I put them down. The Chronology, too, was really sparse, though the introduction was alright.

[Christen · Rating 3 out of 5]

While the stories take up 75 percent of the book, I wished there was more critical essays.