The Gestalt Shift in Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes Stories Michael J. Crowe The Gestalt Shift in Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes Stories Michael J. Crowe The Gestalt Shift in Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes Stories Michael J. Crowe University of Notre Dame Notre Dame, IN, USA ISBN 978-3-319-98290-8 ISBN 978-3-319-98291-5 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98291-5 Library of Congress Control Number: 2018952291 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG, part of Springer Nature 2018 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Cover illustration: © Samphire Arts, FJ Cover design: Fatima Jamadar This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland This book is dedicated to two wonderful friends, both Sherlockians: Denis P. Burke and Frederick J. Crosson (1926–2009) P reface Numerous readers view Arthur Conan Doyle as the most skillful creator of detective fiction who ever put pen to paper. Doyle’s four novels and fifty- six short stories featuring Sherlock Holmes are available in numerous lan- guages, and his famous characters appear in dozens of plays and hundreds of films and television shows. Moreover, the studies of these stories num- ber in the thousands. Hundreds of scholars and authors have sought the sources of Doyle’s highly successful Sherlockian writings and investigated how Doyle achieved this extraordinary level of success. Such information makes one hesitant to propose a new analysis of Doyle’s skills. Such, how- ever, is the goal of this book, which draws on insights that emerged mainly in the latter half of the twentieth century in an area far from traditional literary studies. My book draws on a book published in 1962 by University of Chicago Press in an obscure series of volumes designed to be read mainly by philosophers and historians of science. In fact, the reaction to and interest in the book was extraordinary. As we shall later see in detail, one source of this book was ideas developed by Ludwig Wittgenstein, a German philosopher teaching in England, who himself dealt with ideas studied by perceptual psychologists. Another source was studies done by historians of science investigating the nature of scientific change; for example, the adoption of the Copernican theory. The author of this rela- tively short volume was Thomas Kuhn, who titled it The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Gradually Kuhn’s book caught on. As of 2010, sales reached over 1.4 million copies. Many scholars believe it is the most influ- ential book on the nature of scientific development published in the last half of the twentieth century. Moreover, scholars began applying Kuhn’s vii viii PREFACE approach to nearly every area of intellectual inquiry. One exception has been literature. My goal in this book is to suggest that Kuhn’s ideas may significantly illuminate the study of Doyle’s Sherlockian stories. My chief credential for attempting this is that for over four decades while teaching at the University of Notre Dame, I taught courses and published a number of books and essays on the development of astronomy, physics, and math- ematics, many of which drew on Kuhn’s writings. Potential readers of this book may feel more confident that it is worth their time when I report on the reaction to it that came from a highly respected scholar who seemed to me to be the ideal judge of whether my thesis is plausible. This was not a personal friend; rather, what led me to contact him was that he is a highly respected scientist and historian of sci- ence as well as an active Sherlockian. This is Dr. Bradley Schaefer, Distinguished Professor at Louisiana State University and the author of a widely republished and now classic article on Sherlock Holmes and astron- omy. A month after receiving my request and manuscript, he sent me a long email that began: I read your book fast, because it was a fun read. As a life-long Sherlockian, the whole discussion was dear to my heart. Your basic thesis is completely new, both within the Sherlockian literature, and within the literature about detective stories. (And coming up with anything new under the Sun within the Sherlockian literature is hard and rare.) I am convinced by your basic thesis. And I can see applications going past the Sherlockian stories. Near the end of the letter, he added: I expect that your book will be comparable in sales to the best of the second- ary Sherlockian literature. You are offering a completely new idea and of broad application, so I expect that every Sherlockian will want a copy. I don’t know numbers, but this is not a small market. My hope is that his endorsement will give readers confidence that my the- sis merits their attention. Various persons at the University of Notre Dame also contributed to the composition of this book. Notre Dame recognizes that emeritus fac- ulty can still contribute to scholarship by supplying an office and some support for those who continue to wish to contribute. Moreover, various individuals at Notre Dame have been helpful in significant ways. Among PREFACE ix these are Thomas Stapleford, Chair of the Program of Liberal Studies, my office mate Rev. Nicholas Ayo, C.S.C., and Denise Massa, Curator at Notre Dame’s Visual Resource Center, who prepared most of the illustra- tions. Dr. Daniel Johnson, who is Notre Dame Digital Humanities Librarian and also teaches in the English Department, contributed signifi- cantly to locating publications relevant to my project. Elizabeth Sain very carefully indexed this volume. For the last six years, I have co-taught a course on Sherlock Holmes at Forever Learning Institute, a local senior center, with Denis Burke, a retired attorney, who has been wonderfully supportive of my efforts to teach these materials. So has my wife, Dr. Marian Crowe, whose doctorate is in English and who has frequently supplied highly useful insights. Allie Troyanos and Rachel Jacobe of Palgrave Macmillan skillfully and gra- ciously guided my efforts to put my manuscript into final form. Notre Dame, IN Michael J. Crowe c ontents 1 I ntroduction 1 2 The Four Holmes Novels 37 3 The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1892) 53 4 The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (1894) 81 5 The Return of Sherlock Holmes (1905) 109 6 His Last Bow (1917) 143 7 The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes (1927) 163 8 Conclusion: The Sixty Holmes Stories 187 Appendix A: G. K. Chesterton’s “The Blue Cross” (1910) 197 Appendix B: Some Questions and Some Answers 201 xi xii CONTENTS Appendix C: Table of the Types of the Sixty Sherlock Holmes Stories in Terms of Their Gestalt Shifts 211 Bibliography Appendices 215 Index 223