Sherlock Holmes as Classical Fairytale

(I keep thinking I'll blog more regularly and it keeps not happening. Sorry about that.)

About two years ago, the United States joined the UK and the rest of the world in acknowledging that Sherlock Holmes now belonged to the public domain. Of course, the character has been used in a multitude of ways since Doyle stopped writing him and outside the US the character has been available for use for some time.

In an extensive essay for Harper's, Laura Millier looks at the character's journey from private creation of an author to public icon. In the way of many classic fairy-tale characters his story has been told, re-told, elaborated, revised, and expanded in ways that Doyle likely could never have foreseen.

Miller likens this to how fairy tales are revised and modernized - to me it echoes many of the reworks that have been done on Shakespearean characters, many of which were themselves based on existing classical story characters from things like Commedia productions.

The essay is interesting for its coverage of the character and for how the various Baker Street fandoms have developed and repurposed the character and settings. Worth a read.