Abstract
Crowe first presents an overall assessment of the extent to which the sixty Holmes stories exhibit the pattern of a Gestalt shift, forty-two in the group clearly displaying that pattern. Fifteen are in the second category, meaning the shifts are less clear and prominent. The third category, those for which the Gestalt shift pattern does not seem to fit, contains three stories. Crowe then claims that there is a correlation between the appearance of the Gestalt shift and the quality of the stories as measured in various surveys of reader reaction to the stories. Doyle’s enthusiasm for contrasts, for rapid developments in parts of a story, and the practice of having a Gestalt shift moment in a story relates to his sensitivity to creating Gestalt shifts. This chapter ends by raising the question whether other prominent authors of detective fiction make use of Gestalt shifts.
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Notes
- 1.
Doyle, Holmes, II, 879. See also Chap. 1 of this book.
- 2.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The Complete Sherlock Holmes, read by David Timson. Naxos Audiobooks.
- 3.
James Hoy has produced summaries of all sixty stories. These are available on the internet at http://www.diogenes-club.com/hoyadventures.htm. Viewed February 4, 2015.
- 4.
By going to the Sherlockian.Net at http://www.sherlockian.net/ and locating the section called “The Original Sherlock Holmes Stories,” one can access summaries of all sixty stories. These typically have names such as “Story Summary from McMurdo’s Camp.” The summary for A Study in Scarlet is located at https://mcmurdoscamp.wordpress.com/story-summaries/stud/. Viewed February 4, 2015. McMurdo’s Camp is a Sherlockian society in Michigan. See https://mcmurdoscamp.wordpress.com/. Viewed February 4, 2015.
- 5.
D. Martin Dakin. A Sherlock Holmes Commentary (Newton Abbot: David & Charles, 1974).
- 6.
Arthur Conan Doyle. Annotated Sherlock Holmes: The Four Novels and the Fifty-Six Short Stories Complete, annotated by William S. Baring-Gould, 2nd ed., 2 vols. (New York: C. N. Potter, 1975).
- 7.
Arthur Conan Doyle. New Annotated Sherlock Holmes, annotated by Leslie Klinger, 3 volumes (New York: Norton, 2005).
- 8.
- 9.
- 10.
Arthur Conan Doyle, Memories and Adventures and Western Wanderings (Newcastle on Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2009), 75.
- 11.
G. K. Chesterton, “How to Write a Detective Story,” which essay is available on the internet at http://www.chesterton.org/how-to-write-detective/ and was viewed on September 19, 2015.
Bibliography
Printed Sources
Dakin, D. Martin. A Sherlock Holmes Commentary (Newton Abbot: David & Charles, 1974).
Doyle, Arthur Conan. Annotated Sherlock Holmes: The Four Novels and the Fifty-Six Short Stories Complete, annotated by William S. Baring-Gould, 2nd ed., 2 vols. (New York: C. N. Potter, 1975).
Doyle, Arthur Conan. Memories and Adventures and Western Wanderings (Newcastle on Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2009).
Doyle, Arthur Conan. New Annotated Sherlock Holmes. annotated by Leslie Klinger, 3 volumes (New York: Norton, 2005).
Internet Sources
“Story Summary from McMurdo’s Camp” at https://mcmurdoscamp.wordpress.com/story-summaries/stud/. Viewed 4 February 2015.
Chesterton, G. K., “How to Write a Detective Story,” which essay is available on the internet at http://www.chesterton.org/how-to-write-detective/ and was viewed 19 September 2015.
Hoy aummaries of the Sherlock Holmes stories; http://www.diogenes-club.com/hoyadventures.htm. Viewed 4 February 2015.
http://www.trivia-library.com/b/sir-arthur-conan-doyle-favorite-sherlock-holmes-stories.htm.
Audio Source
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The Complete Sherlock Holmes, read by David Timson. Naxos Audiobooks.
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Crowe, M.J. (2018). Conclusion: The Sixty Holmes Stories. In: The Gestalt Shift in Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes Stories. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98291-5_8
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