Abstract
Crowe provides an analysis centered on the idea of a Gestalt shift of the Sherlock Holmes stories that appeared in the four Holmes novels: A Study in Scarlet, The Sign of the Four, The Hound of the Baskervilles, and The Valley of Fear. Crowe concludes that this Gestalt shift approach works very well for all but the third of these books. The Hound of the Baskervilles is especially important because in it Holmes solves the case based on an examination of a portrait of Hugo Baskerville, which examination may be one of the first detailed accounts of what is now known as a Gestalt shift.
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Notes
- 1.
Doyle, Holmes, I, 97.
- 2.
Doyle, Holmes, I, 100.
- 3.
Doyle, Holmes, I, 103.
- 4.
Doyle, Holmes, I, 111.
- 5.
Doyle, Holmes, I, 111.
- 6.
Doyle, Holmes, I, 113.
- 7.
Doyle, Holmes, I, 113.
- 8.
Doyle, Holmes, I, 154.
- 9.
Doyle, Holmes, I, 154–155.
- 10.
Arthur Conan Doyle, The Complete Sherlock Holmes (New York: Doubleday, 1953), II, 879.
- 11.
Doyle, Holmes, II, 880.
- 12.
Doyle, Holmes, II, 884.
- 13.
As mentioned in the Preface, I developed this book while teaching over the last seven years a course for senior citizens at Forever Learning Institute in South Bend, Indiana. This was a challenge because a substantial number of the enrollees had advanced training; for example, they held a doctoral degree in medicine, law, or an academic subject. I co-taught the course with Denis Burke, a distinguished lawyer, who contributed in numerous ways to the course and to this book. In the 2018 version of the course we treated The Hound of the Baskervilles, which led me to mention Bayard’s book. The heart of the presentation that day consisted of Denis Burke, J.D., in a judicial robe and barrister’s wig, making the case that Bayard had proposed against Stapleton as the murderer. To do this, he interrogated three enrollees in the class, one wearing a deerstalker, another brandishing a butterfly net, and the third wearing a women’s hat. This twenty-five-minute presentation was the highlight of the course. Totally on her own initiative, one person pulled out her iPhone and made a video recording of the performance, which we now cherish. Denis has agreed to allow me to include his email address (dpb999@hotmail.com), should any Sherlockian wish to request his script for a Sherlockian event.
- 14.
Steven Doyle and David A. Crowder, Sherlock Holmes for Dummies (Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2010), 349.
- 15.
Christopher Redmond, Sherlock Holmes Handbook, 2nd ed. (Toronto: Dundurn, 2009), 29–31.
- 16.
John Dickson Carr, The Life of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: The Man Who Was Sherlock Holmes (New York: Vintage, 1975), 349.
- 17.
For details, see http://www.jot101.com/2013/06/the-table-talk-of-ts-eliot.html. Viewed October 3, 2014.
- 18.
Doyle, Holmes, II, 953–954.
- 19.
Doyle, Holmes, II, 945.
- 20.
Doyle, Holmes, II, 1014.
- 21.
Ian McQueen, Sherlock Holmes Detected (New York: Drake, 1974), 180.
Bibliography
Printed Sources
Carr, John Dickson. The Life of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: The Man Who Was Sherlock Holmes (New York: Vintage, 1975).
Doyle, Arthur Conan. The Complete Sherlock Holmes, 2 vols. (New York: Doubleday, 1953).
Doyle, Steven. and David A. Crowder. Sherlock Holmes for Dummies (Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2010).
McQueen, Ian. Sherlock Holmes Detected (New York: Drake, 1974).
Redmond, Christopher. Sherlock Holmes Handbook, 2nd ed. (Toronto: Dundurn, 2009).
Internet Source
http://www.jot101.com/2013/06/the-table-talk-of-ts-eliot.html. Viewed 3 October 2014.
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Crowe, M.J. (2018). The Four Holmes Novels. In: The Gestalt Shift in Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes Stories. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98291-5_2
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