The critically-acclaimed BBC television series Sherlock (2010- ) re-envisions Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's detective for the digital age, joining participants in the active traditions of Sherlockians/Holmesians and fans from other communities, including science fiction, media, and anime. This collection explores the cultural intersections and fan traditions that converge in Sherlock and its fandoms. Essays focus on the industrial and cultural contexts of Sherlock's release, on the text of Sherlock as adaptation and transformative work, and on Sherlock's critical and popular reception. The volume's multiple perspectives examine Sherlock Holmes as an international transmedia figure with continued cultural impact, offering insight into not only the BBC series itself, but also into its literary source, and with it, the international resonance of the Victorian detective and his sidekick.
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Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
Prologue: Why Sherlock? Narrator Investment in the BBC Series
LYNDSAY FAYE
Introduction: The Literary, Televisual and Digital Adventures of the Beloved Detective
LOUISA ELLEN STEIN and KRISTINA BUSSE
Part One: Transmedia and Collective Intelligence
Sherlock's Epistemological Economy and the Value of "Fan" Knowledge: How Producer-Fans Play the (Great) Game of Fandom
MATT HILLS
Winning "The Grand Game": Sherlock and the Fragmentation of Fan Discourse
ASHLEY D. POLASEK
Part Two: Sherlock Then and Now
"But It's the Solar System!" Reconciling Science and Faith Through Astronomy
ARIANA SCOTT-ZECHLIN
Terror, Nostalgia, and the Pursuit of Sherlock Holmes in Sherlock
ELLEN BURTON HARRINGTON
Decoding the Industrial and Digital City: Visions of Security in Holmes' and Sherlock's London
ANNE KUSTRITZ and MELANIE E.S. KOHNEN
Part Three: Adaptations and Intertextuality
Shaping Sherlocks: Institutional Practice and the Adaptation of Character
ELIZABETH JANE EVANS
Sherlock's Webs: What the Detective Remembered from the Doctor About Transmediality
CB HARVEY
Holmes in the Small Screen: The Television Contexts of Sherlock
TOM STEWARD
Part Four: Interpreting Sherlock
"Good Old Index"; or, The Mystery of the Infinite Archive
ROBERTA PEARSON
Sherlock: Critical Reception by the Media
PAUL RIXON
Holmes Abroad: Dutch Fans Interpret the Famous Detective
NICOLLE LAMERICHS
Part Five: Postmodern Sherlock
Sherlock and the (Re)Invention of Modernity
BALAKA BASU
Sherlock as Cyborg: Bridging Mind and Body
FRANCESCA COPPA
Conclusion: Transmedia Sherlock and Beyond
KRISTINA BUSSE and LOUISA ELLEN STEIN
About the Contributors
Index
