Holmesian Misadventures

I am just about to finish The Misadventures of Sherlock Holmes, a collection of pastiches edited by Ellery Queen, and containing mainly comic send ups or adventures gone wrong. As the character is a very popular one, over the past more than hundred years, many authors have contributed their "imitations" to the Holmesiana. This collection is for parodies specifically. The book is organized into 4 sections, beginning with contributions from other detective story writers. These include Agatha Christie, Robert Barr, Caroline Wells, Ellery Queen and others. Probably Maurice Leblanc is the one here, who have made the most serious effort, as he matched his master thief, Arsène Lupin, against Holmes in two novels other than the short story involved here as Lupin's only worthy adversary. Next come famous literary figures, most famous of whom is probably Mark Twain, but I think that James Barrie's story has a personal charm that made it Doyle's favourite of all pastiches, and it is the fact that it was written by a fellow artist as a "gay gesture of resignantion" over the failure of their comic opera. I myself wrote a miniature spy story to a friend of mine then working at the Ministry of Justice to which I can compare that pastiche, and which fact enables me to overly enjoy such an effort. There are then 2 sections for humorists and other devotees, respectively. To cut it short, I will mention only one more name, that of August Derleth. A well known literary figure of the 20th century America, author of a series of novels echoing Balzac's social realism, yet he is probably most remembered for his contribution to the Cthulhu Myth of Lovecraftian horror. He wrote a number of serious pastiches catching the atmosphere of Doyle's stories, one of which is involved in this collection.

Perhaps I can extend the list found in the book with a further comic pastiche unlikely to be well-known, that of Frigyes Karinthy's for which an English translation by Maria Bencsath may be found here. This is probably more absurd than the majority what I have read, but I think it still fits among the others. I have also recently watched a very good send up, "Without a Clue" from 1985 (trailer here), in which Holmes, played by Michael Caine is an actor hired by the detective mastermind Dr Watson (Ben Kingsley) to impersonate his creation. The idea is very well implanted into the world of Holmesian fiction, all the typical characters and circumstances fit into their new places very well, and the whole outcome is very enjoyable, especially if you are familiar with the original. I also very much like Paul Freeman's Moriarty that would pass for any serious adaptation as well... something devilish in him, probably in his eyes...