"Sherlockian Game" as Both a Reading Approach and a Transfer of Fiction into Reality – a Historical Sherlock Holmes?

The character of the original detective and the most famous professional ancestor of our detectives in Munich, Sherlock Holmes, has captivated and fascinated people of all ages, ethnicities, and social classes for more than a century; the highly intelligent investigator solves (almost) every seemingly unsolvable case with his brilliant method of deduction, which can even apprehend the most cunning criminals. There are hundreds of editions of his stories, several dozen film adaptations, a three-digit number of TV series episodes, a variety of games, both analogue in the form of board and card games and digital for PCs, smartphones, and consoles, as well as many literary continuations by ambitious young authors, established writers, and quickly forgotten amateurs who aim to extend Sherlock Holmes' story (pastiches). Baker Street 221b – the at-the-time fictional residence of the master detective – is today dedicated to his memory, serving as half museum, half fan shop for the man with the globally recognised trademarks: deerstalker hat, hooked nose, meerschaum pipe, magnifying glass, and occasionally the violin.

Aside from the significant commercial interest in distributing and marketing the English gentleman, there exists a worldwide society devoted to an idealistic and intellectual engagement with the London private investigator: the Sherlockians. They treat all written works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle as historical biographical material of – in their interpretation – the (once) real Dr John Watson, the loyal companion of the also considered non-fictional super-detective Sherlock Holmes. The idea of this approach, also simply called The Game, goes beyond merely reading Conan Doyle’s works as historical testimony: all details and backgrounds, life stories, and any further possible information about the super-detective and his friend and companion are meticulously compiled into biographies and regularly updated. Worldwide, every small quote, every seemingly insignificant hint in Doyle’s texts is examined for new insights into the “real” Sherlock Holmes and his friend Watson, with the aim of eventually knowing and disseminating all familial, psychological, and private aspects of the master detective. This deep engagement resembles the intensive investigative work of our detective agency in Munich and even exceeds the knowledge Conan Doyle himself had about his characters, as he wrote the stories over four decades, often forgetting details, resulting in occasional contradictions within the canon.

The Beginning of "The Game" – a Satirical Essay Sets Things in Motion

In 1911, the British theologian and crime writer Ronald Knox presented at the Gryphon Club (a reading society) an essay later declared satirical, titled Studies in the Literature of Sherlock Holmes. In this essay, he established a new – the “correct” – reading of the 60 Sherlock Holmes novels and short stories: when reading, Holmes’ analytical method, focusing on small details that ultimately prove to be the most important (“the little things are infinitely the most important”, Sherlock Holmes, A Case of Identity, 1891), should be applied to the detective himself and his stories. Additionally, Dr Watson must receive significant attention, not least because it is almost always his viewpoint through which we observe and attempt to understand Holmes and his stories. Watson’s role is akin to that of the ancient Greek chorus in tragedies: he not only narrates the stories but also interprets them and directly intervenes in the action.

In the game, ambiguities and contradictions of the Holmes canon must be satisfactorily resolved by participants, for example by designing continuations and explanatory attempts following a generally consistent, ideally eleven-part structure, referencing literary predecessors and ideals. The aim of the game is to resolve or explain away all contradictions, fill every tiny gap in Holmes’ and Watson’s biographies with verifiable data, and thus transform the two investigators into flesh-and-blood characters with an actual and ostensibly verifiable life history – essentially real detectives, much like our private detectives in Munich.

"The Game" Attracts Not Only Fans but Also Scholars from Around the World in the "Great Game"

The original Holmes texts “from the pen of Dr Watson” – Conan Doyle is often regarded by Sherlockians merely as Watson’s editor or literary agent – are revered as a sacred canon, considered the only original texts of the time showing the “true” Holmes. This approach reflects Ronald Knox’s theological background, as it draws on biblical studies (especially New Testament exegesis) and questions about contemporary original sources on the historical Jesus of Nazareth. Following Knox’s essay and numerous other scholarly articles, essays, and studies on Sherlockian analysis and reading, the Sherlockian Game, also called the Holmesian Game or the Great Game, spread worldwide. Interestingly, it is not only played by ordinary Holmes fans but also by literary scholars and writers, such as the successful English crime-fiction author and translator Dorothy L. Sayers, who in her writings on the game emphasised that it should be played with utmost seriousness (“as solemnly as a county cricket match at Lord's”, Sayers 7) to preserve the mysterious atmosphere of the game.

The American writer, essayist, journalist, and poet Christopher Morley was also involved in the game; in 1944 he wrote a book on the friendship between Holmes and Watson. Even before him, scholars and writers had produced secondary literature on the famous predecessors of our corporate detectives in Munich: S. C. Roberts’ Watson biography (1929), a chronology of Holmes stories by Harold Wilmerding Bell (1932), an early biography of Holmes by Vincent Starrett (1933), William S. Baring-Gould’s Holmes biography (1962), an unauthorised biography of Holmes by Nick Rennison (2005), and the continuously updated Sherlock Holmes Reference Library by Leslie S. Klinger since 1998, compiling all canonical and scholarly texts.

Sherlock Holmes Societies That Never Stop Investigating New Details

Morley was not only an authority on Sherlock Holmes in his time but also the founder of the first American Sherlock Holmes club, the Baker Street Irregulars, where every meeting involves engaging with the canonical texts. This form of the game even allows for “punishment”: anyone who cannot attribute a Holmes quote to the correct book must buy a round of drinks. Morley’s club – still active today, publishing a themed quarterly magazine since 1946 – was by no means the only one. Over the decades, many other Holmes societies were founded on both sides of the Atlantic, often male-only, which is unsurprising given the sparse appearances of women in Conan Doyle’s works. Only in the 1980s was a women-only club established, the Adventuresses of Sherlock Holmes. All clubs, of course, share the main task of engaging in some form, whether written, oral, or otherwise, with the character of Sherlock Holmes.

In the United States alone, there are now over 350 active Holmes clubs and societies participating in the game, exploring the master detective’s character in depth (apparently never fully achieving this) and thereby keeping the most famous predecessor of our detective agency in Munich alive. Naturally, the first Holmes societies were founded in Great Britain, specifically England, the home of Sherlock Holmes, although British clubs never grew as numerous or large as their US counterparts. According to Sherlockian Peter Blau, there are reportedly 911 clubs worldwide dedicated to the phenomenon of Sherlock Holmes, located across Europe (including Germany), the US, and Asia. How these clubs conduct their Holmesian analysis and gain media attention in the digital age will be demonstrated by Kurtz Private Detective Agency Munich in the second part of this article.

References

• Baring-Gould, William S. Sherlock Holmes of Baker Street: A Biography of the World's First Consulting Detective. London: Rupert Hart-Davis, 1962. Print.
• Bell. H. W. Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. The Chronology of Their Adventures. London: Constable & Co., 1932. Print.
• Fleischhack, Maria. Die Welt des Sherlock Holmes. Darmstadt: Lambert Schneider, 2015. Print.
• Knox, Ronald. Studies in the Literature of Sherlock Holmes. Diogenes-Club. Online. http://www.diogenes-club.com/studies.htm
• Morley, Christopher. Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson: A Textbook of Friendship. 1944. Print.
• Roberts, S. C. A note on the Watson problem. Cambridge: University Press, 1929. Print.
• Roylott, Miss. Validity of Interpretation in Sherlockiana: A Philosophy of Art Paper. Archive.org. https://web.archive.org/web/20050923120827/http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/8950/holmes/validity.htm
• Sayers, Dorothy L. Unpopular Opinions. London: Victor Gollancz, 1946. Print.
• Starrett, Vincent. The private life of Sherlock Holmes. New York: Macmillan Co., 1933. Print.

Author: Maya Grünschloß, PhD

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