Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - The Hound of the Baskervilles

[andydecker]

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - The Hound of the Baskervilles (George Newnes, 1902 - prev. published in The Strand Magazine, 1901)

Some random translated edition, Haffmans, 2010

When godless Sir Hugo Baskerville hunted a unwilling maiden to death in the 1742, he was killed by hound from hell, who is still stalking the moors of Dartmoor. His last victim was Sir Charles Baskerville who died of a poor heart and fright in the night. Now his heir Sir Henry is arriving from abroad, and country doctor Dr. Mortimer fears for his safety. He consults Sherlock Holmes, who soon with his friend Dr. Watson at his side is either searching for a monster from hell or an villain with more earthly design.

After catching the Cushing tv Holmes adaption recently on tv, I put the Audiobook on the player, to hear it again. It is very well read with a solid translation, and even if I know the story by heart and saw half a dozen good and not so good adaptions on the screen, I was still immersed at once in the tale.

I don't know how many different editions were produced since its publication, it must be hundreds. It has become a classic and is a testament of Doyle's skill as a writer. It doesn't matter much if some parts may be better working as others. Things change, and while in younger years I always was kind of annoyed that Holmes is half of the tale seemingly absent and as always using his friend without any scruples, now I like it as it puts Watson more in the foreground. And frankly having Holmes droning on for hundreds of pages, I don't know if it would have worked.

And one can still discover new tidbits of interest in the tale. This time I stumbled upon the press cuttings which feature a prominent role of exposition. Did journalists really wrote such detailled and flowery accounts of local happenings in Victorian times, which must have made the reading of a paper a time-consuming effort, or did Doyle embellish this?

It made me think of this because a few weeks ago I put an Audiobook of Dracula on again, and I thought the same when I came to the more than detailled account of the landing of the luckless ship Demeter in Whitby, which also was done as an article. So either both Stoker and Doyle used the same style or they reflected their daily experiences.

The ending of the story, when the dog is shot in Grimpen Mire, is what we today like to describe as a Scooby Doo solution. It is just a painted animal. But for once it doesn't disappoint, even if Doyle does drown his villain in the moor off-stage.

[cauldronbrewer]

Mar 3, 2021 12:30:06 GMT andydecker said:

Things change, and while in younger years I always was kind of annoyed that Holmes is half of the tale seemingly absent and as always using his friend without any scruples, now I like it as it puts Watson more in the foreground. And frankly having Holmes droning on for hundreds of pages, I don't know if it would have worked.

Even as a kid, I appreciated the focus on Watson. I never could relate to Holmes, but it's easy to identify with Watson. As a reader, I wanted to see him figure things out on his own--which makes it bittersweet (if I'm remembering the story correctly) when Holmes tells him he's done good work but is wrong about what's actually happening.

[Dr Strange]

Mar 3, 2021 12:30:06 GMT andydecker said:

And one can still discover new tidbits of interest in the tale. This time I stumbled upon the press cuttings which feature a prominent role of exposition. Did journalists really wrote such detailled and flowery accounts of local happenings in Victorian times, which must have made the reading of a paper a time-consuming effort, or did Doyle embellish this?

It made me think of this because a few weeks ago I put an Audiobook of Dracula on again, and I thought the same when I came to the more than detailled account of the landing of the luckless ship Demeter in Whitby, which also was done as an article. So either both Stoker and Doyle used the same style or they reflected their daily experiences.

I can't remember the details of either of these now, but I think they were probably pretty accurate portrayals of the newspapers of the day. In Victorian times most newspapers only really covered the immediate area around where they were produced, and would have focused in great detail on anything remotely interesting or unusual that happened locally.

[Michael Connolly]

Mar 3, 2021 12:30:06 GMT andydecker said:

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - The Hound of the Baskervilles (George Newnes, 1902 - prev. published in The Strand Magazine, 1901)

Some random translated edition, Haffmans, 2010

When godless Sir Hugo Baskerville hunted a unwilling maiden to death in the 1742, he was killed by hound from hell, who is still stalking the moors of Dartmoor. His last victim was Sir Charles Baskerville who died of a poor heart and fright in the night. Now his heir Sir Henry is arriving from abroad, and country doctor Dr. Mortimer fears for his safety. He consults Sherlock Holmes, who soon with his friend Dr. Watson at his side is either searching for a monster from hell or an villain with more earthly design.

After catching the Cushing tv Holmes adaption recently on tv, I put the Audiobook on the player, to hear it again. It is very well read with a solid translation, and even if I know the story by heart and saw half a dozen good and not so good adaptions on the screen, I was still immersed at once in the tale.

I don't know how many different editions were produced since its publication, it must be hundreds. It has become a classic and is a testament of Doyle's skill as a writer. It doesn't matter much if some parts may be better working as others. Things change, and while in younger years I always was kind of annoyed that Holmes is half of the tale seemingly absent and as always using his friend without any scruples, now I like it as it puts Watson more in the foreground. And frankly having Holmes droning on for hundreds of pages, I don't know if it would have worked.

by

And one can still discover new tidbits of interest in the tale. This time I stumbled upon the press cuttings which feature a prominent role of exposition. Did journalists really wrote such detailled and flowery accounts of local happenings in Victorian times, which must have made the reading of a paper a time-consuming effort, or did Doyle embellish this?

It made me think of this because a few weeks ago I put an Audiobook of Dracula on again, and I thought the same when I came to the more than detailled account of the landing of the luckless ship Demeter in Whitby, which also was done as an article. So either both Stoker and Doyle used the same style or they reflected their daily experiences.

The ending of the story, when the dog is shot in Grimpen Mire, is what we today like to describe as a Scooby Doo solution. It is just a painted animal. But for once it doesn't disappoint, even if Doyle does drown his villain in the moor off-stage.

Does he?

[andydecker]

Mar 4, 2021 16:04:10 GMT Michael Connolly said:

Mar 3, 2021 12:30:06 GMT andydecker said:

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - The Hound of the Baskervilles (George Newnes, 1902 - prev. published in The Strand Magazine, 1901)

even if Doyle does drown his villain in the moor off-stage.

Does he?

Good point! As I had seen this so often in the movies, I was a bit unsure if Doyle had written it. So I actually looked it up before I wrote some nonsense. It was quite surprising that the death of Stapleton is an assumption, no eye-witnesses here. So guess there must be a few Stapleton returns pastiches on the market.