575 Investigating Sherlock Holmes
Class | This program is completed
Nearly everyone knows Sherlock Holmes by sight (over 250 actors have portrayed him), but how many know about the “Game” or what the "Canon" is? How many have pondered the literary value of the original stories or know who was the real-life inspiration for Holmes? How many have seen one of the recreations of his and Dr. Watson’s sitting room? Or considered whether his reasoning is really deductive, inductive or abductive? Or know why we associate a calabash pipe with him, although Conan Doyle never mentioned one?
Classes will focus on discussion of selected Holmes stories by Arthur Conan Doyle and use them as a lens to look at people behind the image, fandom and tourism, science and reasoning and topics beyond Doyle’s creation and of interest to the class.
An optional "field trip" will suplement this class: An open house at LuAnn’s Holmes 221B sitting room evocation and Denny Dobry’s more “authentic” recreation in Reading will be planned to take place outside of class time.
- Required reading: the Sherlock Holmes stories by Arthur Conan Doyle to be read in this course are readily available online at https://sherlock-holm.es or http://ignisart.com/camdenhouse/canon/index.html.
Alternatively, ebooks or print copies may be acquired at the student’s choice.
LuAnn O'Connell
LUANN O’CONNELL has taught BILL classes on the character Sherlock Holmes and author Edgar Allan Poe. She reads extensively in diverse genres and loves travel, combining these interests by creating a Sherlock Holmes sitting room and a medieval bedchamber in her home. She is currently fascinated with the medieval era in the British Isles. She has a bachelor’s degree in economics and a master’s in public policy analysis. She also homeschooled her children taught homeschool co-op literature classes and led spiritual retreats.