Wednesday 11 July 2018

Social Changes

Whereas fictional heroes of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries married their heroines and remained monogamous, except for Holmes who remained celibate, Nicholas van Rijn, David Falkayn, Dominic Flandry, James Bond and Stieg Larsson's Mikael Blomkvist are promiscuous, Blomkvist spectacularly more so even than Bond. (Daniel Craig has played both.) Clearly, a major social change has occurred, reflected in fiction.

Science fiction addresses social changes. In Poul Anderson's two major series:

Time Patrollers are recruited throughout history but there are differences of outlook even among those recruited from successive decades of the twentieth century;

van Rijn's granddaughter disapproves of his apparent irresponsibilities.

We might return to this theme but those are the main observations this breakfast time.

7 comments:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

Well, I don't think David Falkayn was THAT promiscuous, compared to the others you listed.

And I have seen one or two "Holmes" stories in which we discovered that Mrs. Huddleston, the Great Detective landlady, was his secret love. Something never mentioned by Dr. Watson because he was the very model of discretion and chivalry.

Sean

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Sean,
I don't believe it! But, of course, there is every possible sequel. Holmes meets Dracula, the Martians, Manse Everard etc.
(Mrs Hudson.)
Paul.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

Darn! I got Sherlock Holme's landlady's name wrong. Mrs. HUDSON, not Huddleston. Drat.

Yes, we have seen almost every possible variant or sequel added to the Holmes mythos, including some by Poul Anderson. Such as "The Martian Crown Jewels" or his Hoka Sherlock Holmes.

And we get a glimpse of Holmes and Dr. Watson in one of Anderson's Old Phoenix stories.

Sean

David Birr said...

Paul and Sean:
At least one book not only had Holmes romantically involved with Mrs. Hudson, but also, as Paul suggested, a Martian encounter. As Wikipedia put it:

"Sherlock Holmes's War of the Worlds is a sequel to H. G. Wells's The War of the Worlds, written by Manly Wade Wellman and his son Wade Wellman, published in 1975. It is a pastiche crossover which combines H. G. Wells's extraterrestrial invasion story with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes and Professor Challenger stories....

"The story consists of the adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Watson, and Professor Challenger in London during the Martian invasion as described in Wells's novel....

"The underlying philosophy of the book is very different to, indeed contradictory to, the original Wells story in which the idea is repeatedly expressed of humans being completely helpless before the Martian invaders, as other creatures are before humans. Conversely, in the Wellmans' book Holmes, Watson, and Challenger continually confront and outwit the Martians, undeterred by the invaders' technological superiority.

"The story features a romantic relationship between Holmes and his landlady Mrs. Hudson, of which Watson is oblivious."

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

David,
I have read that book but forgotten, and still don't remember, the romance.
Paul.

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

I am sure it is there, of course.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, DAVID!

I'm almost sure the Wellmans book is where I came across the idea of Sherlock Holmes
being romantically involved with Mrs. Hudson.

Sean