Anthropology by Gaslight: Sherlock Holmes, Conan Doyle and the anthropology of detection in the Victorian fin de siècle
Anthropology by Gaslight: Sherlock Holmes, Conan Doyle and the anthropology of detection in the Victorian fin de siècle
The last decade of the Victorian era, the fin de siècle, was a time of deep social anxiety as the power structures and social institutions of the Victorian era came under great critical scrutiny from the arts and the sciences alike. Central concerns about human nature and just how civilised Victorians really were, were allied to concerns about the future of the ‘white race’ and its continued social and political hegemony. Much of the literature of this time focuses on the erosion of the boundaries between things that had seemed self-evident to earlier generations (racial distinctiveness, class superiority, imperialism etc.). Through anthropological themes, the Sherlock Holmes stories of Arthur Conan Doyle reinforced all that was seen as good in the imperial project and in the hereditary superiority of those who delivered it. Yet after 1901 and the Hound of the Baskervilles these anthropological tropes all but vanished from Doyle’s work.
Sherlock Holmes, Conan Doyle, Victorian anthropology, Victorian archaeology, science fiction,
728-751
McNabb, John
59e818b1-3196-4991-93eb-75ed9c898e71
8 December 2017
McNabb, John
59e818b1-3196-4991-93eb-75ed9c898e71
McNabb, John
(2017)
Anthropology by Gaslight: Sherlock Holmes, Conan Doyle and the anthropology of detection in the Victorian fin de siècle.
World Archaeology, 49 (5), .
(doi:10.1080/00438243.2017.1406396).
Abstract
The last decade of the Victorian era, the fin de siècle, was a time of deep social anxiety as the power structures and social institutions of the Victorian era came under great critical scrutiny from the arts and the sciences alike. Central concerns about human nature and just how civilised Victorians really were, were allied to concerns about the future of the ‘white race’ and its continued social and political hegemony. Much of the literature of this time focuses on the erosion of the boundaries between things that had seemed self-evident to earlier generations (racial distinctiveness, class superiority, imperialism etc.). Through anthropological themes, the Sherlock Holmes stories of Arthur Conan Doyle reinforced all that was seen as good in the imperial project and in the hereditary superiority of those who delivered it. Yet after 1901 and the Hound of the Baskervilles these anthropological tropes all but vanished from Doyle’s work.
Text
McNabb Anthropology by Gaslight clean copy
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Accepted/In Press date: 9 November 2017
Published date: 8 December 2017
Keywords:
Sherlock Holmes, Conan Doyle, Victorian anthropology, Victorian archaeology, science fiction,
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Local EPrints ID: 415844
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/415844
PURE UUID: 07e82829-fe15-437d-bff1-03034843b16d
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Date deposited: 24 Nov 2017 17:31
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 05:18
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