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Book & Review Forums: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

Gregory House with 2 good legs?

Has anyone else ever noticed that Sherlock Holmes is like the original House, in the first two or three paragraphs of this book he reads like the pitch for the show. Heck.. Holmes/House? Even the names are related. I guess it's obvious where the writers got there inspiration.

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BentSea

Replies (11)

Posted by

  • The Holmes/House is not a coincidence.

    Did you not notice that House also lives at the address 221B?

    cresswgaJan 31, 2007 5:02 pm
    by cresswga

  • Haha, that's awesome, no, I never did notice that.

    BTW, were you ever a member of 3d Buzz?

    BentSeaJan 31, 2007 6:43 pm
    by BentSea

  • haha indeed I am. I recognised your user id too :)

    cresswgaFeb 1, 2007 8:48 am
    by cresswga

  • I see you're going through the classics... this is my first time to read the adventures of Sherlock Holmes... I find myself requesting the next fragment way more often than I should to keep this up over a large period of time, quite a compelling novel. Have you gotten to the Count of Monte Cristo yet, or the 3 Musketeers?

    BentSeaFeb 1, 2007 3:47 pm
    by BentSea

  • No I have been leaving those until last because I am so familiar of the story from the movie versions. I was thinking of Don Quixote and James Joyce's Ulysses next and I can only hope they are easier to read than Moby Dick is!

    cresswgaFeb 2, 2007 11:42 am
    by cresswga

  • If you mean any movies made after 1970, then you really are missing quite a lot. Especially if you find a good translation.

    BentSeaFeb 2, 2007 7:53 pm
    by BentSea

  • I didn't really think of the Holmes/House connection, though it's really obvious now that you've pointed it out. I haven't gotten very far with The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, but Holmes seems, to me, a lot less tortured by inner demons than House.

    CienFeb 3, 2007 9:38 am
    by Cien

  • I think it is hard to really get a grasp on how tortured Holmes might have been because the stories are narrated by Watson as an observer.

    He seems more interested in the deductive reasoning than any inner demons and always writes his accounts from the standpoint of an admirer.

    I always found Holmes bachelor lifestyle lonely and his pursuits insular but it is hard to know what was considered acceptable at that time.

    cresswgaFeb 5, 2007 2:56 pm
    by cresswga

  • Well, also, the period and the location are a lot less prone to that sort of personal inquiry. There are lots of small clues that Holmes is equally a disquieted soul.

    1) There's the way his coke addiction is far more personally debilitating.

    2) There is a brief mention later on that Watson is the only thing Holmes has regarding a close friend.

    3) Note that Holmes doesn't have a physical malady which gives him reason to lash outward about his personal inner troubles.

    4) His attitudes towards other professionals in the same field.

    BentSeaFeb 5, 2007 5:23 pm
    by BentSea

  • Both House and Holmes on rare occasions do show an underlying compassion, but only in the extremes.

    Here's something I found interesting, though, is their troubled relationships with women on any sort of social level. There are a lot of reasons, but what is rather dramatic is the gaping hole in his description when it comes to his personal life. Sort of like it was deliberately left empty, the same way you might ignore personal problems then and there opposite the way that you would highlight them now.

    BentSeaFeb 5, 2007 5:23 pm
    by BentSea

  • I think holmes is too logical. I mean whats more illogical than affairs of the heart? He simply wouldn't let himself love a woman for that reason.sad

    Charles1013Feb 29, 2008 2:24 pm
    by Charles1013

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