On the plus side
Apr. 3rd, 2008 10:59 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nineveh_ukAt least there is no longer snow forecast for Paris on Sunday.
Why, oh why, does commerically published Wimsey fanfic, (sorry, I mean critical exploration, playfulness and pastiche, have to be in Brazilian Portuguese? I don't suppose anyone on my flist reads Portuguese and can tell me if the short stories of Paulo de Medeiros e Albuquerque exist in English translation?
[ETA: It seems you need a university web access to follow the link - I didn't think of that, because I have university wireless at home. ]
JSTOR: The Modern Language Journal, Vol. 63, No. 1/2. (Jan. - Feb., 1979), pp. 57-58.
ALBUQUERQUE, PAULO DE MEDEIROS E. Uma
ide'ia do Doutor Watson. Porto Alegre: Editora
Globo, 1977. Pp. 195.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle has long had his imitators.
The list of authors who have written detective fiction
starring Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson extends
to several languages. In his 1973 study, 0 s maiores
detetives de todos os tempos (The Greatest Detectives
of all Time), Paulo de Medeiros e Albuquerque
credits his grandfather with introducing the genre to
Brazil, and one of Jose de Medeiros e Albuquerque's
volumes of short stories is titled Se eu f6sse Sherlock
Holmes (If I were Sherlock Holmes). Inheritor of the
family tradition, the author of Doctor Watson Has an
Idea is clearly as enthusiastic about detective fiction as
he is well-informed (who but an expert, for example,
would point out in an afterword that Holmes never
said "Elementary, my dear Watson"?). What is more,
two of the three stories in this slim volume are loving
pastiches of two other mystery "greats," Dorothy
Sayers and Agatha Christie.
Dr. Watson modestly opens the book by introducing
himself to the readers. He has retired from
chronicling his friend's feats and is peeved, in retrospect,
that he never properly shared the limelight.
Watson informs us that Holmes was, after all, a
limited sort of genius, an ill-read "idiot savant" of
deduction who did not in fact enjoy playing the violin
and whose vain condescensions often injured his
friends. In order to correct the image of himself as
kindhearted but doting, Watson decides to set down
the story of one of his own triumphs of detection and
invites two other neglected assistants to do the same:
Lord Peter Wimsey's man, Mervyn Bunter, and
Hercule Poirot's associate, Captain Arthur Hastings.
Each of their stories is an excellent re-creation of
the original, in which the assistants act very much in
the style of the masters. Watson's story illustrates the
art of pure deduction. Captain Hasting's the art of intuition
and Bunter's the art of psychological ambush.
Medeiros e Albuquerque adds just the right touches to
set the stage: along the way we are reminded of
Holmes' proficiency at stick-fighting, Lord Peter's
family relations and Poirot's dislike of breezes, among
other details. There are fond references to cases already
in print. Watson worries about Holmes' cocaine
habit, Captain Hastings complains of Poirot's egotism
and Bunter mildly reproaches Lord Peter's elitism.
There is scarcely a jarring note in the book, unless
one thinks it fantastic to attribute "saudades" to a
British Army Officer. The book at times adopts a
playfully educational tone, as when Hercule Poirot,
quizzed on his opinion, declares Sherlock Holmes a
"show-off." Far from destroying the idol, he insists, he
is doing him justice: "the idol survives, show-off or
not" (p. 84).
As a fan of the more "hard-boiled" American private eye novels, I would like to see Senhor Medeiros e
Albuquerque tackle Dashiell Hammett, Raymond
Chandler, or Ross Macdonald. If the results were as
polished as the present volume, they would make for
more delightful reading.
KENNETH KRABBENHOFT
Why, oh why, does commerically published Wimsey fanfic, (sorry, I mean critical exploration, playfulness and pastiche, have to be in Brazilian Portuguese? I don't suppose anyone on my flist reads Portuguese and can tell me if the short stories of Paulo de Medeiros e Albuquerque exist in English translation?
[ETA: It seems you need a university web access to follow the link - I didn't think of that, because I have university wireless at home. ]
JSTOR: The Modern Language Journal, Vol. 63, No. 1/2. (Jan. - Feb., 1979), pp. 57-58.
ALBUQUERQUE, PAULO DE MEDEIROS E. Uma
ide'ia do Doutor Watson. Porto Alegre: Editora
Globo, 1977. Pp. 195.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle has long had his imitators.
The list of authors who have written detective fiction
starring Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson extends
to several languages. In his 1973 study, 0 s maiores
detetives de todos os tempos (The Greatest Detectives
of all Time), Paulo de Medeiros e Albuquerque
credits his grandfather with introducing the genre to
Brazil, and one of Jose de Medeiros e Albuquerque's
volumes of short stories is titled Se eu f6sse Sherlock
Holmes (If I were Sherlock Holmes). Inheritor of the
family tradition, the author of Doctor Watson Has an
Idea is clearly as enthusiastic about detective fiction as
he is well-informed (who but an expert, for example,
would point out in an afterword that Holmes never
said "Elementary, my dear Watson"?). What is more,
two of the three stories in this slim volume are loving
pastiches of two other mystery "greats," Dorothy
Sayers and Agatha Christie.
Dr. Watson modestly opens the book by introducing
himself to the readers. He has retired from
chronicling his friend's feats and is peeved, in retrospect,
that he never properly shared the limelight.
Watson informs us that Holmes was, after all, a
limited sort of genius, an ill-read "idiot savant" of
deduction who did not in fact enjoy playing the violin
and whose vain condescensions often injured his
friends. In order to correct the image of himself as
kindhearted but doting, Watson decides to set down
the story of one of his own triumphs of detection and
invites two other neglected assistants to do the same:
Lord Peter Wimsey's man, Mervyn Bunter, and
Hercule Poirot's associate, Captain Arthur Hastings.
Each of their stories is an excellent re-creation of
the original, in which the assistants act very much in
the style of the masters. Watson's story illustrates the
art of pure deduction. Captain Hasting's the art of intuition
and Bunter's the art of psychological ambush.
Medeiros e Albuquerque adds just the right touches to
set the stage: along the way we are reminded of
Holmes' proficiency at stick-fighting, Lord Peter's
family relations and Poirot's dislike of breezes, among
other details. There are fond references to cases already
in print. Watson worries about Holmes' cocaine
habit, Captain Hastings complains of Poirot's egotism
and Bunter mildly reproaches Lord Peter's elitism.
There is scarcely a jarring note in the book, unless
one thinks it fantastic to attribute "saudades" to a
British Army Officer. The book at times adopts a
playfully educational tone, as when Hercule Poirot,
quizzed on his opinion, declares Sherlock Holmes a
"show-off." Far from destroying the idol, he insists, he
is doing him justice: "the idol survives, show-off or
not" (p. 84).
As a fan of the more "hard-boiled" American private eye novels, I would like to see Senhor Medeiros e
Albuquerque tackle Dashiell Hammett, Raymond
Chandler, or Ross Macdonald. If the results were as
polished as the present volume, they would make for
more delightful reading.
KENNETH KRABBENHOFT