We in 2015, we the entertained, who live in a fun house of Sherlocks — Cumberbatch Sherlock, Downey Jr. Sherlock, Jonny Lee Miller Sherlock, etc. — need no convincing of the imaginative vitality of Sherlock Holmes. But the fact that Bret Harte, revered and shaggy forebear, of whose stories Conan Doyle felt his own early efforts to be but “feeble echoes,” could come out in 1900 with such a spot-on and beautifully modern satire of a Sherlock Holmes story tells us something of the immediacy with which Holmes franchised himself into popular consciousness.
English: Sherlock Holmes (r) and Dr. John B. Watson. Illustration by Sidney Paget from the Sherlock Holmes story The Greek Interpreter. Français : Sherlock Holmes (à droite) et le Docteur Watson (à gauche), illustration de Sidney Paget pour la nouvelle intitulée L’interprète grec. Русский: Шерлок Холмс (справа) и доктор Ватсон. Иллюстрация Сидни Паджет к рассказу “Случай с переводчиком”. עברית: שרלוק הולמס וד”ר ווטסון כפי שצוירו על ידי סידני פאגט (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
