The Immersion Library

The intellectual neurotic turns action hero, the side-kick steps into the spotlight.

The Hound of the Baskervilles strikes a different tone from the short stories. Doyle converts the gothic, eerie confines of the English moors into an arena of cinematic force – like a character itself. Whereas in the short stories, London proper and its suberbs play no role at all. In the short stories, villains can randomnly appear at the story’s apex causing readers to marvel at the methods and wizardry of Sherlock Holmes. But the novel, as it expands the scope of the drama, it also simplifies the puzzle. The reader discovers less surprises. Criminal motives and villanous identities ultimately reveal themselves as one might suspect. As opposed to short stories in which Doyle compacts the same number of intriguing elements and clues, the long narrative form of the novel provides the reader time to form theories which prove more accurate in some form or another. Specific character fates and clue purposes change only the surface appearance of what the reader likely suspects before the climax.

I also note Doyle’s choices in narrative form. Per usual, we must rely on Watson’s dictation of events. We do so in three distinct forms: the standard narrative, letters directly to Holmes to report findings, and his diary. Why these three forms? Perhaps Doyle simply needed to extend the narrative for the novel form. But he could have presented the same content consistent with the form familiar to the reader. More likely, Doyle wanted to inject as much realism as possible to inspire his readers to question the stories’ categorizations as fiction. I think Doyle values this idea so much that he places Watson as the primary character through the majority of the novel.

I admit I enjoy the supernatural element of this story as well. The Sherlock Holmes we come to know would reject superstitious presuppositions out of hand. And yet, through this story, he proves open to it – even if only as a theory to strike from the list of possibilities. As the story reaches its climax, the observations and fears of the players do play out! It is not the events that are superstitious, but people’s interpretation of the events that are superstitious. While this may seem a simple, didactic distinction, I commend Holmes for respecting it. If Holmes would have rejected the hound theory out of hand, he would have enabled a disasterous outcome.