A set of new, refreshed editions of all Sherlock Holmes stories have been released.
The Oxford World's Classics editions of Sherlock Holmes from Oxford University Press (OUP) feature the original texts in a whole new context.
Dr Christopher Pittard, Senior Lecturer in English Literature at the University of Portsmouth, is the editor of one of the new editions - The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
Arthur Conan Doyle, who lived and worked in Portsmouth, famously killed off Sherlock Holmes in 1893, in the short story The Final Problem, but was tempted to bring him back to life ten years later, in the 13 tales that comprise The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
The stories hark back to earlier tales while pushing Holmes in new directions - his deductions are less self-assured and, whereas earlier stories had largely avoided sensationalism, the stories of The Return are more visceral and bloody.
This is quite a significant project as the last time OUP published the Holmes canon was back in 1994, and of course there are the local links to Doyle. This project has been led by academics at Trinity College Dublin, but I was invited by them to be on the editorial team and it was an incredible honour to be responsible for editing one of the volumes.
New to this edition:
- A new introduction considers how The Return marks a new kind of self-reflexivity in the Holmes stories, with Doyle now consciously writing for a body of established Holmes 'fans'
- Updated bibliography surveys the substantial expansion of Doyle studies in recent years
- New critical notes explain more obscure terminology, draw attention to literary references, and elucidate the contemporary scientific and criminological contexts
Dr Pittard said: "This is quite a significant project as the last time OUP published the Holmes canon was back in 1994, and of course there are the local links to Doyle. This project has been led by academics at Trinity College Dublin, but I was invited by them to be on the editorial team and it was an incredible honour to be responsible for editing one of the volumes."
Dr Pittard will join the launch of the new editions at a special online event hosted by OUP on Monday 27 March at 6pm. You can book your place here.
