The making of a popular hero: Sherlock Holmes in early Danish media culture

Abstract

Based on questions of genre and generic modulation, this article traces the making of Sherlock Holmes as a popular hero in Denmark. Its central historical claim is that a long-forgotten theatrical play made a significant contribution to this process. The play Sherlock Holmes was written by Danish writer Walter Christmas as an – officially unacknowledged – adaptation of a likewise popular American play by William Gillette. Christmas’ play (and other Holmes plays) swept across the entire country of Denmark for a major part of 1902 following its Copenhagen opening on 26 December 1901. From a generic point of view, the stories and the play diverge significantly. The play, its relationship with the stories, its generic modulations and the ways in which it was perceived by newspapers and audiences of the period together form the basis for the theoretical explorations of the article, which claims that the generic modulations from the stories to the play are due to the preferences and expectations of readers and theatrical audiences, respectively. Empirically, the article is based on material – the play, the reviews, newspaper announcements and other archival material – which has not been scrutinized before.