homoeroticism

Sherlock Holmes

Posted on September 9, 2015 Updated on September 9, 2015

This week’s episode of Novel Ideas is about three short stories from Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes canon, discussing “The Adventure of the Speckled Band,” “Scandal in Bohemia,” and “The Final Solution.” We discuss the light characterization, feminism, various adaptations, and Victorian writing style. We also talk about Sherlock Holmes as a prank show, Holmes’s dickery, whether its secretly a monster of the week show, and badass Irene Adler spin offs.

A couple of administrative notes: This episode was recorded in the spring, so some of the information is out of date. I think most of the inaccuracies are self evident. For example, it is no longer May and we already posted our episode on Andy Weir’s The Martian. There are some minor technical issues, but hopefully nothing too distracting. I erased a long stretch of Gabs’s voice skipping like a scratched CD, but left in some our comments afterward because they amused me. Also, the Novel Ideas e-mail is no longer in service. Oh yeah, and we didn’t plug Minerva! We’re part of the Minerva Mag Podcast Network! Check it out!

The music bump is “Discombobulate” by Hans Zimmer, the theme from the 2009 Guy Ritchie film adaptation of Sherlock Holmes.

Sherlock Holmes – Victorian Gentleman Bro

Our ratings:

It’s been quite a while, so no numerical ratings. We’d have to split them across three different stories anyway. We both thought “The Final Problem” was pretty uninteresting, but the other two stories were pretty good. If you haven’t ever read any Holmes, check out “The Adventure of the Speckled Band,” which is probably the most representative of the overall Holmes canon.

This entry was posted in Episodes and tagged adaptations, Adventure in Bohemia, Arthur Conan Doyle, cool story Ben, feminism, Guy RItchie, Holmes is a crack fiend, Holmes is a dick, Holmes is a misogynist douche, homoeroticism, interesting married people, Irene Adler spin off, light characterization, monster of the week, most important thing, motor noises, non-protagonist narrator, outsmarted by A WOMAN?, powers of observation, technical difficulties, tell don't show, The Adventure of the Speckled Band, The Final Problem, The Woman, Victorian gentleman bro, Victorian pranks, writing bored.

The Picture of Dorian Gray

Posted on October 15, 2013

It’s been a while since we’ve read a classic, so this week, Novel Ideas brings you The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. This is a book known for featuring a portrait that ages while the man in the portrait remains young. Well, about that… it’s not exactly the most significant part of the story. Join us as we talk about that and other things, such as Victorian censorship, homoeroticism, class issues, and social satire. We also discuss the history of nuts, indirect murder, our take on State Farm ads, and professional trolls. On a side note, there are a couple minutes of this episode where the sound is a little washed out because I had to use the noise removal tool. It’s definitely noticeable, but far less distracting than the alternative.

The music bump this week is from Richard Wagner’s “Tannhauser Overture,” one of the several Wagner operas referenced in the book.

The Picture of Dorian Gray – That is Wilde!

Recommendations:

Gabs: 6/10. Read The Importance of Being Earnest if you really want the Oscar Wilde experience.

Ben: 5/10. I want to like it, but there’s a little too much boredom between bouts of wit.

This entry was posted in Episodes and tagged 21st century Oscar Wilde, aestheticism, aphorisms, art for art, audio weirdness, beauty v. morality, blackmail, class issues, Faustian, gossip cycles, history of nuts, homoeroticism, indirect murder, literary State Farm ads, misogyny, omniscient voice, Oscar Wilde, physiognomy, playwright, professional troll, social commentary, strict Faust constructionist, The Picture of Dorian Gray, too descriptive, verbose characters, Victorian censorship, wit.