Clarkston native Dr. Ann McClellan explores the origins of Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous detective and tracks his incarnations in literature, film, advertising, and modern media in her presentation “(Not So) Elementary, My Dear Watson: The Popularity of Sherlock Holmes,” Friday, Nov. 23, at 6:30 p.m. at Clarkston Village Players’ Depot Theater, 4861 White Lake Road.
Holmes is the most portrayed literary character of all time, with over 230 film versions alone in several different languages; over the past century, Sherlockians created societies like the Baker Street Irregulars, wrote articles sussing out the ‘sources’ of Doyle’s works, and, most recently, developed an entire online world of Holmesian fan fiction.
McClellan, a professor of English at Plymouth State University where she teaches classes in 19th and 20th century British Literature, will discuss why Sherlock Holmes is so popular now, and a multimillion dollar industry.
She is the author of “How British Women Writers Transformed the Campus,” “Sherlock’s World, Fan Fiction and the Reimagining of BBC’s Sherlock,” as well as several national and international articles on writers like Virginia Woolf, Dorothy L. Sayers, and Jeannette Winterson.
Tickets are $10. Call 248-425-5842 or go to www.clarkstonvillageplayers.org.