The secret marriage of Sherlock Holmes, and other eccentric readings

the long version

The Secret Marriage of Sherlock Holmes is about reading, a process that most of us take for granted. But Arthur Conan Doyle's master sleuth Sherlock Holmes became famous by taking nothing for granted. Author Michael Atkinson demonstrates that Holmes's adventures can be read in new ways that Holmes himself might have found startling, but that promise to delight contemporary readers. In an engaging and original style, the book provides "a series of flirtations" with nine of Conan Doyle's favorite detective fictions, using the tools of modern literary theory, from depth psychology to deconstruction. Bluebeard, the kundalini serpent, and Conan Doyle's mother pop up alongside Jung, Nietzsche, and Derrida as guides to new understandings of these classic stories. . The Secret Marriage of Sherlock Holmes will delight Holmes fans, teachers and students of literary theory, scholars of popular culture and of crime or detective fiction, and readers interested in using critical perspectives to enhance their own engagement with reading.