Sherlock Holmes and the History of Fandom

I may have perhaps mentioned in the past my interests in the combination of Sherlock Holmes, fandom studies, cultural studies, the history of print culture…basically, a lot of interests that come together in the study of the phenomenon that is Sherlock Holmes. My recent trip to the BSI Weekend (a write-up of which I’m working on, have no fear – I’ve written down most of my feelings and impressions, and now need to sort through them) only increased that interest in Sherlock Holmes as a phenomenon, in its fandom and in the cultural history of Sherlock Holmes.

With that said, I’ve recently contributed a piece to Den of Geek on the history of the Sherlock Holmes fandom. I (or they, I don’t recall) called it “Sherlock Holmes: the Original Fandom.” Naturally, the title is debateable (what is fandom? what is fan fiction and what is media and all those related questions?) Still, I think Sherlock Holmes, being the phenomenon that he is, poses a lot of interesting questions precisely about the media, and fandom, and fan fiction and transformative work, and about myths and cultural phenomena (was Sherlock Holmes a product of mass culture and the “mass media’? Why is he such a myth today? Can we look to Sherlock Holmes pastiches and sequels as the predecessors of “fan fiction”?) Naturally, a number of these questions could pretty much fill a book (and one day I hope they will). For now, though, I’ve written a fairly cursory look at the history of the Holmes “fandom” and Sherlock Holmes as a phenomenon.

I invite you to read the piece over at Den of Geek: HERE.