The Science of Adaptation. 'A Study in Scarlet' and 'A Study in Pink'

Seminar paper from the year 2014 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Comparative Literature, grade: 1,0, University of Frankfurt (Main) (Institut für England- und Amerikastudien), course: Crime Fiction, language: English, abstract: 'Holmes is dead,' he said. 'I have done with him.' ('Conan Doyle Dead From Heart Attack') Sir Arthur Conan Doyle must have felt, at times, like the sorcerer's apprentice in Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's famous poem, unable to rid himself of the spirits he had conjured up. The Scot's literary oeuvre comprises up to 200 individual publications, ranging from historical novels like Micah Clarke (1889), the science fiction classic The Lost World (1912), poetry and a wide selection of short stories to non-fictional works on spiritualism, colonial Africa and memoirs. (Keulks) But the diversity of the Conan Doyle canon reflects not only the author's eclectic intellectual interests and approaches to his profession, but also attempts to counteract the popularity of one specific brainchild: Sherlock Holmes. (Keulks) It might not be quite how the author had hoped to be remembered, but the adventures involving the sleuth and Doctor Watson ensured that his literary legacy continues to thrive and inspire the works of others to the present day. On the following pages one particular piece of proof for Holmes' continued popularity, the immensely successful television format Sherlock, is examined by putting it into context with other, preceding types of Conan Doyle adaptations and comparing the 2010 film version of the detective's first case, entitled A Study in Pink, to its source text. After focusing on the representation of the main characters and their defining traits in both media forms, as well as the relationships they share with each other and supporting characters that appear over the course of the story, the paper then adds final remarks on the process of modernization and cultural modification of not only Conan Doyle's A Study in Scarlet and its protagonist, but also the contemporary movie series for an American audience.