Irregular readers : Arthur Conan Doyle’s “six dirty scoundrels”, boyhood and literacy in contemporary Sherlockian children’s literature

Young adult (YA) literature is a socialising genre that encourages young readers to take up particular ways of relating to historical or cultural materials. The first decade of the twenty-first century witnessed a boom in Sherlockian YA fiction using the Conan Doyle canon as a context and vocabulary for stories focused on the Baker Street Irregulars as figures of identification. This paper reads YA fiction’s deployment of Conan Doyle’s fictional universe as a strategy for negotiating anxieties of adolescent masculinity, particularly in relation to literacy and social agency.

Obverse side of tombstone of Jeanette Molling (possibly Arthur Molling); Strangriede Cemetery; Hannover Cemeteries Tombs

Digital Image

Tombstone of Arthur Molling; Strangriede Cemetery (R 26.05); Hannover Cemeteries Tombs

Digital Image

Detail of tombstone of Arthur Molling; Strangriede Cemetery (R 26.05); Hannover Cemeteries Tombs

Digital Image

Obverse side of tombstone of Jeanette Molling (possibly Arthur Molling); Strangriede Cemetery; Hannover Cemeteries Tombs

Digital Image

Arthur Liebert, Albert Einstein, Franz Oppenheimer, Mrs. Kurt Goldstein, Fritz Medicus and Arthur Liebert's son walking outside the Grand Hotel Curhaus during the Davoser Hochschulkurse; Davos, Switzerland Portraits Groups

The Davoser Hochschulkurse took place for the first time in 1928. Mainly university teachers from Germany, France, Switzerland (perhaps elsewhere) offered lectures to students recovering from tuberculosis at the health resort in the Swiss mountains. The lecturers were accommodated at the Grand Hotel Curhaus, where the lectures also took place.

Lucien Levy-Bruehl, Albert Einstein, Franz Oppenheimer, Arthur Liebert and his son, Paul Tillich, unidentified woman and Mrs. Charles Blondel outside the Grand Hotel Curhaus during the Davoser Hochschulkurse; Davos, Switzerland Portraits Groups

The Davoser Hochschulkurse took place for the first time in 1928. Mainly university teachers from Germany, France, Switzerland (perhaps elsewhere) offered lectures to students recovering from tuberculosis at the health resort in the Swiss mountains. The lecturers were accommodated at the Grand Hotel Curhaus, where the lectures also took place.

Portrait of the artist Arthur Segal Portraits Men

Born Iasi Romania July 13, 1875, died London 1944

Portrait of the artist Arthur Segal Portraits Men

Born Iasi Romania July 13, 1875, died London 1944

The artist Arthur Segal with his work; London Portraits Men

Born Iasi Romania July 13, 1875, died London 1944

Portrait of Arthur Neustadt.

Digital Image

Studio portrait of unidentified Levy brother (most likely Arthur or Hermann) in military uniform; Nogent-Sur-Seine, France.

Photographer's imprint lower left corner