ADRIAN MA, HOST:
Certain fictional characters have a timeless appeal. They've been with us for decades, passed along and redone from one generation to the next. And one of these legendary characters is Sherlock Holmes. Arthur Conan Doyle first wrote Sherlock Holmes nearly a hundred and forty years ago, and to this day, new adaptations and spinoffs come out all the time. In fact, this month saw the debut of an Amazon series called "Young Sherlock," and there are actually others in production.
And so to get a deeper understanding of Holmes' enduring appeal, we're joined by Otto Penzler. He's a publisher of mystery fiction, proprietor of The Mysterious Bookshop in New York City and also an avid Sherlock Holmes expert. So, Otto, thanks for joining us.
OTTO PENZLER: Well, thank you for having me.
MA: To start, Otto, what was it about this character that captured your imagination and made this kind of a lifelong thing for you?
PENZLER: The fact is, although I have a bad memory about many things, I have a great memory of the first time that I read 'The Hound Of The Baskervilles." And it changed my view of mystery fiction all around. It was a scene in which a man named Dr. Mortimer comes to Holmes to say that an aristocrat has been brutally murdered - his throat ripped out. And they don't know what - who did it or how it was done, but there are footprints around the body. And Holmes asks him, were they the footprints of a man or a woman? And Dr. Mortimer says, Holmes, they were the footprints of a gigantic hound. And I got goose bumps, and it stayed with me forever.
MA: For those who have not, you know, seen the movies or read the books, can you describe what Sherlock Holmes looks like, kind of what his demeanor and style is?
PENZLER: Holmes is tall, very thin, has an ascetic look about him in general. There's a look of arrogance on his face because he knows that he's smarter than everybody in the room.
MA: You know, one thing that I feel like makes Sherlock Holmes stand out from other perennial characters like Batman, James Bond, the Ninja Turtles, is that those characters are all about solving problems with their fists. But Sherlock Holmes is really about solving problems with his brain.
PENZLER: That's true, almost entirely, although many of the more recent television and film adaptations show him as more of an adventure character, more of a Batman and Robin than Holmes and Watson.
MA: You talk about the various iterations of Sherlock Holmes over the years. Are there ones that you particularly like that sort of depart from the classic formula?
PENZLER: I don't like any of the films that depart from the classic...
MA: OK.
PENZLER: ...Adaptations of the novels.
MA: Wow.
PENZLER: I actively dislike many of them, as a matter of fact. I'm too much of a purist. I'm willing to concede the point.
MA: Well, you know, doesn't this, in a way, though, keep the character relevant generation after generation? And, like, every time there's the new Sherlock spinoff, do you see, like, a spike in book sales at your shop?
PENZLER: I do. If the series is good or the film is good, then it does. It does introduce the character to new readers, young readers. In that sense, I guess, I approve of it. But it introduces a character named Sherlock Holmes, but it may not introduce Sherlock Holmes because it's portrayed so differently, the way he exists in the 56 short stories and four novels that Conan Doyle wrote.
MA: And yet, I guess, if it's not the Sherlock Holmes of Conan Doyle's era, the archetype of a detective, of a Sherlock type, has gone on for, like we said, 140 years. Like, what do you think it is about this Holmes character that has allowed it to endure for so long?
PENZLER: Well, the real Holmes - the one written by Conan Doyle - is endlessly fascinating. He is a genius but flawed because he is so supercilious that he gets bored too quickly and turns to drugs to keep him occupied. But he has a humanity to him, which shows up in his relationship with Dr. Watson and with characters who come to him in desperation, in need of help. Even though they can't afford to pay him, he will take on the case because he wants to do the right thing. It's a very, very attractive element of a character.
MA: We've been speaking with Otto Penzler, owner of The Mysterious Bookshop in New York City and a Sherlockian par excellence. Otto, thanks so much for taking the time.
PENZLER: It's been my joy. Thank you.
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