Making Merry over the Cleverness of Women
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2023-06-15
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en
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Neo-Victorianism is a fruitful and turbulent area of scholarly discussion, concerning contemporary reimaginings of aspects typical of the Victorian era, be they societal themes, tropes, or literary works. However, until recently the discussion has been somewhat dismissive of more popular sensation fiction, often excluding it from the greater debate. Heilmann and Llewellyn’s definition of the genre focuses on metatextual and metahistoric engagement as a qualifier for neo-Victorian status, while Cox takes a broader view and includes every work that engages with or references to Victorian sensation fiction as belonging to the neo-Victorian subgenre of neo-sensationalism. This thesis explores the tension between these two approaches by looking at two recent works with remarkable surface similarities: Enola Holmes and the Case of the Missing Marquess (2006) by Nancy Springer, and The Beekeeper’s Apprentice (1994) by Laurie R. King. Both works adapt the Sherlock Holmes canon by introducing a younger, female counterpart to the Great Detective: Sherlock’s younger sister Enola Holmes, who takes her own approach to detecting, and Mary Russell, Sherlock’s apprentice (and later partner) in the detective’s middle age. The two books can be considered neo-sensationalist due to their inspiration, and through close reading, both works also demonstrate different aspects of neo-Victorianism: Missing Marquess takes a metahistorical approach in dealing with women’s issues of the Victorian era, while Beekeeper uses metatextuality in its engagement with the Holmes canon.
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