Autumn 2020 BSJ

The Autumn 2020 Baker Street Journal includes these articles:

The Editor’s Gas-Lamp.

Just Add Goodwin: Nero Wolfe Showed Mycroft’s Potential as a Detective
by Jonathan Tiemann.

The World’s Most Mysterious Manuscript, the World’s Greatest Detective, and the Woman
by Jay Cole.

Watson, Lomax, and the Goodly Volume: Observations on “The Illustrious Client”
by Maxine Reneker and Marsha Pollak.

Was Sherlock Holmes Raised in India?
by Thomas Cynkin.

“A humble M.R.C.S.”: The Man behind the Mask
by James McGrory.

Sherlock Holmes and the Merry Men
by Michael Pollak.

The Commonplace Book.

Baker Street Inventory.

Letters to Baker Street.

“Stand with me here upon the terrace . . .”

Whodunit?

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The Editor’s Gas-Lamp

“Where they were put in boxes”
by Steven Rothman, Editor

Steven Rothman, Editor, The Baker Street Journal

“The Sherlockian world adapts”: That might well be the title of a future history of our age. A global pandemic seizes the planet, and we Sherlockians discover ways to continue what we love most: sharing knowledge, talking, and having fun. So what if we cannot meet in person (and even if we could, we would have to be masked and socially distanced)? The Age of Zoom has come to our rescue. Formal meetings, impromptu meetings, meal- or drink-based meetings, all have enabled Sherlockians to get together while staying apart. And thanks to this odd time-out from normal social interactions, we’ve visited many friends we would normally see once a year at best.

But we have to admit that seeing our friends on screens is not half as gratifying as seeing them in person. Why is that? Is it the ease with which one can turn from the conversation at hand to read email or browse websites? Or is it that strange image of oneself, gawping oddly but familiarly from one of the tiny boxes populating the screen? Except for the most fervent egoists among us, what could be less comfortable than being confronted by one’s own demeanor for long periods? Our biggest Zoom thrill was discovering that one’s own screen can be hidden. (Can one imagine Holmes forced to stare at his own reflection for an hour or two? No.)

We look forward to the day when we can once again meet with other Sherlockians and listen to their papers while toying with our catered food. Until then, we treasure all our friends across the map that we can see but with whom we cannot be.

The Editor’s Gas-Lamp, Autumn 2020, Vol. 70, No. 3.