Romancing The Text: Jeremy Brett, Paper, And Sherlock Holmes

Romancing the Text: Jeremy Brett, Paper, and Sherlock Holmes

It’s late, this week is still terrible, and I’ve got some time to consider a question that has been much on my mind of late: why is it that I love watching Jeremy Brett handle paper? I’m taking it up now partly because it was always my intention, after finishing the rewatch, to write up a post about why Jeremy Brett was the definitive 20th century Sherlock Holmes. But every time I start such a post, I think, oh what’s the point, it’s all already been said, by myself even, and anyway there’s too much. I’ve formulated a hypothesis, though, which is that if I can explain why Brett’s interaction with paper is so important to my enjoyment of this show, I will probably in the process be demonstrating what it was that made his Sherlock Holmes so unique and indelible. So follow me, friends, while I unfold my crackpot theories about the romance of the material text and how it binds us to the Master Paper-Handler.

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