GoingToMeet

2009 will see the 150th anniversary of Arthur Conan Doyle's birth. On 4 July 2009 the Department of English and the Centre for Popular Cultures at the University of Hull will host a one-day conference devoted to the cultural afterlives of Arthur Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes. With Sherlock Holmes, Doyle gave magnificent impetus to the tradition of crime fiction. He also constructed a central figure for modernity, an amalgam of detective, scientist and artist, rationalist and gothic figure that has dominated popular imagination.

We are interested in the way that Sherlock Holmes as an iconic figure continues to inspire a range of narratives, crossing high and low cultures. Increasingly, Holmes and fictionalized versions of Doyle make appearances in literature, drama, television and cinema but also in graphic novels and computer games. Moreover, we hope that the conference will derive some impetus from Doyle's own troubled relationship with his creation and the cross-over between history and fictional biography. This one-day conference will focus on the afterlives of Holmes and Doyle, as they are remodelled and repackaged for new audiences and new historical contexts.