Older than Sherlock Holmes

 

The 1980s verson of me, reading current me on Bluesky, would have thought it was sacrilege to refer to Sherlock Holmes, the world's first consulting detective and first true master of the detective arts, as "that boy." But that was back when Sherlock was Rathbone-old, and I was in my twenties. But time does weird things.

Sherlock Holmes is, ninety-nine percent of the time, a lot younger than me now. I can call him "Sherlock" now. I can go, "Ah, that kid! He's just amazing!

The last time we see Sherlock Holmes, in "His Last Bow," his is only sixty years old, by most folks reckoning. At that age, had he been in America when I graduated high school, he'd only have been too young to date my younger sister. Not that he'd have wanted to, of course, him being Sherlock Holmes and all, but you get the point. Sherlock Holmes being historical at this point doesn't stop him from being a punk kid once you get to a certain perspective on your personal timeline.

At the age of seventy, Sherlock Holmes's creator did a little cartoon he called "The Old Horse," depicting himself as a weary equine, burdened with all the accomplishments of his life's work. Conan Doyle's perspective becomes more relatable as one transitions from Holmes's age in "His Last Bow" to Doyle's age in "The Old Horse," but I can't help but think Sherlockians over the years have found Sherlock Holmes a relatable figure in their retirement just because he used to be a lot older, all the time.

Even though Watson documented himself and Sherlock Holmes as young men, Hollywood really wanted to depict a man of Holmes's intellect and wisdom as an older man for a very long time. It's almost like no one wanted to allow a young man to be depicted as that much smarter than his elders. Even as Holmes grew younger on cinema and TV, there was often an urge to give him some deficiency to balance out his gifts. The age of the super-cool guy who does it all has pretty much passed. (Poor James Bond can't even deal with an evil lair these days without blowing himself up after spending a lot of time with a broken heart.) But I digress.

Admiring the accomplishments of the young is just one of the joys at passing into older generation status. And whether its our fellow Sherlockians or Sherlock Holmes himself, that's just part of the fun.

Because that kid really is pretty amazing, even now.