Date of Award
Spring 2026
Document Type
Open Access Thesis
Department
English Language and Literatures
First Advisor
Alexander Millen
Abstract
In the Preface to The Portrait of a Lady, Henry James offers a metaphor for how we should look at novels: a view that pictures a million windows in which we can see a million different stories. Through James’ thinking with a million windows comes a million frames, a narrative device that became popularized in the late Victorian novel. This narrative framework is used by Arthur Conan Doyle, William Morris, H.G. Wells, among others, which brough forth new self-reflexive developments in plot and character development. Arthur Conan Doyle uses narrative framing devices to great effect throughout The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes through the perspective of Watson to give Sherlock Holmes a presence in the novel that could not be recreated outside of the novel. Through Arthur Conan Doyle’s narrative frame techniques, he can give Sherlock Holmes more believable characteristics that would be impossible outside of his frame. James’ view of the house of fiction allows us to analyze the character of Sherlock Holmes in ways that lead to why Sherlock Holmes has been an ever-present presence in literary and media fiction since his inception.
Rights
© 2026, William Charles Wren
Recommended Citation
Wren, W. C.(2026). The Framing of Sherlock Holmes. (Master's thesis). Retrieved from https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/etd/8730