| dc.description.abstract | One will not find many people in the Western world who have not heard, seen or read something about the famous detective Sherlock Holmes. Since Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s first stories on Sherlock were published in 1887, numerous adaptations have been made of the adventures of the consulting detective and doctor Watson. In 2010 the BBC aired a new adaptation, Sherlock, written by Steven Moffat and directed by Paul McGuigan. They show a modernised version of the Sherlock Holmes stories. While the original stories take place in the Victorian era, the adaptation places Sherlock in the 21st century. It shows a modern Sherlock Holmes living in contemporary London using modern technology such as mobile phones, laptops and GPS. A variety of articles and papers have been written about the BBC Sherlock adaptation. However, few focus on the pacing in the Sherlock Holmes stories. Yet, one striking difference between the novel and the adaptation is the pacing of the stories. Whereas in the novel the pace shifts, fast paced events are alternated by slower paced parts, the adaptation is fast paced throughout. Therefore, this thesis shall focus on the pacing in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s first novel on Sherlock Holmes, A Study in Scarlet, compared to the pacing in the BBC series Sherlock “A Study in Pink”, written by Steven Moffat and directed by Paul McGuigan 2010. Due to limited time and space this thesis shall focus on the first episode of Sherlock “A Study in Pink” which lasts 90 minutes and shall be compared to the novel, A Study in Scarlet, which consist of 80 pages and is written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
Pacing refers to the speeding up or slowing down of a narrative. However, both in a novel as well as in television, pace is determined by different aspects. Pacing for instance, can be influenced by word choice, sentence structures and descriptive texts while in television also sound and visuals play an important role. Therefore in this thesis the pacing in the novel shall be discussed separately from the pace of the television adaptation before comparing them in the conclusion. Chapter one describes pacing in novels and television. Chapter two focuses on the pacing in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s first novel, Sherlock Holmes, A Study in Scarlet. The Third chapter shall discuss pacing in the BBC adaptation Sherlock, written by Steven Moffat and directed by Paul McGuigan. Finally, in the conclusion the pacing in the novel as well as in the television adaptation shall be compared. | |
