The Retired Colourman: The Senior Partner, Brickfall

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

Canon Story: The Retired Colourman
Author: scfrankles
Rating: G
Author's Notes: “He says he was junior partner of Brickfall and Amberley, who are manufacturers of artistic materials.” Could “Brickfall” be a pseudonym?


The senior colourman “Brickfall”:
Was Watson thinking of Amberley’s brick wall?
A metaphor for the truth coming out, ain’t it?
Well, it depends how you paint it.

Comments

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

If that is the case, then I think Watson has been drinking too much of Holmes' brandy again ;)

[laurose8.livejournal.com]

If only more literary criticism was as elegant.

(The Doylists probably say something about Amberley's old business and his paint-screen. It's hard to imagine what, though.)

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

I think you're libelling poor Watson there. I don't believe he would indulge in behaviour like that.

He would have been drinking his own brandy.

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

Thank you ^^ Clerihew as literary criticism - I'm the leader in my field! (Of one :P)

[tardisjournal.livejournal.com]

Oooh, very clever! I believe you're on to something. Watson does seem sometimes to be saying more than he intends, either about himself or the cases, with his choice of pseudonyms.

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

That would make an interesting study: Surnames in the Holmes Canon: a journey into Watson's unconscious... ^_^

[tardisjournal.livejournal.com]

It would make for a fascinating study. And not just surnames. Wasn't there a story where he had two Marys? And then there's the plethora of Violets. Surely that's got to mean something.

Something to watch out for as we start over! :D

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

I know in 3GAB Mrs. Maberley and her maid are both called Mary... And there are a lovely bunch of Violets ^_^ Four in total I believe.

Actually, at the beginning of the last round I started keeping a tally of first names in the canon. Unfortunately, I had a busy July, stopped recording the names and thought I'd come back to it later and catch up. I didn't, of course ^^" But just going from Nov - June, I counted "James" being used 14 times, and "John" being used 18 times. That's unsurprising I suppose - they were and are common names. ACD does use a wide spread of names - some of them a few times - but "James" and "John" were way out in front of the other names. None of the others came close to that total. (There were a few that were used 5 times. That was the next highest.) "Mary" was used 3 times, in contrast. Though as I say, this was only from Nov - June. I hadn't even reached SIGN yet at that point.

I might have another go this time, see what the final results are. People always seem to find the Violets significant but on my list I've got 4 "Henry"s and 4 "William"s; 3 "Alice"s and 3 "Victors". There were a few names that ACD kept coming back to, and Violet was a common name in Victorian times.

[vaysh]

Wonderful rhythm and rhyme.
And In totally agree: Watson does reveal more between the lines than he may even consciously know.

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

Thank you ^^ And, yes, I suppose sometimes Watson reveals more than he thinks he does.