Today in history: Jack Kerouac and Sherlock Holmes

Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes (L) and Jack Kerouac (R)

In Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes story, "The Adventure of the Solitary Cyclist," we read Dr. Watson state:

On referring to my notebook for the year 1895, I find that it was upon Saturday, the 23d of April, that we first heard of Miss Violet Smith.

So the story begins. And hence the connection to today in history, Holmes being perhaps the most famous detective in literature. By the way, according to my Kindle I am currently 70% of the way through reading The Complete Sherlock Holmes cover-to-cover. Great stuff!

But what does this have to do with Jack Kerouac (this blog's raison d'être)? Simple: Sherlock Holmes was an influence on Kerouac. One need only read Kerouac's essay, "Origins of the Beat Generation," for evidence. In that essay, Kerouac is expounding upon what the Beat Generation "goes back to," and, among other things, he says:

To dear old Basil Rathbone looking for the Hound of the Baskervilles (a dog big as the the Gray Wolf who will destroy Odin)--to dear old bleary Doctor Watson with a brandy in his hand.

Kerouac is referring, of course, to actor Basil Rathbone's portrayal of Sherlock Holmes (the best portrayal!). You can watch that on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFsc4qQv9yg.

And that's all I have to say about that.