Giant rat of Sumatra

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The giant rat of Sumatra is a fictional giant rat, first mentioned by Arthur Conan Doyle in "The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire". [1] As part of the tale, the protagonist, Sherlock Holmes, declares that there is a "story" connected with this rat, presumably a detective case he has handled. The name of the rat and its implied unpublished history were later used in Sherlock Holmes pastiches by many other writers. [1] [2] [3]

Contents

Original reference

In "The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire", first published in the January 1924 issues of The Strand Magazine in London and Hearst's International Magazine in New York, [4] Doyle has Sherlock Holmes declare, as an aside, to Dr. Watson:

Matilda Briggs was not the name of a young woman, Watson, ... It was a ship which is associated with the giant rat of Sumatra, a story for which the world is not yet prepared.

How the ship, the mammal, and the island of Sumatra are associated is not specified.

In Sherlockiana

A number of authors of Sherlockiana have endeavoured to supply the missing adventure of the giant rat of Sumatra, either in non-canonical Holmesian fiction, or as references to the tale in other fictional settings:

References

  1. 1 2 Lyons, Patrick J. (December 17, 2007). "The Giant Rat of Sumatra, Alive and Well". The New York Times . Retrieved December 21, 2018.
  2. 1 2 Eyles, Allen (1986). Sherlock Holmes: A Centenary Celebration. Harper & Row. p. 119. ISBN   0-06-015620-1.
  3. Bunson, Matthew (1997). Encyclopedia Sherlockiana. Simon & Schuster. pp. 87–88. ISBN   0-02-861679-0.
  4. Christopher Redmond, Sherlock Holmes Handbook: Second Edition (Dundurn, 2009), ISBN   978-1554884469, pp. 35-36. Excerpts available at Google Books.
  5. Bunson, Matthew (1997). Encyclopedia Sherlockiana. Simon & Schuster. p. 200. ISBN   0-02-861679-0.
  6. "Sherlock Holmes and the Giant Rat of Sumatra". Publishers Weekly . Retrieved December 21, 2018.
  7. "Sherlock Holmes and the Giant Rat of Sumatra". Publishers Weekly . Retrieved December 21, 2018.
  8. Kistler, Alan (January 20, 2014). "All the Shout-Outs and References You Missed in the Sherlock Premiere". Wired . Retrieved December 21, 2018.
  9. Theater of The Mind Radio Drama | Sherlock Holmes and the Giant Rat of Sumatra