we also have our diplomatic secrets
we also have our diplomatic secrets
OUR
SECRETS
holmes disclosing
right in front of the prime minister
that he and watson have secrets they wish to keep from the world
i need to lie down

seen from United States

seen from Russia
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Serbia
seen from United States

seen from United States

seen from Malaysia

seen from United States

seen from Japan
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Germany
seen from Mexico
seen from Türkiye
seen from United States
seen from Russia
seen from Mexico

seen from Mexico
seen from Mexico
we also have our diplomatic secrets
we also have our diplomatic secrets
OUR
SECRETS
holmes disclosing
right in front of the prime minister
that he and watson have secrets they wish to keep from the world
i need to lie down
The Adventure of the Second Stain - Locations
Top - Westminster Abbey, viewed from the House of Parliament 1895
“A crime of mysterious character was committed last night at 16 Godolphin Street, one of the old-fashioned and secluded rows of eighteenth century houses which lie between the river and the Abbey, almost in the shadow of the great Tower of the Houses of Parliament.”
Note in Book: Godolphin Street is a fictitious address, but there are streets around the Abbey that fit this description well.
Middle Left - Charing Cross Station and Hotel Exterior 1864
Middle Right - Charing Cross Station Interior 1900
Mme Fournaye, wife of murdered spy Eduardo Lucas, was spotted causing a scene at Charing Cross the morning after his murder and was arrested four days later in Paris.
Bottom Left - Suspension Bridge, Hammersmith 1887
Bottom Right - King Street, Hammersmith 1903
John Mitton, valet to Eduardo Lucas, was cleared of the charge of murder because he was visiting friends in Hammersmith the night of the murder.
Note from Book: The original stone pillars of the bridge still stand, but the main support and bridge deck have been replaced to accommodate the increase in traffic and vehicle size.
Books referenced
Feel free to add to this post if you have other images or info!
Watson is bisexual. Holmes is not.
If in telling the story I seem to be somewhat vague in certain details the public will readily understand that there is an excellent reason for my reticence.
John Watson in The Adventure of the Second Stain
Yes Watson we understand
Holmes : What's in the fucken envelope?
Client : Mhmm can't tell.
Holmes : *smiling* Well damn. Look at all the cases I have. Look at all the time you wasted. Can't help. Bye.
Client :WAIT WAIT IMMA TELL YOU DON'T ABANDON ME.
Holmes : *internal wicked grin* Gotcha.
The art of erasing sexual subtext German translation of the Holmes canon II
Sometimes it is hard to even find the Holmes stories in the German version for their titles have been changed. In Germany, we are very bad at translating titles of books, movies or series. Here are a few examples for your amusement before we start off with our two stories of the week:
„Monty Python and the Holy Grail“- „The knights of the coconut“
(„Die Ritter der Kokosnuss“)
„And now for something completely different“- „The wonderful world of gravity“
(„Die wunderbare Welt der Schwerkraft“)
„Music and Lyrics“ - „Right in the heart- a song for you“
(„Mitten ins Herz- ein Song für dich“)
„The good, the bad and the ugly“- „Two glorious scoundrels“
(„Zwei glorreiche Halunken“)
With this knowledge I wasn’t surprised that „The noble bachelor“ was called „The vanished bride“ (Die verschwundene Braut) in the German version. So, let’s start with that story then.
I thought I wouldn’t find anything interesting here, because there are no intimate relations between Holmes and Watson despite the “my dear Watson” which is translated correctly throughout the story. I found some parts that were left out because it would be too hard to explain the differences between the US and the UK (Holmes’ believe, that the US and the UK will become one country one day; The American expressions used between the bride and her maid) or that referred to things too English to explain at that time (Whiskey and Soda; The part were St. Simon is talking about the fear of his bride being in a too high class for her upbringing). But the “feature of interest” turned out to be the hints to sexual relations, that were completely wiped out in the German version.
Lord St. Simon talks about Flora Miller when he says: “[We have been on] very friendly footing […]. I have not treated her ungenerously” which clearly implies sexual relations, while in the German version he says, he “never acted on her without dignity” / “never acted un-noble on her” (“Ich habe nicht unnobel an ihr gehandelt”) witch clearly states that there had been no sexual relations between the two.
Also, Mrs Moulton says the night in the hotel had been her “true wedding”, again implying sexual actions. In the German version, she simply says how happy she is to be reunited with her husband (“Nun war ich wieder mit meinem Gatten vereint”).
Note: These are early translations who have their origins in the German Empire under Wilhelm II. At that time, censorship laws became more strict for more than 50 years. For the act of “spreading bawdily writings” you could go to prison for one year. The Emperor wanted to go as far as to forbid any writing that “violate the sense of decency without being bawdily” (Known as the “Lex Heinze”), but was stopped by liberal protesters who claimed, that he would then have to forbid every piece of art ever made. So the translators had to be extremely careful.
That is, what makes this translation interesting for us, because it shows what people at that time considered indecent subtext that had to be written out of the story. It shows that some parts of the story have this very clear subtext.
Now, we will have a look at “The second stain”.
Watson describes Holmes a “remarkable man” which was translated to “merkwürdiger Mann”. This is not wrong per se, but “remarkable” has a positive connotation while “merkwürdig” has a negative one and could be more read as “strange” or “odd” than as “notable” or “striking”. Yeah, hard to explain… I hope you get the point.
The description of Mrs. Hope is very accurate while in the description of her husband, the “[…] endowed with every beauty of body and of mind” is missing. Also, Holmes addresses Mr. Hope as “Mr. Trelawney Hope” in the English version and as “Mr. Secretary of State” in the German one (using his title rather then his name and creating a greater distance).
And of course, woman stays “Weib”.
I got another translation from the 80s from @lorelei-lee and I will have a look at it as soon as I can. Thank you!
So thank you for reading and thanks to all the people who read my last post! I was really happy about all your “hearts”.
@our-hubris @astudyincanon @solarperplexed
My mind filled with admiration for this extraordinary man.
ACD canon Watson wears his heart on his sleeve
every watson in every universe will be utterly delighted on the rare occasion he manages to surprise his holmes