Naked Is the Best Disguise: The Death and Resurrection of Sherlock Holmes (ISBN 0-14-004030-7) is a 1974 book bySamuel Rosenberg speculating on alleged hidden meanings in the works ofArthur Conan Doyle.[1]
Rosenberg also examines the influence of Conan Doyle's writings on other works, especiallyJames Joyce'sUlysses. The book argues for a surprising relationship between theSherlock Holmes stories andNietzsche,Oscar Wilde,Dionysus,Christ,Catullus,John Bunyan,Robert Browning,Boccaccio,Napoleon,Racine,Frankenstein,Flaubert,George Sand,Socrates,Poe, GeneralCharles George Gordon,Melville,Joyce'sUlysses,T. S. Eliot, and many others.
The title comes from lines inWilliam Congreve'sThe Double Dealer (1694).
It alludes to Rosenberg's premise that Conan Doyle left clues throughout his works, revealing his innermost hidden thoughts.
Rosenberg's book was received with disdain by Sherlock Holmes enthusiasts and scholars in the 1970s. It is recognized as the first book of literary criticism about Doyle to appear in print; many other more respected works have followed.
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