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The Valley of Fear by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (100 years)
Sherlock Holmes’ famous flat, 221b Baker Street, London
In the fourth and final novel starring Sherlock Holmes, a coded message warning of imminent danger is delivered to his London flat and hastily sends him crime-solving in the countryside. Visitors to the fictional sleuth’s Victorian-era quarters at 221bBaker Street—once shared with roommate and detecting partner Dr. Watson—can be forgiven for thinking he might reappear there at any moment. The rooms he “rented” have been vividly re-created just as they’re described in “A Study in Scarlet” and other tales. On display at the Sherlock Holmes Museum are the detective’s most prized possessions, including his deerstalker cap and the Persian slipper where he stored his tobacco.
The Metamorphoses by Franz Kafka (100 years)
Franz Kafka Museum, Prague (photo: prague.eu)
The strange story of a man who wakes up one morning to find himself transformed into a large, insect-like creature was one of only a few of Franz Kafka’s works published during his lifetime. Before his death from tuberculosis at age 41, the relatively unknown author implored a friend, Max Brod, to burn his diaries, manuscripts, and letters unread. Instead Brod overrode the directive and published three of Kafka’s unfinished novels, including The Trial and The Castle. Today, Prague’s Franz Kafka Museum continues the work of Brod and others who refused to let the writer fade into anonymity. Some not-to-miss items are the last known photo of Kafka and the final letter he wrote to his parents the day before he died. w
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (150 years)
Stained glass window in the Great Hall, Christ Church College, Oxford, UK
The original manuscript of Carroll’s beloved book is usually on display in the rare treasures gallery at the British Library in London. Soon Alice admirers in the U.S. will have a chance to view the manuscript, the centerpiece of exhibits at the Morgan Library in New York City (June 26-October 11) and the Rosenbach Museum & Library in Philadelphia (October 14-March 27, 2016). Across the pond, in Oxford, Carroll was a mathematician at Christ Church College, where the dean’s daughters, Alice and Edith Liddell, inspired the storytelling that eventually led to his famed book. Inside the college’s Great Hall is a stained glass window featuring images of the fictional Alice and the characters she encounters underground. For more places with Carroll connections, check out Culture 24’s article “Alice in Wonderland: On the Trail of Lewis Carroll.”
Emma by Jane Austen (200 years)
The English cottage where Jane Austen conjured up the escapades of Emma Woodhouse.
The sparkling satire Emma flowed from Jane Austen’s pen in a 17th century cottage in Chawton, England. Prior to moving into the abode, located on her wealthy brother’s country estate, in 1809, none of her work had been published. Her time in Chawton proved prolific. In addition to Emma, the novelist turned out Mansfield Park and Persuasion and revised Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility. The writing table where she worked is on display in the cottage, now Jane Austen’s House Museum. Emma-related events are taking place throughout the year, leading up to the anniversary tie-in in December.
Don Quixote, Part II by Miguel Cervantes (400 years)
Don Quixote’s “giants” in the Spanish countryside.
On a hillside in Campo de Criptana, Spain, witness the spectacles put on by the famous windmills that Don Quixote valiantly battled after mistaking them for giants. The comic misadventures of the chivalry-obsessed knight errant and his faithful squire, Sancho Pancho, were enormously popular with 17th century readers. Miguel Cervantes is believed to have begun writing what is considered the first modern novel while imprisoned in a cave underneath the Casa de Medrano, some 60 miles south of where the windmills turn. He had the misfortune of being imprisoned at least twice for irregularities in his accounts while working his day job as a tax collector.
