A new Op-Ed from Caleb Carr appeared in the Los Angeles Times this morning. An excerpt from the piece, entitled “If France wants to succeed against Islamic State, it should study the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan,” is included below, along with a link to the full Op-Ed.
The wisdom of the U.S. decision to keep troops in Afghanistan on a semi-permanent basis will be long debated. What is beyond debate is the brilliance of the post-9/11 invasion, which holds lessons for the French people following the massacres of Nov. 13 in Paris and the similarly appalling loss of life in the former French colony of Mali on Nov. 20.
After 9/11, instead of opting for the kind of knee-jerk bombings that had too often been ordered by the Clinton administration after Al Qaeda attacks against U.S. embassies and the destroyer Cole, the Bush administration (or, more truthfully, the Department of Defense led by Donald H. Rumsfeld) moved carefully, devising one of the more innovative military campaigns in modern American history.
For visitors who may be unaware, Mr. Carr is a military historian who has taught at Bard College and has authored a number of non-fiction works including The Lessons of Terror: A History of Warfare Against Civilians in 2002. You can read more about The Lessons of Terror in the Other Books section of 17th Street.
In an exclusive with Variety today, it was revealed that Caleb Carr has joined The Alienist TV series team as a consulting producer. In a statement released to Variety, Mr. Carr commented on this development as well as the production as a whole:
“After twenty years of tough struggle and countless failed attempts, I’m delighted that Paramount Television, Anonymous Content and TNT have decided to join forces and bring ‘The Alienist‘ to life in what, based on the material I’ve read, has the potential to be a faithful and exciting TV series … The array of talent already gathered for the project, for whom I’m pleased to be acting as consultant producer, is deeply impressive: Cary Fukunaga, Eric Roth, Hossein Amini, Gina Gionfriddo, E. Max Frye and the legendary John Sayles seem determined to do what many people said couldn’t be done: adapt the story in the ‘Alienist’ for live action in a way that both preserves the intellectual and historical integrity of the tale, while adding a gripping cinematic dimension to it. It’s my hope and expectation that, working together, we can all make this effort meet the standard expected by the very patient fans of the book, whose loyalty I consider a trust that I personally will do everything I can to protect.”
What exciting news for all Alienist readers, especially those of us who desire a faithful adaptation of the book. 17th Street wishes Mr. Carr well in his new role.
The entertainment industry is buzzing with the news today that Cary Fukunaga, Emmy Award winning director of True Detective, will direct and executive produce the eagerly anticipated television drama series inspired by The Alienist, first announced by Paramount Television and Anonymous Content in April/May of last year. Oscar winning writer and producer Eric Roth (Forrest Gump) and Oscar nominated writer and director Hossein Amini (The Wings of the Dove) have also been named as executive producers. It is reported that Hossein Amini has written the pilot, and will go on to write the series.
Paramount Television’s President Amy Powell and Anonymous Content’s Steve Golin and Rosalie Swedlin were quoted by Variety on this exciting development:
“‘The Alienist‘ is a fascinating and distinctive, fast-paced psychological thriller that is wonderfully evocative of the unrivaled Gilded Age of New York City,” said Paramount Television President Amy Powell. “Cary Fukunaga’s unique vision and ability to render compelling, distinctive and superbly atmospheric direction is the perfect voice for this television series. We are thrilled to have not only Cary’s expert direction, but also the creativity, imagination and storytelling abilities of the supremely talented Eric Roth and Hossein Amini.”
“We are thrilled that Paramount has entrusted us and our brilliant creative dream team — Eric Roth, Hossein Amini, and Cary Fukunaga — to bring this much beloved, bestselling novel to the screen,” said Anonymous Content’s Steve Golin and Rosalie Swedlin, who will also executive produce the series. “The multi-episodic format will enable us to do justice to the complexity of Caleb Carr’s storytelling and his vivid and detailed portrait of late 19th century New York in all its splendor and grittiness.”
As we have already learned in the 17th Street book blog series, one of Caleb Carr’s inspirations while writing the Alienist books were the original Sherlock Holmes novels and short stories. Mr. Carr explained in an interview with Australian newspaper The Age in 2005 that, “Kreizler was invented quite consciously as a character who could solve all the crimes Holmes couldn’t, in which there’s little or no physical evidence and no apparent motive – the product of aberrant criminal psychology.” Beyond Dr. Kreizler, there are references to the original Sherlock Holmes stories within the books as well, such as the inclusion of Filipino pygmy, El Niño, in The Angel of Darkness. Mr. Carr acknowledged in an interview with The Seattle Times in 1997 that El Niño was “a little tip of the hat to Conan Doyle and the pygmy in ‘The Sign of Four.’ A lot of people have told me they consider the pygmy an absurd character. That’s one reason I love this time period. What looks absurd to us now wasn’t absurd then – eccentricity was really appreciated and cultivated.”
In 2005, Mr. Carr took his interest in Sherlock Holmes one step further by accepting a commission from the estate of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to write a further Holmes tale. His final product, The Italian Secretary, took Holmes from the foggy, gas lit streets of late nineteenth century London to the Royal Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh, with a mystery that revolved around a double murder that called the great detective’s mind back to the (real life) murder of David Rizzio, private secretary to Mary Queen of Scots. The novel was well-received, with The Guardian describing Mr. Carr’s characterisation as “outstanding,” USA Today complimenting Mr. Carr’s “astute and unerring […] portrayal of Holmes and his techniques,” and Publisher’s Weekly suggesting that the novel would appeal to Holmes fans and scholars due to the “deep knowledge and understanding of Holmesiana” on display in the text.
Following the publication of The Italian Secretary, Mr. Carr was interviewed for Daniel Smith’s 2009 Sherlock Holmes reference text, The Sherlock Holmes Companion: An Elementary Guide, that was updated and reissued in late 2014. Mr. Smith explains in his Introduction to the guide that he chose “individuals whose lives have become entwined with the Holmes legend” as subjects for the “Holmes and Me” interviews that he decided to scatter throughout the text as a means of offering further insight into the “enigma” that is Sherlock Holmes. In the 2014 reissue, Mr. Smith’s interview with Mr. Carr spans three pages of the text and explores questions such as when and how Mr. Carr first became interested in the Sherlock Holmes stories (as a boy of eight years old, it turns out); the particular challenges he faced in writing a new Holmes tale; the revival of Holmes in the twenty-first century and what it says about popular culture; the role Sherlock played in the creation of the Alienist novels; and finally, what Sherlock Holmes—the character—means to him. It’s an interview that is well worth perusing if you are a Caleb Carr reader who also loves Sherlock Holmes, as I am.
The Caleb Carr interview aside, the 2014 reissued guide is a worthy addition to the library of any interested Sherlock Holmes reader. Opening with a social and political chronology of historical events that correspond to the period from Holmes’ first reported case until he went into retirement (i.e., 1879-1903), the majority of this beautifully illustrated 224-page text comprises spoiler-free synopses (each synopsis is one page long) of all four Holmes novels and fifty-six short stories. It also contains brief biographies of Holmes’ creator Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and notable Holmes illustrator Sidney Paget, analyses of the main characters who appear throughout the stories, and a series of essays that look at specific elements of the literary Holmes (e.g., “Holmes as the Detective-Scientist”) as well as his role in popular culture (e.g., “Holmes on Stage, Screen, and Radio”). Finally, scattered throughout the text are the aforementioned “Holmes and Me” interviews with individuals ranging from writers such as Mr. Carr, to actors such as Edward Hardwicke who played Dr. Watson for the acclaimed Granada TV production alongside Jeremy Brett, to the co-creator of the hit TV series Sherlock, Mark Gatiss.
Also scattered throughout the text are a number of fun insets that are sure to appeal to any readers like myself who love learning about the minutiae of the books we love. One such inset contains a list of Sherlock Holmes’ most significant writings. Another contains the now famous illustrated floor plan of 221B Baker Street that was created by Russell Stutler after a close reading of the canonical stories. And yet another (my personal favourite) contains an illustrated guide to the Holmes/Watson firearm collection—immensely helpful for readers such as myself who don’t know their pistols from their revolvers! The only inset that is missing, in my opinion, is a similar illustrated guide to Sherlock’s collection of pipes, although it is worth mentioning that a discussion of the subject is offered in the short yet informative “Holmes and His Pleasures” essay.
While it is likely that this guide won’t cover any terribly new ground if you already own a number of Sherlock texts, if you would like a comprehensive introductory guide to the original Sherlock Holmes canon then this is an excellent choice. Moreover, for Caleb Carr readers, there is, as I’ve already mentioned, the added bonus of an interesting and informative interview spread. Enjoy!
A new Op-Ed from Caleb Carr appeared in the Los Angeles Times this morning. An excerpt from the piece, entitled “If France wants to succeed against Islamic State, it should study the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan,” is included below, along with a link to the full Op-Ed.
