tarzan and sherlock holmes are second cousins this according to science fiction writer phillip josé farmer who posits in his (fictional) biography of the cheeky monkey lover that sherlock holmes’ mother’s brother’s daughter’s son is none other tarzan of the jungle. and it doesn’t stop there: lord byron, doc savage, and james bond have their own branches on this sprawling, fictional family tree. and just when you thought that it couldn’t get any kookier, we learn that it is no coincidence that the great heroes of modern genre literature are all related. farmer suggests that they are all based on real people who descended from the occupants of a coach who—while touring wold newton, england in december 1795—were exposed to a radioactive meteorite. welcome to the fantasy world within a fantasy world of parascholasticism. » Farmer suggested…that a (real) meteorite which fell in Wold Newton, Yorkshire, England, on December 13, 1795, was radioactive and caused genetic mutations in the occupants of a passing coach. Many of their descendants were thus endowed with extremely high intelligence and strength, as well as an exceptional capacity and drive to perform good, or, as the case may be, evil deeds. The progeny of these travellers were purported to have been the real-life originals of fictionalised characters, both heroic and villainous, over the last few hundred years, such as Sherlock Holmes, Tarzan, Doc Savage, and Lord Peter Wimsey. Other popular characters that Philip José Farmer concluded were members of the Wold Newton family include: Solomon Kane; Captain Blood; The Scarlet Pimpernel; Sherlock Holmes’s nemesis Professor Moriarty; Phileas Fogg; The Time Traveller (main character of The Time Machine by H. G. Wells); Allan Quatermain; A.J. Raffles; Professor Challenger; Richard Hannay; Bulldog Drummond; the evil Fu Manchu and his adversary, Sir Denis Nayland Smith; G-8; The Shadow; Sam Spade; Doc Savage’s cousin Patricia Savage, and one of his five assistants, Monk Mayfair; The Spider; Nero Wolfe; Mr. Moto; The Avenger; Philip Marlowe; James Bond; Lew Archer; Travis McGee; Monsieur Lecoq; and Arsène Lupin.

tarzan and sherlock holmes are second cousins

this according to science fiction writer phillip josé farmer who posits in his (fictional) biography of the cheeky monkey lover that sherlock holmes’ mother’s brother’s daughter’s son is none other tarzan of the jungle. and it doesn’t stop there: lord byron, doc savage, and james bond have their own branches on this sprawling, fictional family tree.

and just when you thought that it couldn’t get any kookier, we learn that it is no coincidence that the great heroes of modern genre literature are all related. farmer suggests that they are all based on real people who descended from the occupants of a coach who—while touring wold newton, england in december 1795—were exposed to a radioactive meteorite. welcome to the fantasy world within a fantasy world of parascholasticism. »

Farmer suggested…that a (real) meteorite which fell in Wold Newton, Yorkshire, England, on December 13, 1795, was radioactive and caused genetic mutations in the occupants of a passing coach. Many of their descendants were thus endowed with extremely high intelligence and strength, as well as an exceptional capacity and drive to perform good, or, as the case may be, evil deeds. The progeny of these travellers were purported to have been the real-life originals of fictionalised characters, both heroic and villainous, over the last few hundred years, such as Sherlock Holmes, Tarzan, Doc Savage, and Lord Peter Wimsey.

Other popular characters that Philip José Farmer concluded were members of the Wold Newton family include: Solomon Kane; Captain Blood; The Scarlet Pimpernel; Sherlock Holmes’s nemesis Professor Moriarty; Phileas Fogg; The Time Traveller (main character of The Time Machine by H. G. Wells); Allan Quatermain; A.J. Raffles; Professor Challenger; Richard Hannay; Bulldog Drummond; the evil Fu Manchu and his adversary, Sir Denis Nayland Smith; G-8; The Shadow; Sam Spade; Doc Savage’s cousin Patricia Savage, and one of his five assistants, Monk Mayfair; The Spider; Nero Wolfe; Mr. Moto; The Avenger; Philip Marlowe; James Bond; Lew Archer; Travis McGee; Monsieur Lecoq; and Arsène Lupin.

September 15, 2010
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literature 1700s 1800s
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