What is a pastiche?

Students are most likely unfamiliar with the term pastiche, though they have encountered pastiches many times.

Pastiche (pas-'teesh): a literary, artistic, musical, or architectural work that imitates the style of a previous work.

The Mandala of Sherlock Holmes is a pastiche because it imitates the style of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's original Sherlock Holmes stories and the characterization of Holmes himself. According to Peter Ridgway Watt and Joseph Green in The Altermative Sherlock Holmes: Pastiches, Parodies, and Copies (2003), a successful Sherlock Holmes pastiche should include

• The style of the original stories as well as a wealth of detail
• The name Sherlock Holmes or something similar (parodies have used names such as "Thinlock Bones" or "Shamrock Jones")
• A well-developed sidekick like Watson
• Holmes's powers of logical deduction, his arrogance, and the fact the he is nearly always right

Norbu's work fills the bill and is considered a very successful Holmes pastiche.

Activities:

• Have your students read another successful Sherlock Holmes pastiche. A list may be found here.
• Ask students to search the Internet for examples of literary, artistic, musical, or architectural pastiches and present them to the class.