doylist
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 0.00 in modern English
11
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
1
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
From a real-world perspective; of or relating to an explanation outside the text; external to the narrative.
Slang
noun
An enthusiast of the works of Arthur Conan Doyle.
Example Sentences
- "I would accept that many of them behave like humans born on earth would, but that must be an artefact of poor translation or our poor understanding of their motives and objectives [Watsonian] or lack of vision on the writers part [Doylist - to borrow some terms from the Bujold mailing list - think 'as written by' Dr Watson or by Arthur Conan Doyle]."
- "Roddenberry's official explaination^([sic]) was "They always looked like that. We just didn't have the budjet^([sic]) in the 1960's to show them properly."¶ This is one case where I prefer the Doylist explaination^([sic])."
- "While fans recognize and do engage in Doylist readings, they tend to find Watsonian readings more engaging. Fan fiction writers in particular engage with the text intradiegetically."
- "T. Raymond One can imagine the devout Doylist wringing his hands over every fresh appearance of Sir Arthur in the character of an exponent of spiritualism."
Etymology
From Doyle + -ist, with reference to Arthur Conan Doyle, the author of the Sherlock Holmes stories. Adjective formed by analogy to Doyle as the real author of the text, as opposed to Dr. John Watson as the fictional author within the text. Started in Sherlock Holmes fandom before spreading to other fandoms. Possibly originating in the "Baker Street Irregulars" fan club and entering the science fiction fandom usage (fanspeak) via the Lois McMaster Bujold mailing list.