Though obviously a difficult text, Introduction to the Structural Analysis of Narratives touches upon a very important concept through its section titled, “Levels of Meaning”. Claiming, “a sentence can be described, linguistically, on several levels (phonetic, phonological, grammatical, contextual),” Barthes appears to address the question of is it possible to look too deep into details, looking beyond what the text actually states? In the Sherlock Holmes work, “The Adventure of the Speckled Band”, a work which appears to deal directly with attention to detail, the work seems to incorporate enough depth into its meaning, key to the solving of the crime, while pertaining directly to the story and little more. My question is do the minute details which allow Sherlock to solve the crime, contain meanings which stretch into greater depth as Barthes’ work suggests narratives can do.
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I agree with Steve that Structual Analysis of Narratives is difficult. i ight have to say no to your question as because Doyle just moves from one scene to the next giving us a clear picture without trying to get the reader lost with different meanings from what he (Doyle) actually is trying to get across. I may br wrong.
Barthes is definitely difficult and I am hardly certain of my answer to your question, but I think the answer is yes. The "meaning" of all the details in the Adventures of the Speckled Band is more then just as clues to the mystery. The "meaning" that Barthes seems to attribute to linguistic units seems to primarily have to do with their integration with one another, how the units together form a higher level of meaning and relate to the rest of the narrative. In Doyle, the higher level is certainly there and obvious. The details or the clues are what tie the whole story together. The initial visit of Miss Stoner (dude) to Sherlock Holmes is for the structural purpose of giving Holmes the clues. The sequences that follow are all tied together and based upon these details or linguistic units. Holmes' visit to Stoke Moran is to investigate his assumptions based on the clues or details and his plan to stay the night in Miss Stoner's room is based on these deductions. So the "meaning" of the clues certainly goes beyond their mere value as details in the story.
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