Biography of the author:
Arthur Conan Doyle was born into poverty and an alcoholic father with a
history of psychiatric illness. With help from members of his extended
family, however, Doyle was able to achieve an excellent education and
eventually earned a doctorate in medicine. He would practice medicine
in various forms for much of his early adult life.
In medical school, Doyle took up writing as a hobby. By 1886, he had
created the character of Sherlock Holmes. The character was a great
success with the public, and Doyle soon found himself a wealthy man.
However, he felt that Holmes had backed him into a corner, making it
impossible for him to write on other topics—such as his interests in
spiritualism or the historical novel.
By 1893, Doyle had decided to kill Holmes off. There was such a backlash
against this, however, that he was forced to bring the character back to
life in The Hound of the Baskervilles, which would go on to become
Holmes’ best-known and best loved novel.
Was knighted by King Edward VII whereupon he became Sir Arthur
Conan Doyle. He had five children between two wives, but none of these
children had children of their own. Thus, Doyle has no direct
descendants today.
Rise of Detective fiction
Direct result of the advent of detective agencies in the real world. Police
forces did not always exist in the iconic way that they do today.
England did not have something resembling a modern police force until
1749, when the Bow Street Runners were formed.
Previously, private citizens were expected to take a much more active
role in policing their communities, catching criminals and bringing them
before the courts of their own accord.
The Bow Street Runners were the first individuals paid by the
government and commissioned to deal with such tasks professionally.
The Runners were superseded by organizations such as the Metropolitan
Police Service, founded in 1829, and others, which slowly took the form
of modern police departments.
In the meantime, however, there was a rise of private detective agencies
that worked alongside early police forces. The first of these was founded
in 1833 by an ex-criminal named Eugène François Vidocq. He used
exceptionally modern, empirical techniques in his work, including the
use of plaster to cast molds of footprints, undercover officers, and even
ballistics.
The idea of a scientifically-minded expert going head-to-head with
expert criminals intrigued the public and inspired writers such as Edgar
Allan Poe, Honoré de Balzac, and Victor Hugo.
While the adventures of Sherlock Holmes are probably the best-known
examples of early detective fiction, they certainly weren’t the only ones
or even the first.
The idea of the mastermind detective had enflamed the imaginations of
many popular authors. Charles Dickens’ Inspector Bucket, an important
character in his 1853 novel, Bleak House, is as brilliant and peculiar as
Holmes.
C. Auguste Dupin was another exceptionally popular fictional detective,
created by Edgar Allan Poe for his short stories, including “The Murders
in the Rue Morgue,” published in 1841.
Wilkie Collins’ 1868 novel, The Moonstone, is generally considered to be
the first full detective novel. The kind of mastermind criminals Doyle
favored also inspired a great deal of early film, such as Louis Feuillade’s
Fantômas(1913) and Les Vampires (1915) serial films and Fritz Lang’s Dr.
Mabuse: The Gambler (1922).
Features:
1. Figure of detective, his skills to solve the mystery
2. Figure of narrator, mostly to compare and bring the detective as more
intelligent one
3. Stereotype of an inept policeman to again show the detective as better
4. Non-linear narrative/chromoly of events given by narrator, pieces joined
at the end by the detective with the help of evidence
5. Difference between crime and detective fiction: crime fiction has no
element of mystery, it has a crime, victim/s, perpetrator/s. Detective
fiction has the whodunit factor solved by the detective
6. Plot of a detective novel: a crime, a detective is called to investigate, a
list of suspects revealed, resolved with clues by the detective and
mystery is solved
Sherlock Holmes
1. Created by Arthur Conan Doyle in 1887, along with the friend-narrator
Dr Watson
2. Success of the detective was so phenomenal that Doyle had to keep
writing and when he announced him dead in “The Final Problem”, he
had to resurrect him in The Hound of Baskervilles
3. Figure of detective was a social reassurance for public that crime will be
resolved, criminals wouldn't go scot free
4. Victorian age of science and development demanded use of science or
facts and do away with superstition, a plot of the novel
5. Narrator or accomplice of the detective , here Watson is a foil to the
detective, also knows ‘his method’ or technique and necessary to keep
the mystery element intact in the novel
6. Novel is a gothic novel, use of supernatural , the legend of the hound but
science and analytical mind of detective exposes the truth
7. Five plots:
a. Curse of the Hound
b. Subplot of Selden the escaped convict
c. Subplot of the stranger living on the moor
d. Watson’s narration of events occurring in Baskerville, as narrated by
Watson
e. Hidden plot to be discovered by Holmes.
8. Novel starts and ends with London, introduces the primitive, gothic
Dartmoor, which is uncanny and then exposed by the urban and
scientific detective.
Analysis
Chap 1-5
1. Introduction to the detective’s sharp mind, Watson, as a foil as from the
cane of Mortimer, he guesses the man. Watson is a foil for Holmes'
brilliance—as Holmes himself says, "in noting your fallacies I was
occasionally guided towards the truth." By letting Watson give his
erroneous assessment, Holmes is able to offer his talent to the reader. In
a way, completing each other
2. Begins in London, Baker Street, urban setting again to counter the gothic
3. Holmes is observant, clever and uses common sense. At times he even
fools Watson. When Holmes determines the size and breed of
Mortimer's dog, for example, it is because he sees the animal outside
the window.
4. Manuscript of the legend dated 1742, the curse on the Baskervilles
because of Hugo Baskerville, Mortimer the doctor’s belief in the myth vs
the newspaper facts of death of sir Charles reveal a world of superstition
vs science
5. Mortimer’s concern is for Sir Henry the heir, other heir – brother of sir
Charles presumably dead in south America. If the myth is true, henry
would not remain alive
6. Henry’s lost boot, holmes’ signature tobacco smoke, note to threaten
him build suspense and mystery
7. Stranger with the note – trope of the disguised identity
8. Cartwright’s help to rummage through garbage in hotels..modern ways
to find evidence vs the supernatural warning letter, missing boot, myth
9.
