Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - The Adventures and Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes was a success from the moment of his first appearance in 1887, and has never wavered in public esteem. Even though he had many predecessors, and has had many rivals then and since, he rapidly became the official prototype of the detective, and in particular of the English detective. This is peculiar in many ways, as the Holmes stories are largely atypical of the English detective genre as it evolved over the next half-century or so. Even the classic Holmesian form is at odds with what later became standard. Firstly, Holmes was written by a man while, in England at least, the genre rapidly became dominated by a whole series of women Agatha Christie, Ngaio Marsh, Dorothy L. Sayers, and so on. Secondly, the presentation was entirely different; most of the Holmes adventures came via the short story of less than ten thousand words, while the classic English detective story was in short novels about five times as long. Finally, the typical Holmesian stamping ground and what the stories are primarily remembered for is what might be termed the mean streets of Victorian London, down in the docks, in the opium dens, or alternatively in the new suburbs, all far removed from the cosy world of the English village or the country house murder. So many are the differences, in fact, that it can be doubted whether Holmes can be called the starting point of the English detective story at all; many of the stories characteristics have much more in common with the American hard-boiled strand as it developed under Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett both of whom also specialized in the short story for magazines.

So why was Holmes so successful and why, at the same time, was he not really emulated in his country of origin? Above all, there is the simple quality of the stories, and in particular of the short stories presented here. Like that of many another fictional character, Holmess success came despite his author; Conan Doyle always had something of a hard time accepting that he was going to be remembered for pieces of work which he considered less important than his more substantial efforts. Yet, the Holmes stories are a classic example of how quality sometimes varies in inverse relation to the amount of effort put in. Whereas many of Conan Doyles other works show the failings of late nineteenth-century writing being frequently excessively wordy, overwrought and mannered with Sherlock Holmes in the earlier stories he achieved an extraordinary economy, an almost impressionistic ability to communicate atmosphere and character with the slightest of brushstrokes. The classic example of this, perhaps, is quite literally the atmosphere. While the London fog is indelibly associated with the tales it is in fact scarcely ever mentioned; there are as many references to London sun as to fog. The weather, indeed, is only rarely referred to at all; the dark brooding quality of many of the tales instead creates an impression which in fact exists largely in the readers own imagination.

The requirements of the short story meant that the adventures were presented in a stripped-down form, with no redundant words. The forward momentum that results is remarkable, and everything hangs from the framework of the plot; this, more than anything else, has given them their enduring strength. With Holmes the reader is not wearied by the authors concerns to meditate on the ills of society or present his insight into character, both of which would have made the stories date far more obviously. Nor does he have those tastes and interests cooking, cultivating orchids, body-building, or whatever which are often grafted on to characters to give them an appearance of depth. He plays the violin and used to box; that is almost all we know about him and these are referred to rarely and economically. Even his habit of using cocaine is referred to in passing only: it is not used as a way of excavating his character. Holmess personality is so strong because he is supposed not to have one; he is meant to be cold, precise, but admirably balanced the most perfect reasoning and observing machine (A Scandal in Bohemia). Seen through the eyes of Dr Watson the perfect embodiment of open-minded yet conventional Victorian society this gives him his unique and fascinating eccentricity.