Sherlock Holmes is one of those literary characters that is known to almost everyone, including even those who have not read anything about his adventures. He was due to appear to the great English writer Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who introduced us to him in his novel “The Study in Scarlet Tones” in 1887.
Ironically, for future readers of the adventure of Sherlock Holmes, on that audience the novel did not make a big impression. This was Doyle’s first published novel, which wanted something more than to be the author of simple stories. However, as we said above, the readers of England reacted with coolness to this work, which can not be said about the readers of another English-speaking country – the United States of America. And it is thanks to them that Doyle receives an application for writing adventure sequels about his new hero and creates the “Sign of Four” (1890), which, this time, was equally well received by all.
And after that
the world could no longer do without Sherlock Holmes and his biographer John Watson (Watson, how this name began to be translated in Russia), a retired doctor, whose notes were published by Arthur Conan Doyle. Sherlock Holmes is quite an original hero, which is fundamentally different from the others that were before. He is a professional in his field, but at the same time, it seems that he is somewhat flawed, according to Dr. Watson, primarily because Sherlock Holmes has only certain knowledge and completely ignores those that distinguish an educated person from an ignoramus.
However, this does not alienate the reader from the hero, but, on the contrary, attracts and makes him admire his talent and his “deductive method,” to which I must say, the accent was made not accidentally, but served as a rethinking of methods for investigating the crimes of other literary heroes, such as: Detective Lecoq, the French writer Emile Gaborio; Detective Auguste Dupin Edgar Poe and others.
In addition, the main prototype of Sherlock Holmes was one of the teachers Doyle – Dr. Joseph Bell, who was a master
of observation, logic, conclusions and errors. It was his method of determining the external signs of the disease and the profession of people before their examination and formed the basis of all these adventures. The beginning of the publication of stories about Sherlock Holmes and the creation of his hand-drawn image of Sidney Pagett has raised even greater interest in this character. However, gradually Doyle begins to burden his hero, although he brings significant dividends, and Sherlock Holmes dies in the story “The last Holmes affair.”
Getting rid of his hero, his author sighs with relief, but that’s not it – the readers are indignant about how to do this, and everyone starts asking Doyle to continue, and eventually the author goes to a meeting and resurrects his hero, but never parted with him until his death.
Readers have differently perceived Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. They considered them real people, and Doyle was only a literary agent of the bibliographer of the great detective. The address of these heroes (Baker Street, No. 221-b), as well as the author himself, began to receive letters asking for help in solving this or that problem. Never have literary heroes been so materialized! And the opening of the commemorative plaque in England, where they met, and finally the museum, in which the endless stream of visitors go, only confirms this.
Even during the life of the author began to create stories about other adventures of their favorite character. These were not parodies or obvious fakes, but they were also well thought out in the plot (which sometimes carry the main characters into imaginable and not conceivable places) and the style of the work is not different from the original. Well, the number of screen versions of stories about Sherlock Holmes in general covers all reasonable limits. So we can say that even now Sherlock Holmes and his friend Dr. Watson are more alive than all living.