In Arthur Conan Doyle's A Study in Scarlet a popular cultural phenomenon is born. We meet two of the most famous characters in modern literary history: the consulting detective Sherlock Holmes and John Watson, an army doctor home on sick leave, for the first time. Through Watson we learn a little about the eccentric figure who is his new room-mate at 221B Baker Street, before they encounter their first case: an American visitor to the city has been killed in an empty house off the Brixton Road, and the only clue the police have is the mysterious word 'Rache', scrawled in blood-red letters on the wall. As Holmes sets to work with his unique forensic methods, behind the murder a tangled skein of love, religion, and revenge gradually unwinds, taking us from the streets of London to the Utah Territory, and back again.
As Nicholas Daly's Introduction describes, out of this gripping tale grew the Holmes and Watson stories that would make Conan Doyle the best-paid author of his time. His creations have become household words, inspiring not only countless adaptations and imitations, but a Sherlock Holmes museum, Sherlock Holmes-themed pubs, and a whole array of Holmesian merchandise, from cushions to jigsaw puzzles. Here, though, we meet Holmes and Watson before they became famous, and we can see how their extraordinary impact on our popular culture derives from the late-Victorian world from which they emerge.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) was a Scottish physician and prolific writer of fiction and nonfiction. He is most well known for his four novels and fifty-six short stories featuring the legendary and eccentric detective Sherlock Holmes. Holmes was modeled after Doyle's colleague, physician and surgeon Dr. Joseph Bell, who had been known for his acute powers of deductive observation. In his real life, Doyle worked in the name of justice too. He personally investigated two cases of innocent men who had been wrongfully imprisoned and helped to get them exonerated for their "crimes."
Oxford University Press
Pub Date: June 09, 2023
1.0" H x 7.4" L x 5.2" W
192 pages
Paperback