Sherlock Holmes
SHERLOCK WHO?
“It’s elementary, my dear Watson!” This line stated by the famous fictional character Sherlock Holmes is known around the world. The beloved British detective, created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is to many the true essence of classical detective fiction. However, the origin and source of classical detective fiction is located further back, earlier than the 1930’s of Sherlock Holmes, in a previous century. For all the truly educated literary readers of the world, classical detective fiction originated with the character Monsieur C. Auguste Dupin, introduced in the short story The Murders of the Rue Morgue by Edgar Allen Poe, in the early 1840’s. Monsieur Dupin embodied the “Bi-Part Soul...-the creative and resolvent.” (Muir 50 Course Reader. Fall 1999. P.50-51) A blending of imagination and pure intellect to form the analytical power that would become the classical model for future generations of detectives that would follow in his footsteps. Since the achievement of Dupin, writers have tried to immolate Poe’s fusion of intellectual and “creative” language, which is crucial for the making of classical detective fiction. This, of course, leads to the obvious question, “what exactly are the ingredients or requirements for a classical detective?” To discover the answer to this question we must refer to passages in detective fiction stories and find the common themes of detective characterization. The stories that we will examine include The Murders in the Rue Morgue, and The Adventure of the Speckled Band. There is, however,
“It’s elementary, my dear Watson!” This line stated by the famous fictional character Sherlock Holmes is known around the world. The beloved British detective, created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is to many the true essence of classical detective fiction. However, the origin and source of classical detective fiction is located further back, earlier than the 1930’s of Sherlock Holmes, in a previous century. For all the truly educated literary readers of the world, classical detective fiction originated with the character Monsieur C. Auguste Dupin, introduced in the short story The Murders of the Rue Morgue by Edgar Allen Poe, in the early 1840’s. Monsieur Dupin embodied the “Bi-Part Soul...-the creative and resolvent.” (Muir 50 Course Reader. Fall 1999. P.50-51) A blending of imagination and pure intellect to form the analytical power that would become the classical model for future generations of detectives that would follow in his footsteps. Since the achievement of Dupin, writers have tried to immolate Poe’s fusion of intellectual and “creative” language, which is crucial for the making of classical detective fiction. This, of course, leads to the obvious question, “what exactly are the ingredients or requirements for a classical detective?” To discover the answer to this question we must refer to passages in detective fiction stories and find the common themes of detective characterization. The stories that we will examine include The Murders in the Rue Morgue, and The Adventure of the Speckled Band. There is, however,