Sherlock Holmes
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The Most Famous Englishman
Why I choose to write about him?
Literature is a word seems somewhat sacred; Im sure our literature teacher is in the full
conviction of that. Take a look at our textbook: from Shakespeare to Bacon; two laureate poets
Byron and Tennyson, the ideologist Emerson and the hermit Thoreau, and so on. An amiable and
worshipful lady as she is, she appreciates the grace embodied in the great pieces: what we learned
in her literature course was the most classic and profound sections and chapters. But to tell the
truth, Arnolds lines really confused me, I just couldnt understand what “the eternal note of
sadness”meant; fortunately, after Mrs.Gaos careful illumination, I got a picture – though obscure
– of his profound thinking. Other puzzles are here and there, for instance, “To be or not to be”, this
is quite a question that I still dont know what Shakespeare wanted to tell us, even after Mrs.Gaos
explanation. You know, literature is not so easy to comprehend, at least to me. So when decided to
write a substantial paper in a humanities subject – namely, literature – as an engineering student, I
remember Sherlock Holmes. Maybe he is not so difficult to understand to me. I began reading
Holmes when I was a pupil (of course in Chinese version), while even today I still enjoy reading
them, though the plots are really familiar to me, in the original language.
Shakespeares masterpieces belong to literature, which is needless to say; what I want to tell is
that Sir Arthur Conan Doyles detective stories also belong to literature, though not so serious.
There is no denying that a great deal of the literature that was popular in Doyles time is rightly
forgotten a hundred years later. But some isnt. Stories about the genius detective Sherlock Holmes
are still readable and interesting. Detective novels are sorted to light literature, something like
swordsman novels in China. I always associate Doyle with the honorary dean of college of arts in
our Zhejiang University, Mr. Jin Yong, they both created novels widely spread and read, and
generations and generations of people are affected by them. Mr. Jin once said, “What I really hope
is that my fictions are still remembered by people living several hundreds years later”.We see that
Doyle had done what Jin hopes. Therere hundreds of swordsmen in Jin Yongs imagination world,
however, in Conan Doyles fantasy, only one creature is enough to make the author immortal.
Who created this character?
Before giving comment to the well-known king-of-detective, lets take a view in Sir Arthur
Conan Doyles life. Here is a brief biography of him, excerpted from the web.
Arthur Conan Doyle, the son of Charles Doyle and Mary Foley, was born in Edinburgh on
22nd May 1859. Arthurs father was an alcoholic and the family was always short of money. At
school, Arthur developed a strong interest in the books written by Sir Walter Scott and Edgar
Allan Poe.
Conan Doyle studied at Edinburgh University and helped to fund his course by working as a
surgeon on Hope, a 400 ton whaler on a seven month voyage to the Arctic. The following year he
worked on Mayumba, a passenger ship bound for West Africa. On this voyage Conan Doyle nearlydied of typhoid. On his return, Conan Doyle set up as a doctor in Southsea, a suburb of
Portsmouth. With very few patients, Conan Doyle attempted to make money by writing detective
stories. His main character, Sherlock Holmes, was based on Dr. Joseph Bell, a surgeon and
criminal psychologist, who lectured at Edinburgh Infirmary.
In 1891 Conan Doyle published six Sherlock Holmes stories in the Strand Magazine. The
following year he was paid Ј1,000 for a whole series on Sherlock Holmes. Conan Doyle really
wanted to write historical novels like his hero, Sir Walter Scott, and in 1893 decided to kill off
Sherlock Holmes in the story, The Final Problem. However, after coming under considerable
pressure from his fans, he returned to write his best known detective story, The Hound of the
Baskervilles (1902).
Conan Doyle served as a doctor in the Boer War (1899-1902) and wrote The War in South
Africa (1902), where he attempted to justify Britains actions during the war.
In 1914 Conan Doyle wrote the recruiting pamphlet, To Arms!. The WPB arranged for Conan
Doyle to go the Western Front and his pamphlet, A Visit to the Three Fronts was published in 1916.
During the war Doyle also wrote his six volume history, The British Campaign in France and
Flanders. Conan Doyle also wrote on the First World War for the Daily Chronicle.
Although fifty-five when the war began, Conan Doyle also joined the Crowborough Company
of the Sixth Royal Sussex Volunteer Regiment and served as a private throughout the war. His son,
Kingsley Conan Doyle, joined the British Army and was wounded at the Somme. He died in
October,