Holmes and Away: Arthur Conan Doyle Is Cherished as the Creator of One of the Best-Loved Detectives in English Literature-But His Talents as an Author Ranged Far and Wide, from Science Fiction to Swashbucklers

Dirda, Michael, New Statesman (1996)

Step into any bookshop, whether it's that flashy new one on the high street or the little-used paperback exchange in a run-down part of town, and you will almost certainly find--in the fiction or mystery section--some edition of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. For well over too years, the great sleuth of Baker Street has been a staple of our imagination, known the world over for his Inverness cape, calabash pipe and deerstalker cap. He is quite probably the most famous, most immediately recognisable fictional character ever created.

Eccentficaesthete, expert chemistand linguist, master of disguise, amateur boxer and baritsu adept, occasional philosopher and overall polymath. Holmes lives by his wits and entirely for the practice of his art-- "the art of detection". He is, according to the biographer Hesketh Pearson, "what every man desires to be", nothing less than a "knight errant who rescues the unfortunate and fights single-handed against the powers of darkness".

At his side is his faithful companion and chronicler, Dr John H Watson. In the old Basil Rathbone films, Nigel Bruce portrayed Watson as a bumbling idiot, but more recently actors such as Edward Hardwicke, Jude Law and Martin Freeman have shown that he is, in his own way, as admirable as his better-known friend. A soldier and doctor, susceptible …

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Publication information: Article title: Holmes and Away: Arthur Conan Doyle Is Cherished as the Creator of One of the Best-Loved Detectives in English Literature-But His Talents as an Author Ranged Far and Wide, from Science Fiction to Swashbucklers. Contributors: Dirda, Michael - Author. Magazine title: New Statesman (1996). Volume: 140. Issue: 5078 Publication date: November 7, 2011. Page number: 41+. © Not available. COPYRIGHT 2011 Gale Group.

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