Sir Arthur Conan Doyles Influence On Twentieth Century Detective Liter

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Influence On Twentieth Century Detective Literature There are many different books, in many different genres. There are horror novels, love stories, suspenseful books, and detective stories. The detective story's evolution has been a long and eventful process. The man responsible for the biggest leap in the detective story was Arthur Conan Doyle. He gave the world Sherlock Holmes, who could be considered the greatest investigator in detective story history. Holmes was unique in detective story history. ... The reader's interest is captivated not only by the detective's unique methods, but to perhaps to even a greater degree by the singular personality of this remarkable man (Sayers 10). Doyle also gave the world Dr. Watson, Holmes' sidekick. Other authors could have written about this pair, but none could match Doyle. Doyle was a master storyteller (Snow, 8). Without Doyle the detective story would never have been what it is now. Cresterton states, With Conan Doyle, the detective story at last came to full fruition (Cresterton, 170). This statement is true. All detective stories after Doyle's had some of the aspects of his stories. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle shaped the way detective stories were written in the twentieth century by using a third person limited perspective, using a structured plot line, and by having Holmes investigate crimes other than murder. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was the first detective story author to make good use of the third person limited perspective. Holmes' sidekick Watson is a smart man, but he could not compare to the brilliance of Holmes. When Holmes was figuring out a mystery, he often left Watson very confused. Holmes would do things that, to Watson, would make no sense. At the end of the story, however, Watson would see the logic behind Holmes' actions. This quote is Watson thinking about the case he and Holmes were working on. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that he saw clearly not only what happened, but what was about to happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and grotesque (Doyle, 35). This displays Watson's confusion over the case of The Red-Headed League. In The Red-Headed League, the case is so bizarre that most of the readers, like Watson, don't have a clue as to what is going on. It is comforting to know that Watson is as confused as the readers are. In The Red-Headed League there is a point in the story where Holmes and Watson walk up to the pawn shop and talk to Mr. Wilson's assistant. After he shuts the door Watson asks Holmes why he wanted to see the assistant. Holmes says that he wanted to see the knees of the assistants trousers (Doyle, 34). It is obvious by Watson's reaction that he has know idea why Holmes wanted to see the assistants knees. At the same time the readers are left pondering that very question. The whole scene in front of the pawnshop also display another way that Doyle uses the third person limited perspective well. At that point in the story Holmes has pretty much figured out what happened. By telling Watson where he was looking, Holmes was dropping a hint to Watson to see if he could figure out what Holmes already had. During his stories Doyle would leave hints as to who committed the crime. This made the story more interesting for the readers. Another way Doyle uses Holmes in his stories is as a teacher to Watson. In the very beginning of A Scandal in Bohemia Holmes deduces, from a quick glance, that Watson had gotten wet lately, and had a clumsy servant girl. He deduced all of this by merely looking at Watson's shoes. He then asked Watson how many steps led up to his apartment. Watson could not say, even though he had walked up those stairs countless times (Doyle, 12). This is one of the examples of Holmes teaching Watson about observation. The only way that Holmes' observations make sense in the story is if the story has a structured plot line. Doyle made all of Holmes' stories have plots that follow a logical structure. You have reasoned it out beautifully...It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings true (Doyle 40). In the story Holmes figured out that Mr. Wilson's assistant was using his pawn shop to tunnel his way into a nearby bank and rob it. Holmes figured out all of