On July 7, 1930, the British writer Arthur Conan Doyle died, and he was known as the "father of Sherlock Holmes", but he said: "If people only remember that I created Sherlock Holmes, then I will fail in this life." ”
Unfortunately, 90 years later, people in this world still only remember he created Sherlock Holmes, not the historical novels he wrote.
So was Conan Doyle's life a failure? But how many people in this world can still be remembered 90 years after death? He tried countless times to "kill" Holmes, but 90 years have proved that Holmes is more influential than he is.
Today, a statue of Sherlock Holmes instead of Conan Doyle is erected on Baker Street in London, England. Because of Sherlock Holmes, Conan Doyle was remembered by future generations, is this lucky or unfortunate?
Statue of Sherlock Holmes on Baker Street, London
Remember the image of Watson at the beginning of the novel? At that time, the yellow-skinned, weak and gaunt Watson walked the streets of London in despair, and Conan Doyle was like this at that time. Conan Doyle was a child who fell into the woods, and he later devoted himself to medicine, preparing to become a doctor.
After graduation, his medical career was not successful, but because there were few patients, it gave him the possibility to pass the time with writing. His initial interest in writing was mainly because it was a way to make money, but he wrote many works with little success. In the first eight years, Doyle published thirty novels, but only one that really brought him fame was "The Study of Blood Letters" (also translated as "Dark Red Study").
It was a work that suffered three rejections, and in this 1887 publication, the world-renowned detective Holmes made his debut.
Conan doyle
Images in literature are difficult to appear out of thin air, and if in the early days, Watson's image was Conan Doyle, then the image of Sherlock Holmes came from people in his life who needed to look up.
The image of Professor Joseph Bell of the University of Edinburgh is very similar to that of his Sherlock Holmes: slender and long, with an angular diamond face, a slender hooked nose, and a square and prominent jaw. "Strengths are diagnostics, not only for diseases, but also for a person's occupation and character." Conan Doyle describes Professor Bell this way in his autobiography. He also mentioned a famous example: a man he had never met walked up to Professor Bell, who, after careful observation, said that the man was "not long after retiring, participating in the Highland Regiment, stationed in Barbados..." These inferences were all correct.
But as time passed, unconsciously, Conan Doyle gradually moved from Watson to Sherlock Holmes. In 1908, Oscar Slater, a German who ran a casino, was charged with assaulting an old woman with a stick and sentenced to death. Conan Doyle later revisited the case, using Holmes's analytical skills in the Crown Jewel case to break through the loopholes in the prosecution's defense and prove Slater's innocence with a piece of "The Case of Oscar Slater". The detective in the book is Sherlock Holmes, and the real detective is Conan Doyle himself. At this point, Holmes and Conan Doyle overlapped.
Sherlock Holmes-themed film and television dramas are still loved by audiences
Holmes returned Conan Doyle to high society, but for Conan Doyle, who already had the status of a knight, the name Holmes seemed to constantly remind him of his humble past. What's more, Holmes seems to be still vying for the position he has gained, and people only care about Sherlock Holmes, and even the letters written to him read "To Sir Holmes"...
He once tried to "kill" Holmes, and in The Last Case in 1893, Conan Doyle arranged for Holmes to be buried in The Leisingbach Falls with his sworn enemy. But by this time Holmes, he was "unkillable"—angry readers, wearing a black veil on their arms, went to conan Doyle's house to protest, and telegrams from all over the world denounced him.
Ten years after the confrontation, Conan Doyle had to "resurrect" Holmes in 1903's The Empty House, and it wasn't until 1927 that Holmes ended the story perfectly in a "secluded" way. Three years later, Doyle died. From 1887 to 1927, his 41 years of entanglement and struggle with Holmes came to an end.
Today, a statue of Sherlock Holmes is still erected on Baker Street in London, England, but there are few commemorative signs and ceremonies about Conan Doyle himself. Conan Doyle, who had struggled to get rid of Sherlock Holmes and even killed the fictional character himself, did not expect to be remembered by posterity because of Holmes after his death. (Chengfeng Mao Yuchuan)
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