By
Kelly Bridgewater
This
is my fourth month talking about certain writers and what they have meant to me
as a writer. First, C.S. Lewis, in January, J. R. R. Tolkien in February, and
J. K. Rowling in March. Now for April, I plan to talk about the most popular
father of the detective novel. No, he didn’t write the first detective novel.
That was Edgar Allan Poe. Yes, the man who wrote “The Raven” and “The Tell-Tale
Heart” penned the first detective novel with the creation of “The Murders of
the Rue Morgue.”
But
Arthur Conan Doyle introduced the most popular detective to the world. Every
classic cartoon has done an episode where someone is Sherlock Holmes and
Watson. It is funny to think about how popular Sherlock Holmes is today while
Arthur Conan Doyle did not want to be famous for writing the detective. He
wanted his other work to be more widely read and known. I bet you didn’t know
he wrote a couple others works of writing, did you? He did. They weren’t as
well-written, I promise you that.
Sherlock
Holmes.
Everyone
in England swears by him and loves him, even though Arthur Conan Doyle is from
Scotland, not England. I was introduced
to Sherlock Holmes when I was in college. To escape the boring story of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
during a literary theory class to complete my undergraduate studies in English,
I devoured The Complete Sherlock Holmes.
It was more my taste. Adventure. Mystery. Non-stop action.
I
still return to Sherlock Holmes once a year when I read my favorite books. I
watched and loved the latest Sherlock Holmes movies featuring Robert Downey Jr.
and Jude Law. I’m fascinated by the great storytelling of the BBC Sherlock produced by Mark Gatiss. He has
done a great job capturing the essence of Sherlock in the twenty-first century
with text messages and similar technology like Watson keeping a blog to record
his adventures.
Arthur
Conan Doyle taught me that adventure is important to a great story that
captures the readers’ attention for generations to come. A great story can
surpass the changing time and move into the classics if the story is
well-written. Doyle gave the world a gift of a classic detective named Sherlock
Holmes who helped cement my love of Adventure, mystery, thrillers, and suspense
in books and movies. Because of this, I’m not the type of girl who likes sappy,
romance books or movies. Give me an action packed movie or book, and I’m there.
Any
though most people have heard of Sherlock Holmes, have you, personally, sat down
and read his books? What was your idea of a great book? Romance. Adventure.
Fantasy. Mystery. Classics. Why?
Enjoyed your post, Kelly. I do enjoy adventure and mystery from time to time, but what always draws me in is the emotional/spiritual growth of characters. That's the story for me.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Mary for commenting. I also enjoy watching the transformation of characters.
DeleteI devoured his books when I was a kid. I was into English literature, anyway, and Sherlock Holmes fascinated me! Haven't read them for ages, but really should again :-)
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete