“The world is full of obvious things that no one notices” – Weekend
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In July 1891, Arthur Conan Doyle’s story “A Scandal in Bohemia” was published in The Strand Magazine – formally the second appearance of Sherlock Holmes in print, but it is from this publication that it is customary to count the worldwide fame of the brilliant detective. We re-read the articles and letters of Conan Doyle and found out where Sherlock Holmes came from and why his creator needed him.
1
I had the idea to create a detective who would not be confused by any crime and who would be ready for any emergency. But this is not a detective, but an adventure story.
2
Sherlock Holmes is the literary embodiment of my recollection of a professor of medicine at the University of Edinburgh who diagnosed people as soon as they walked in, before they opened their mouths. He himself told them about their symptoms, the details of their lives – and almost never made a mistake.
3
His remarkable deductive ability was at times quite theatrical. He could turn to some stranger with the words: “Ah! You’re in the military, sergeant, serving in Bermuda. How did I know that, gentlemen? He entered our room without taking off his hat, as he should have done in the sanitary room. That is the military. A slightly domineering appearance, combined with age, suggests that he was a sergeant. A small rash on his forehead indicates that he was in Bermuda: such a rash can only be picked up there. That’s how I got the idea of Sherlock Holmes. Sherlock is completely inhuman, he has no heart, but he has a wonderful logical intelligence.
4
It is a big mistake to assume that people crave something simple and pleasant that will not leave any trace in them. They want complex things that will leave a mark on them. That is why my detective stories have become so popular.
5
A detective story is a form of escapism, but at the same time it is a way to explore the dark side of human nature.
6
Finding the killer is essentially a puzzle, and the reader should be given all the clues needed to solve it, but not so much that the solution is obvious.
7
It is impossible to write a perfect detective story. The type of mind that can produce a perfectly thought out situation is not the type of mind that can turn it into a fictional story.
8
The world is full of obvious things that no one notices.
9
I’m tired of his name. I can’t walk down the street without being called “Mr. Holmes.” Women faint because of him, men fight, and he makes me sick.
10
Life is crazier than anything the human mind has ever invented. We would never dare to invent things that are banal details of our existence. If we could go up and from there look at human life with all its strange coincidences, accidental and intentional intersections, amazing chains of events, and so on, fiction would seem terribly boring to us.
eleven
If I had not killed Sherlock Holmes, I am convinced that he would have done it to me.
12
People treat my detective stories as simple adventure books, as if they were literature for boys. While I really tried to draw the exact types of people who lived then and spent a lot of work and effort on this, which are still completely unappreciated by critics.
13
I can’t imagine a Sherlock Holmes story without Dr. Watson. He is the perfect backdrop for Holmes, and his presence lends depth and humanity to the stories. Without him, Holmes would be just a machine, devoid of emotion and empathy.
14
Violence really turns against the rapist, and the criminal will definitely fall into the hole that he digs for another.
15
“The Norwood Contractor” I would put in first place in the entire series for its subtlety and depth. The possible feeling of disappointment at the end is only due to the fact that there was no crime at all, and therefore the reader feels cheated, but there are reasons why some stories can be dispensed with without crime.
16
When you get rid of all the impossible, then whatever is left, no matter how incredible, must be true.
17
My studies in medicine gave me a good experience of observation and deduction, which I later applied in my work. Creating Sherlock Holmes, I relied on my experience as a doctor and knowledge of human anatomy and psychology.
18
From a drop of water, a good logician could infer the possibility of the existence of the Atlantic or Niagara without seeing them or hearing about either.
19
All life is a great chain of events, the nature of which becomes known whenever we are shown even one of its links.
20
Like all other arts, the science of deduction and analysis is one that can only be mastered by long and patient study. But life is not long enough for any mortal to master it to perfection.
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