The Hound of the Baskervilles Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Sherlock Holmes In 1891, Doyle published six Adventures of Sherlock Holmes in Strand magazine. Six more appeared the next year. The stories are also owed in part to Edgar Allan Poe, who is credited as having created the detective tale. In fact, his stories are considered “prequels” to Doyle’s stories. http://www.biography.com/video.do?name=historicalfigures&bcpid=1740031454&bclid=1772834530&bctid=1726714856

Background Doyle was initially a struggling young doctor who spent his hours unfilled with patients creating the character of Sherlock Holmes. His first Holmes story was published in 1887. Holmes grew in popularity, and Doyle grew tired of him.

Sherlock Holmes’ demise In 1893, Doyle published The Final Problem. In this installment, Holmes’ arch enemy, Professor Moriarty, sends him to his death over the Reichenbach Falls. People were so outraged over his death that newspapers actually ran an obituary. People placed flowers on the streets of London.

The resurrection Doyle was forced to resurrect Holmes. The Hound of the Baskervilles was the first story published after Holmes’ supposed death. Despite being published afterwards, Doyle set the novel as prior to Holmes’ death so that he could avoid resurrecting the character. At the release of this story, The Strand’’s readership grew by 30,000 subscriptions instantly.

Inspiration for the detective The ideas for Holmes’ unique detective skills were based in-part on one of Doyle’s professors from the University of Edinburgh, Dr. Joseph Bell. Bell could draw medical conclusions about his patients simply from observing the mud on his shoes.

Inspiration for this novel Black Shuck and the Whisht Hounds are spectral, demon dogs from British folklore.   These ghostly dogs were the inspiration for The Hound of the Baskervilles. The origin of these legends springs from Norse (Viking) mythology.  They are derived from tales of the black Hound of Odin.

Doyle’s mystery novel Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is known as the “father of the Golden Age of mystery.” His novels followed a usually predictable pattern including the following: A closed setting like an isolated house or train A corpse A small group of people who are all suspects An investigating detective with extraordinary reasoning powers

Complications As are common in the rising action of most novels, Doyle’s stories are full of complications. As the story progresses, the reader learns that nearly all the suspects had the means and the motive. Clues accumulate and are often revealed to the reader through a narrator like Watson, Holmes’ trusty sidekick.

Red Herring A diversion intended to distract attention from the main issue Simply put, a red herring is an item which has no use in the story except to distract the reader from the real culprit. The red herring can take the form of a character, which the reader may believe to be the killer, only to discover later that he is innocent. It can also take the form of an item which readers believe to be the clue to a discovery, but which turns out to be worthless.

English v. American At the same time the English detective/mystery novel became popular, the private detective made his debut in America. While Holmes and his counterparts were gentlemen, the private eye of the U.S. was a hard-drinking, tough talking investigator whose stories went not in a logical order but shifted from scene to scene. The leader of the American mystery was Dashiell Hammett.

Setting 221 B Baker Street, London, England (Holmes’ residence) Baskerville Hall in Dartmoor, England Victorian London 1880-90s* *The Hound was published in 1902, but it is set prior to Holmes’ death in 1893.

Major Characters While Sherlock Holmes serves the protagonist and central character, Dr. Watson is the narrator of the tale. Watson plays the role of Holmes’ sidekick. The antagonist will not be revealed until the mystery is solved. Holmes and Dr. Watson

Victorian England Doyle’s work comes at the height of the Victorian Era (the period of Queen Victoria’s reign over England from 1837 until 1901). The era is characterized as a long period of peace (following the Revolutionary War with the U.S.). Inventions marked much of the period as science and technology flourished.

Victorian England At the time of Sherlock Holmes’ creation, Victorian society was in a state of unease as new thoughts and ideas threatened to undermine traditional beliefs. The Industrial Revolution had brought about the rapid development of industry, railways, commerce and engineering. Along with this came revolutionary scientific theories which shocked many people. Darwin’s Origin of Species, published in 1859, put forward the theory of evolution, and so questioned the Christian beliefs that had been dominant until then.

Victorian England Continued There also occurred the rise of a new class of rich factory owners, who capitalized on the poor, particularly women and children. The Victorian conscience was eventually stirred by the revelation of this exploitation in the works of authors such as Dickens and Charles Kingsley. Tales of mystery, where social problems were rarely confronted, grew in popularity during the Victorian age.