It has felt much the same this time, as I watch democracy turn into a dictatorship. But all that notwithstanding, life goes on and so must I. In order to distract myself from watching democracy end, I have started reading the Complete Works of Sherlock Holmes. Why?
Mostly, because I want to compare Sherlock Holmes to modern mystery writing. After all, Holmes was written before the clear convention arose that you must be able to solve the mystery with only the clues that the author has provided.* Arthur Conan Doyle frequently breaks this not-yet-invented rule by have Holmes bring in all sorts of revelations that the reader had no way of knowing about. But at the same time, the Sherlock Holmes cannon, especially the short stories, do show the beginnings of that rule -- most famously in the case of the dog that did not bark.
In fact, Doyle can be said to introduce that convention in his very first novel when we first learn of Holmes profession. He is a detective, but neither a police detective nor a private detective. Instead, he is a "consulting detective." When the police or a private detective agency are unable to resolve a mystery, they refer people to Sherlock Holmes to resolve it. Watson is astonished. “But do you mean to say,” I said, “that without leaving your room you can unravel some knot which other men can make nothing of, although they have seen every detail for themselves?” To which the egotistical Holmes responds, "Quite so."
If Holmes can unravel a mystery without leaving his room based on what other people tell him, then it would seem to follow that the reader should also be able to do the same, having, after all, the same clues that Holmes does. Or rather, that might work in a movie. In the written word, Holmes invariably subjects his visitors to the Sherlock scan and picks up all sorts of details that Watson as narrator invariably misses.
We first meet Holmes in A Study in Scarlet. Watson gives a brief and decidedly incomplete rundown on his own background. He got his degree in medicine at the University of London in 1878 and became an army surgeon. He served in Afghanistan and took a bullet that shattered his shoulder bone and grazed the subclavian artery. When recovering from his wound, he came down with enteric fever, had a long and life-threatening illness, and was discharged to England. He arrived with his health in ruins, not knowing anyone who could take in him in, and getting by on eleven shilling and sixpence a day. That was presumably a pension for invalid army veterans. Watson does not explain anything about his background before he got his medical degree and, if he knows no one in England, where his family is. Presumably his father was in imperial service in some capacity and the family went from one posting to another and never put down roots.
Unable to afford a hotel, Watson looks for a roommate and is referred to Sherlock Holmes. A comment on Holmes, here. I think of his age as about 45. This may be because of the age of actors who play him, but it also fits well with the character -- young enough to be physically vigorous, but old enough to have mastered all the fields of study and written all the monographs that Holmes lays claim to. When we first meet Holmes, the author seems to assume someone significantly younger. He spends much of his time in the chemistry lab and dissection room, so Watson at first thinks he is a medical student. His young age is also confirmed toward the end of the novel when the killer refers to Holmes as "this young man."
Watson's situation is a difficult one -- his health too poor to go out, not knowing anyone to drop in, his whole existence caught up in his morose and uncommunicative roommate. Holmes spends much of his time at the chemistry labs or dissection rooms, or on long walks. When not active, he is prone to fits of near-catatonic inactivity. (The modern reader might suspect that Holmes is bipolar). The two men share an apartment with a sitting room and two bedrooms. Holmes receives frequent visitors, but invariably asks Watson to withdraw when they arrive. The visitors, it should be noted, represent a wide cross section of London society although, of course, all of them can afford to pay a detective.
Watson learns of Holmes' line of work after reading an article he wrote about the science of deduction. Soon after, they receive a call from Lestrade and Gregson, two Scotland Yard detectives who are among Holmes' most frequent visitors asking him to investigate a very strange murder.
The first Sherlock Holmes mystery ensues. I plan to write an extended series about Sherlock Holmes, primarily the extent to which one can resolve his mysteries by the clues in the story, but also about the wide cross section of London society that he meets.
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*Also before the convention that there always has to be at least one murder in the story.
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