Sherlock Holmes: A Juggernaut of the Victorian Era Donga 1

Dishant Donga
Professor Harrison
Writing 39B
27 July 2014
Throughout the span of late Victorian Era, we scrutinized the imminent
rise of the detective genre, and all that came with it - new authors, new
ideas, and increased interests in short stories. These modifications to the
status quo of writing were arguably the results of the Industrial Revolution
a transition to new manufacturing processes that brought upon radical
innovation in not only technological aspects but also in social, literary, and
urban realms of life. As Panek superbly stated in An Introduction to the
Detective Story, Writers often use[d] short stories, because of their brevity,
as testing grounds for new literary techniques, something impractical in the
novel until the twentieth century (Panek, 10). Writers, such as Sir Arthur
Conan Doyle, began to experiment with their styles of writing, utilizing
different approaches to create stories and novels that were pertinent to that
specific time period. Doyle used such techniques to develop his own
masterpiece - The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - that brought upon great
change in the literary aspect of Victorian England; and with it, developed a
new genre that gave rise to the centurys most esteemed hero Sherlock
Sherlock Holmes: A Juggernaut of the Victorian Era Donga 2

Holmes, who used his intellectual prowess to solve the most convoluted
criminal cases of all time.
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes caught fame very quickly; the
audience, comprised mainly of middle-class Europeans, responded
ecstatically to these collections of twelve stories. To the readers, Holmes was
a hero with superhuman intuition and deductive skills; He solved mysteries
using a rigorously proven thought approach, and nobody else was better at
it than him. In How to Think like Sherlock Holmes, Maria Konnikova
accentuates this thought approach and labels it as System Holmes; Then she
compares it to a control group which she calls System Watson, named after
his partner (Konnikova, 17). One could describe System Watson as a
progression that will eventually morph into System Holmes, given one trains
enough to automatically think in a certain manner. Whereas System Watson
is a realm where most people are stuck at; these individuals tend to only
think within the box or "operate by lazy thought habits." If given enough
time and effort, one could "break the habits of System Watson," and apply
the superior method of thinking to his or her life (Konnikova, 18). In A
Scandal of Bohemia, Holmes demonstrates the difference between these two
thought approaches; When John Watson arrives to Holmes residence, he is
asked as to how many steps there are that lead up from the hall to Holmes
room. Watson was unable to answer since he had only seen the steps, and
Sherlock Holmes: A Juggernaut of the Victorian Era Donga 3

not observed them. Holmes remarked that there were exactly seventeen
steps; He knew that because he had both seen and observed them (Doyle).
The popularity of detective novels, specifically Doyles works, could
also be attributed to the growing interests in crime and criminals during the
18
th
century. In An Introduction to the Detective Story, Panek argues that
many authors in late 18
th
century had begun to write extensively about a
new sort of criminal a notorious mastermind that brought upon great
havoc; And that this amass of criminal material directly impacted the
modern development of the detective story (Panek, 5). Furthermore, he
argues that there are exactly four elements necessary in a detective story: a
genius hero, an incompetent police force, a middle class audience, and the
utilization of a short story (Panek, 8). Incidentally, all four of these elements
are found in Doyles Sign of the Four, a short story which illustrated the
brilliance of a detective willing to go to any and all lengths to solve a
mystery of uncovering a lost treasure. Most, if not all, of Doyles works
follow this structure, and feature the same duos that solve the cases
together perhaps this could explain the ubiquitous popularity of Sherlock
Holmes.
According to the literary critic George N. Dove, detective stories and
novels are unique in the sense that they are rigorously structured, and
follow a particular set of rules that are not common to other genres (Dove,
Sherlock Holmes: A Juggernaut of the Victorian Era Donga 4

1). His argument, which complements that of Paneks, states that every
single detail present in the story is there for a particular reason; and that
such details will splendidly morph into a spectacular witty conclusion. In the
beginning of Conan Doyles Sign of the Four, we pick up on the details such
as the existence of a one-legged man and a small accomplice at
Bartholomews murder scene (Doyle). Yet, we do not know how and why
they are related, if at all; all we do know is that they were involved in the
stolen treasure. By the end of the story, we realize that these two had been
working together and shared a history that connected them to the treasure.
In The Reader and the Detective Story, George Dove emphasizes that such
structure allows the readers to be directly involved in the plot, and perhaps
even allow them to come to their own conclusions. Dove insisted that the
readers cannot be excluded from the tale of deduction, because doing so
would deny them the opportunity to apply their own intellectual capabilities;
the thrill behind solving a mystery would be snatched away from them,
rendering the mystery aspect of the novel useless (Dove, 1). For this reason,
authors such as Doyle, Poe, Collins, and many others designed their
respective works to be reader friendly in the sense that they allowed their
readers to speculate on their own a quality that is unique to the detective
genre.
Tom Gunning, a distinguished professor from the University of
Chicago, agrees that the Industrial Revolution indeed played a crucial role in
Sherlock Holmes: A Juggernaut of the Victorian Era Donga 5

the development of the detective genre; In Tracing the Individual Body:
Photography, Detectives, and Early Cinema, Gunning specifically assigns
credit to new transportation designs, better distribution methods, and
improved urban infrastructure and traffic (Gunning, 15). According to him,
these three factors were crucial in spreading new information throughout the
globe; criminals and detectives alike used such methods to stay ahead of
each other.
By the time the Victorian Era had come to its end, the detective genre
had slowly crept out of its infancy or classical phase. By now, many
authors had begun to make use of Doyles structure to enhance their own
literary work, but none if those came close in popularity to that of Sir Arthur
Conan Doyle. Indeed, he revolutionized the art of writing crime-based short
stories and left his mark of literary genius for us to read and enjoy. Almost
120 years after the conception of the first story of Detective Holmes,
enthusiasts still readily read the works of Conan Doyle, and the films that
came after him in the 21
st
century.




Sherlock Holmes: A Juggernaut of the Victorian Era Donga 6

Works Cited:
Conan Doyle, Arthur. The Sign of the Four. Seattle: Amazon Digital
Services, 2013. Kindle eBook. Online.
Doyle, Arthur Conan. "Adventure 1: A Scandal in Bohemia." The
Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Lit2Go Edition. 1892. Web.
Dove, George N. The Reader and the Detective Story. Bowling Green, OH:
Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1997. Print.
Gunning, Tom. "Tracing the Individual Body: Photography, Detectives, and
Early Cinema." Cinema and the Invention of Modern Life. Berkeley: U of
California, Berkeley, 1995. Print.
Konnikova, Maria. Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes. New
York: Viking, 2013. Print.
Panek, Leroy. An Introduction to the Detective Story. Bowling Green, OH:
Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1987. Print.