Developing my Linguistic Skills with Sherlock Holmes

The basis of detective fictions is a well-developed and observant character that is able to walk the audience and outside perspectives through the case. In this case, Arthur Conan-Doyle utilizes the observant perspective of Watson to describe the actions of Sherlock Holmes. Doyle characterizes Sherlock through underscoring vocabulary and the first person understanding of Watson. A series of analytical language and descriptive literary devices such as juxtaposition to portray the effects of Irene Adler on the near-perfect character of Sherlock Holmes.

No one is quite sure at what exact time reading became more for pleasure than for knowledge, but today, novels are expected to be entertaining and used to relax the mind. What an author cannot do to make their writing entertaining is to sit in their offices all day and churn out page by page of material. Authors must first feel the emotions they describe in order to enable the reader to relate to the text. In order to write an effective piece of writing, an author must first experience and understand their own lives and apply it to their writing in order to be engaging and of use to their reader.

Primarily, readers read detective stories because they expect a dramatic event to happen whether that be criminal activity or more prominently, a murder. The audience of The Murders in the Rue Morgue didn’t have extremely eventful lives; it wasn’t every day that a horrid murder would take place in the real streets of Paris. They desperately craved excitement for their boring days and for that, they turned to books: detective stories in particular. The horror of the actual act offered a form of excitement and entertainment to the reader. The story allowed them to escape from their already routine life. Other than that, the society in detective stories like The Murders in the Rue Morgue was outwardly perfect in which the characters “have very simple problems” (Aydelotte, pg. 4). Everything in the society went right, up until the point of the murder. The fact that a seemingly ideal world was interrupted by such a gruesome event, offered the reader a reality check and made them aware of their anxiety of the evil that exists in the world. For the audience of detective stories, “The mess, confusion, and frustration of life have

Out of the many genres available for readers to choose from, Crime Fiction is one of the most popular genres raking in about $782.2 million per year, second only to romance. Author Stieg Larsson earned about over $50 million with his ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’ series. Crime fiction is about criminals and their motives, the process of solving a crime and mystery. Crime fiction is a diverse genre that can be divided into many sub genres like a forensic thriller or a hard boiled private investigator genre. Although each of these subgenres are unique and have their own distinction, all crime fiction genres share basic and important elements. Firstly, all good crime stories will have a significant crime to drive the story forward and keep the reader focused. An example of a

How Do Authors Create Suspense? Authors create suspense by using certain vocabulary, creating an unknown factor, and using punctuation to describe the event. In the short story The Tell-Tale Heart, written by Edgar Allan Poe, is about an obsessed man who is stalking an Old man because of one of his eyes and eventually kills the old man. Another short story, The Pedestrian, by Ray Bradbury, tells the story of a lonely man wandering an empty world until he has a mysterious encounter with a police car. Both of these stories will support my statement that authors create suspense by using certain vocabulary, creating an unknown factor, and using punctuation to describe certain situations.

Comparing the fictitious Sherlock Holmes to the mid-20th century retelling the famous Christie serial murders, there is a shift on how evidence is collected and impacts a criminal investigation. Sherlock Holmes, although not apart of commissioned law enforcement, is very generalized in investigation. His minute level of training in the criminal justice field, demonstrated that the best detectives are not found within any state institution in the 19th century. In the eyes of the reader, any citizen could be a detective with little training if you were smart enough. He not only examines background information, but collects evidence, interprets it, and takes justice into his own hands. With little help from Watson, Sherlock Holmes epitomizes the

He created so much that is of importance in the field -- literally creating the template for all of detective fiction to follow.” (Genesis: 1841). Detective fiction is a genre of writing where a detective works to solve a crime. The challenge is to solve the crime, by the clues provided, before the detective reveals the answer at the end of the novel. Therefore this also affected pop culture of literature.

While American and British authors developed the two distinct schools of detective fiction, known as “hard-boiled and “golden age,” simultaneously, the British works served to continue traditions established by earlier author; American works formed their own distinct identity. Though a niche category, detective works reflect the morality and culture of the societies their authors lived in. Written in the time period after World War I, Dashiell Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon (1929) and “The Gutting of Couffignal” (1925), and Raymond Chandler’s “Trouble Is My Business” (1939) adapt their detectives to a new harsh reality of urban life. In “hard-boiled” works, the detective is more realistic than the detective in “golden age” works according to

Edgar Allan Poe, famous literary critic and American poet, most known for his short stories on horror. He changed the writing game for everyone by creating a new genre of writing. His talent led him to be known as the “father of the detective story”. Poe’s short stories attracted readers from all over, all while his life was a mystery.

Raymond Chandler was known to be one of the most prominent writers that revolved around the novel writing of detective fiction. Writing crime stories would not be as advanced today without his literary contribution to American style literature. His most famous novel, “The Big Sleep,” established a highly prestigious artistic level; he would go on to forever change how detective fiction novels affected society, and how people view society from their own understanding. He introduced an aspect that would question the approach of his article, “The Simple Art of Murder,” in which he preaches and criticizes the authors who he believes are not disciplined enough to write a mystery novel, by questioning their lack of detail and knowledge about the antagonist and the insubordinate movement of the plot itself. As he goes on to create one of the most influential novels of his time, he does not take the time to question his own masterpiece, believing that he exhibits the appropriate amount of knowledge and detail to write an influential mystery novel.

In many a television series, nonstandard language is used for the purpose of conveying specific ideas or emotions to the viewer. In many cases, though, the language creates confusion if those watching the show do not understand certain words or phrases. However, the use of nonstandard language is particularly effective in the show Sherlock. This mystery series features examples of idioms, phrases that cannot be taken literally. This helps add to the show's overall theme and mood.

Throughout mystery genre books there is a feeling given off to the readers. Feelings that can be stimulated by what is happening or even the kind of people that are around in a specific scene. However the most influential is the geographical setting of the story. This allows the author to create suspense and allow the readers to think or react in any way from feeling fear to wanting to know more about the situation. All of this is done by the fact that the geographical setting can create the mood, imagery and as stated before suspense. One series of mysterious stories that use the geographical setting to play a role in the mysterious feeling is “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes” by Arthur Conan Doyle. Arthur Conan Doyle uses the setting to

One of the most renowned authors throughout history is Edgar Allan Poe. Poe is still considered even today as one of the greatest authors. Poe was able to write in such a way that he even created a new genre of writings: the Detective Genre. But how does Poe do it? How is Poe able to think of something so abnormal? Well as it turns out, Poe’s literature

Arthur Conan Doyle’s legacy rests heavily on one Victorian creation: the character of Sherlock Holmes. Holmes's attitude of intelligence and originality continues to keep fans inclined and fascinated ever since the Victorian era. Holmes persists as remakes and reincarnations of the Sherlock character keep the mastermind relevant. While the modernization of Sherlock creates a personal connection between the reader and Sherlock in “A Scandal in Belgravia,” the BBC adaptation dilutes Sherlock’s character from a distinguished genius to a mere detective.

     In crafting the detective mystery, Edgar Allan Poe is the only author credited with inventing a new genre of literature. His contribution of this brand of story telling greatly influences writers to this day. “The Purloined Letter” is the final tale in the trilogy of the clever and cunning amateur detective, C. Auguste Dupin. In this story, The Prefect of the Parisian police calls upon Dupin to aid in an investigation that has baffled and frustrated the police. Dupin finds a worthy adversary in the antagonst, Minister D_. Dupin must identify with the mind of the criminal in order to retrieve a stolen letter and return it to its rightful