Synthia Kainath Nur
It is nearly impossible to find someone who has not heard of Sherlock Holmes, the fictional private detective. Whether you came across Sherlock through books, shows or films, you have surely experienced the adventures of the brilliant investigator one way or another.
Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle was a Scottish physician and writer most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, which are generally considered a major innovation in the field of crime fiction. He was also known for writing the adventures of Professor Challenger and was a prolific writer whose other works include science fiction stories, historical novels, plays and romances, poetry, and non-fiction.
After graduating from school, he studied to become a physician. During his medical studies, he began to write fiction and he even managed to get his short stories published. After finishing his studies, he opened up his own medical practice, but did not find much success with the profession.
Interestingly, he soon took up writing again while waiting for his limited number of patients. During this time, he struggled to find a publisher for his stories. In 1886, he sold his first work featuring Sherlock Holmes and John Watson, titled ‘A Study in Scarlet’. It was the first of four novels and more than fifty short stories he eventually wrote about the duo of Holmes and Dr Watson.
Doyle later revealed that he had modeled is brilliant detective after his university professor Joseph Bell. He said that he wanted to create a character that would solve crimes using his own intelligence, rather than using the mistakes of the criminal. The demand for Sherlock Holmes stories became so high that publishers were willing to pay him any amount, thus making him one of the best-paid authors of his time.
Despite the enduring fame of Sherlock Holmes, Doyle did not limit himself to write about him only. He wrote many other short stories and historical fiction novels. In 1893, he decided to take up serious writing and killed off Holmes in the story ‘The Final Problem’. However, his fans could not endure the death of their beloved character. The public outcries eventually made Doyle bring the detective back to life in ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles.’
Doyle was also an ardent campaigner of social justice. Throughout his life, he worked hard to correct so many injustices that he encountered. Doyle passed away of a heart attack and his last words were to his wife, “You are wonderful.”
Doyle is considered one of the revolutionary thinkers of deductive reasoning, which is relevant till today. The man behind Sherlock Holmes was never limited to his magnum opus. The character of Sherlock Holmes, of course, lives on, and appears in films right down to the present day.
