(1) Combining social crimes with political systems and moral concepts. Conan Doyle's detective stories reflect the problems existing in British society from many aspects. The Study of Blood Characters and sign of four reveal the British invasion and plunder of India. The Bruce-Partington Plan reflects the espionage cases in Europe. The Hound of the Baskerville and Six Busts of Napoleon all involve seeking money for life, doing evil and committing crimes, and other criminal phenomena, such as extortion, adultery, treachery, greed, arrogance and intrigue, are all related to the darkness of the political system and the corruption of moral concepts. Conan Doyle also reveals various loopholes and irrationalities in the law and the police. Because these works propagate humanitarianism, retribution of good and evil, and the idealistic viewpoint of "the justice of heaven is long, but not leaking", they are undoubtedly widely welcomed by readers, and also fully show Conan Doyle's progressive outlook on life and the social significance of his works.
(2) created a distinctive literary model. Conan Doyle's works successfully express the viewpoint that "literature is human studies". Sherlock Holmes, written by him, is a flesh-and-blood private detective, who lives in British society with his feet on the ground. He is the descendant of a squire, and his grandmother is the sister of the French painter Horace Verne. He likes life in the country, likes to take carriages or trains familiar to the British, and often haunts the fog in London. He reads the Daily Telegraph every day. His appearance is unique. He is proficient in chemistry and anatomy, obsessed with horror novels, can play the violin, likes smoking a pipe, and is good at fencing and boxing, and is familiar with law and geology. He relies on cocaine to get pleasure when he has not received a case. His knowledge of astronomy, philosophy and modern literature is almost zero. These descriptions make readers feel that this detective is not a god, but an ordinary and special figure living in the real world. In The Study of Blood Characters, Conan Doyle makes Holmes' thinking take a wrong turn. In The Yellow Face, Holmes made a judgment mistake. On the contrary, these descriptions make this artistic model more authentic and credible. And that Dr. Watson, too, is very suitable for his identity, and his wrong judgment in the case has set off Holmes' unexpected events. In "sign of four", Dr. Watson was afraid to make love to Miss Morstan because she had millions of inheritance. When the treasure fell into the river, Dr. Watson decisively expressed his love for Miss Morstan, which fully showed Dr. Watson's noble character and honest man. Holmes' opponents are various, including hypocritical gentlemen, vicious criminals, eccentric perverts and schemers, and their criminal tactics are never the same. One of the most dangerous opponents is Professor moriarty, who uses wisdom to commit crimes, and there is a huge underworld organization behind him. But Holmes is not afraid, and would rather die with the other side than let the criminals go. "The Last Case" shows Holmes' fearless spirit, so it is no wonder that readers should protest loudly after reading that Holmes fell into the rapids with criminals. The hero in your heart can't just die. In Conan Doyle's works, there are also monkeys committing crimes and hounds committing crimes. The plot of jaguar's anger adds to the thrilling color and interest of the work, and deeply criticizes the people behind the scenes who manipulate these animals to commit crimes. As for the other characters in the book, those kind and innocent people also left a deep impression on the readers. Their fate held the readers' heartstrings until they finally saved the day and the criminals were caught, so that the stones in the readers' hearts could fall to the ground. It can be seen how lifelike the characters in his works are.
(3) created the rigorous structure of detective stories. The most common failure of detective novels is that the case seems magical, but it lacks logical reasoning. There are often "ingenious pens", which makes readers feel that the case is not credible in the aftertaste. And Conan Doyle's 7 detective stories are all based on logical reasoning. He is good at laying the groundwork in conception and layout, making the whole story more tortuous, bizarre and fascinating. Some incredible plots, once the truth is revealed, will be interpreted according to logical reasoning, and you will find that the author is unexpected and charming in layout. In writing, it is not a single line development, but several lines. Several suspects interweave with each other, enter the climax in suspense and uncover the mystery in the climax, so it is very convincing. For example, the mystery of "The Hunting of Baskerville" was exposed because Holmes paid attention to investigation and study; Another example is The Dancer, in which Holmes cracked a strange code. Another example is The Second Blood, where Holmes found the key to solving the case from the movement of the carpet. These seemingly ordinary details, in fact, are a powerful expression of Holmes' meticulous observation and rich imagination. These descriptions have made clever preparations for strict conception. Therefore, Conan Doyle's detective novels are not only unique in literature, but also apply science to the field of literature and serve the theme and conception of literature. Expanded the content of detective novels, and objectively expanded the knowledge for readers.
(4) In terms of plot and language, it has formed a unique style of detective novels. When reading Conan Doyle's novels, what attracts readers at first is the bizarre and mysterious feelings. Almost every case is incredible, and in the development of the case. There are many changes, which are dizzying. Some plots in sign of four and The Hound of the Baskerville are breathless with tension, and the murderer appears vaguely, which makes readers sweat for Sherlock Holmes. This kind of expression technique has achieved a rock-breaking artistic effect, and we cannot but admire Conan Doyle's ability to control the story. In terms of language, Conan Doyle is quite mature and sophisticated. His writing is concise and fluent, and his explanation is delicate without procrastination. The dialogue in the book is tightly tied to the center, putting some flaws and doubts in front of the readers skillfully, and misleading the readers' thinking with confusing plots. This literary technique can be said to have successfully created the basic pattern of detective stories, and also formed the unique style of Conan Doyle's detective stories. Conan Doyle not only showed Holmes' success, but also wrote his mistakes. While writing his cheerful and humorous side, he also wrote his loneliness and indifference. Conan Doyle also introduced sociology, pathology, geology and ethnology into detective art, showing the sociality, scientificity and literariness of detective novels.
Because of this, Conan Doyle became a master of detective stories. Due to the readers' favor of his works, the remuneration of Conan Doyle's works reached the highest level of literary remuneration at that time, which was much higher than that of pure literary novelists of his time. An American publishing house was willing to buy 1, words of The Hound of the Baskerville for $5,, and the remuneration of 5 dollars per thousand words was a sky-high price at that time. However, a British magazine bought Conan Doyle's copyright for 1 pounds per thousand words, which was a miracle in the British publishing industry at that time. It can be seen that detective novels were so popular at that time.
Conan Doyle initiated the era of detective stories, and his contribution to detective stories is immeasurable. However, there are some shortcomings in his works. These shortcomings can be discussed from three aspects.
First of all, the background of Conan Doyle's detective novels is the upper aristocratic society. The victim of Silver Horse is a colonel; The dead man in The Humpback is also a colonel: The protagonist in The Musgrave Rite is a nobleman, and The Second Blood and The Case of the Crown Jewel are the prime ministers and ministers. Most of these people who turned to Holmes were nobles and capitalists with status and status, and many of the perpetrators and criminals were nobles and celebrities. Therefore, Holmes is a private detective in the upper class. This can be analyzed from the social situation in Britain at that time, because people who can afford private detectives cannot be ordinary civilians. Of course, Holmes can only serve them. Conan Doyle himself is a private doctor, and most of the people he contacts are upper class, which has laid an indelible mark on his creation.
Secondly, judging from the 7 detective novels written by Conan Doyle, only three novellas with 1, words, most of which are short stories, are not enough to express the capacity of crime literature. Due to the limited space, the plot of the crime can be clearly explained, but the description of the psychological activities of the crime is not delicate enough. The key to solving the case is often a certain detail, and there is a lack of in-depth description of the ins and outs of the intertwined cases. Too many detective stories will make people feel unsatisfied. This is because most of Conan Doyle's detective stories are written for magazines, and short stories of about 1 thousand words are more suitable for magazine publication. In contrast, Conan Doyle's three novellas, especially sign of four and The Hound of the Baskerville, are more popular with readers. Unfortunately, novellas are too few in Conan Doyle's whole creation.
Thirdly, many detective novels of Conan Doyle (especially his later works) are written with a kind of contingency, and the coincidence of plot becomes a pattern, while the explanation of background is often brushed aside. Only The Hound of Baskerville deals with the deep-seated crimes of criminals better, and the other short stories are a little vague to read. If we read Japanese mystery novels and then Sherlock Holmes' detective novels, we will find that the gap between them is obvious. Of course, we can't be hard on Conan Doyle's works in the pioneering period of detective novels.
In a word, Conan Doyle has created a new situation and creative approach for detective novels. As for how to improve and develop it, it needs the concerted efforts of later writers. Conan Doyle's creation has influenced agatha christie, Maurice Le Blanc, Seicho Matsumoto and Seiichi Morimura. In their creation, they all draw lessons from their crime mode and solving mode intentionally or unintentionally, and add new contents according to their background, thus making detective novels really mature and developed. For this, Conan Doyle's achievements are obvious to all.
The era of Sherlock Holmes is far away from us, but Sherlock Holmes' detective experience and methods still have certain reference significance, which not only gives us literary enlightenment, but also plays a role in the judicial field. Some police schools in Europe and America often choose Sherlock Holmes' case-solving cases for students to learn and use as examination questions. Sherlock Holmes pays attention to the spirit of investigation and the story of handling cases, which has become a learning content of the police school. Being a contemporary Sherlock Holmes has become a slogan of police in various countries, which may be unexpected for a detective novelist.
If Conan Doyle initiated the first golden age of detective stories, then Christie is the representative of the second golden age in the history of detective stories in the world. An analysis of her detective novel art can help us understand the new style of this literary magician.
(1) agatha christie is a literary magician first. Her works are very distinctive in layout and plot. As soon as the work is opened, there are many doubts and wonders, which makes readers confused and curious. Emily, a rich widow who was over 7 years old in her debut novel mysterious affair at styles, suddenly fell in love with Alfred, the cousin of the manor housekeeper, and married this man who was 2 years younger than her, which caused dissatisfaction and hostility between Mrs. Emily's son and relatives. Then Mrs. Emily died suddenly, and the cause of death was taking poison, so a murder case was presented to the readers. The detective novel "Witness to the Murder" wrote that Mrs. Mike Gilica was sightseeing on the train and happened to find that a tall man with his back to himself strangled a woman alive on another train. The Mysterious Disappearance of Bankers writes that Mr. Dai Wenhan, a famous financier, went out for a walk on a weekend afternoon, but he disappeared mysteriously, and someone stole huge stocks from his safe. "Mysterious Villa" describes that the young and beautiful Miss Gwenda Reed bought a small Victorian villa after her marriage. When decorating the house, she found a series of incredible strange things. The layout and decoration in the villa were almost exactly the same as what she had originally imagined. These opening descriptions make people feel that the peaks are protruding and flying from the sky, which has aroused the readers' strong interest, so you are trapped in one cake after another under Christie's proposal. Then, Christie used a new trick. In the ups and downs of the plot, everyone is a murderer, and there are mazes everywhere. When you just dimly realize that someone is a murderer, Christie's pen turns and makes you doubt your own judgment. Your conclusion is rejected again and again, and the murderer standing in the fog always makes you confused. Miss Rinnet ridgway, who wrote about the tragedy on the Nile, married Saimon Dole, the lover of her girlfriend Jacqueline. When they started traveling on the Nile in a gorgeous tourist boat, Rinnet was suddenly killed. The murderer can be eight passengers on board, all of whom have the possibility and motive to commit crimes. Murder happened again and again, but one suspect after another was denied. When readers first read this novel, they were caught by Christie's magical structure, and the result was a big accident. Saimon Dole and Miss Jacqueline, who had no time to commit crimes, were the real murderers. Lione, an 85-year-old businessman, was poisoned to death in Deformed House. This murder case involved his son, granddaughter, sister of his first wife, and his widow ... In short, everyone could be a murderer. These confusing plots cast a mysterious veil on the murder case. "The Mystery of Golf Course" describes the murder of monopoly paul reynaud. The deceased had an affair with several women before his death, and there was a mysterious man around his wife. The plot was complicated. In a word, readers can't stop reading Christie's works, and they can't guess what medicine is sold in Christie's gourd when they stare at her closely. When the reader is a little careless, she will surprise you. This magical magician is very familiar with the knowledge of history and geography. She also worked in a hospital during the two world wars, and she has a good knowledge of drugs (especially poisons), which also provides conditions for Christie to design a murderer to commit crimes. Clever Christie regards murder as an intellectual guessing game, which makes readers fall into a maze without distinguishing things. After the truth comes out, she has to admire her meticulous analysis and lament her lack of thinking ability.
(2) agatha christie is a psychologist. Each of her detective novels is a clever use of psychology in literature. There are countless "grey cells" in Poirot's mind, which is the factor of the short detective's scientific reasoning about everyone's psychological action. Poirot is good at comprehensively analyzing each other's clothing, manners, hobbies, experiences and outlook on life, and then making logical reasoning. Poirot has hardly fought any murderer. He is always slow and leisurely, like an experienced old cat observing a group of playful mice, finding out which "mouse" committed the crime and bringing it to justice. Miss Ma Puer, another female detective in Christie's works, is an old girl who loves to make trouble on the surface. Her nickname is "Old Cat". In fact, Miss Ma Puer uses idle talk to reason. She always associates irrelevant gossip with intentional murder and peeps into it through some details and unusual behavior of criminals.