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4.Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s writing career and the stories of Sherlock Holmes
Doyle began writing a detective novel, A Tangled Skein, in 1886. After two years, the novel has retitled A Study of Scarlet and published in Beeton's Christmas Annual. The novel, with its most famous detective character Sherlock Holmes, brought him great fame. In 1887, Doyle published two letters about his conversion to Spiritism in a weekly magazine.
From 1887 to 1916 Doyle was an active participant in the Spiritist movement. The books he wrote during this time are The Stark Munro Letters, Beyond the City and A Duet with an Occasional Chorus. He also wrote historical novels, particularly about the Napoleonic Wars. These novels include The Great Shadow and Rodney Stone. During the 1890s and 1890s, Doyle also wrote his four most famous novels about Sherlock Holmes. These are The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, The Sign of the Four, The Hound of Baskerville, and The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes. Arthur Doyle also wrote several works to spread his faith during the first two decades of the 20th century. These works include The New Revolution, History of Spiritualism, The Vital Message, and The Wanderings of a Spiritualist.⁸
In 1928 Doyle published a collection of stories about Sherlock Homes entitled The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes. Doyle was diagnosed with early-stage angina pectoris; however, he refused to follow the doctors' orders. In 1929 he went to the Netherlands to devote himself to spiritualism. When he returned home, he had severe chest pains. After that, he was bedridden in Crowborough, England. On July 7, 1930, Doyle died of a heart attack.
Sir Arthur Conan has written more than a hundred works, and his work is best known for his Sherlock Holmes detective stories and a variety of other works. He is famous for his creativity and distinctive style. Doyle regularly uses imagery, metaphor, and analogy throughout his work. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's influence stems from his ability to use literary devices, plan narrative development, create engaging dialogue, and provoke terror and intrigue among readers. He uses his devices as turning points in detail. Therefore, the story and the plot depend solely on these devices and techniques. Eighteenth-century author Arthur Conan Doyle has much to teach about writing a novel that focuses on horror, detective stories, science fiction, and historical fiction.
Arthur Conan's writing style may seem modern because the language he used in his writing was ahead of his time. Compared to the diction of his contemporaries, Doyle's language is somewhat native as he made his work available to a large audience. However, Doyle's style is not elementary. He is an expert in the simultaneous use of multiple literary devices, even in the same sentence. His novel The Lost World is the best example of the use of a variety of literary equipments.
When describing the characters, Doyle first refers to them as dangerous, and they employ sarcasm for creating humour. For example, stunted Hercules. His style has an elegant rhythm that makes the long sentences flowery. He uses alterations at the end of sentences with a satisfying arrangement of syllables.
The style of Doyle is usually described as “too literary” or flowery.” However, in the series of Sherlock Holmes, his verbosity is associated with the plot. Using the mouse piece of Sherlock Holmes, Doyle defends his style. In the novel “The Sign of Four,” Holmes says: “It is simplicity itself, so absurdly simple that an explanation is superfluous; and yet it may serve to define the limits of observation and deduction.”
Another narrative technique of Doyle is to use Watson as a narrator and voice in the head of readers. The question and assumptions made by Watson are the ones that any clever readers might be asking while reading the detective stories. The narrative of Sherlock makes the plot less predictable and challenges the mind of readers. Doyle does not want his readers to feel clear or outwit him by assuming the story before its end; however, he does allow them to participate in the story by their assumptions. Doyle also uses the stories' descriptions and details for dialogue and explores the plot and characters. In the novel The Poison Belt there is an exciting exchange of dialogue between Professor Challenger and Lord John. In the novel, Doyle does not seem to have intended Summerlee to be portrayed as an innocent person; however, it depicts him as a serious entertainer. Likewise, he does not intend to show Lord Lee as an irritable old man. His narration of dialogue exemplifies Doyle's mastery of fictional dialogue.
It is conceivable that the plots of his stories illustrate Doyle's legacy, which captivates readers. The themes and subjects he deals with demonstrating his ability to discern the horrors and wonders of everyday life. His works have been adapted to the works of contemporary writers.
Doyle's first three Sherlock Holmes novels exemplify his style of writing throughout his works. These novels demonstrate his use of style and literary devices. The technique of the novels and other works remains the same throughout his works, although the subject, setting, and villains' discrepancy.
A Study in Scarlet, The Hound of the Baskervilles and The Sign of Four are the first three Sherlock Holmes novels. From a story perspective, these novels are completely different from each other. However, there are striking similarities in style and technique. One of the most obvious techniques Arthur Conan Doyle employs is the all-encompassing use of adjectives to provide detailed information to the reader. Doyle's description of the setting allows the reader to envision the exact setting as described by the narrator and easily expose themselves to the environment. Holmes' narratives are linear, and Watson provides details of the events. There is a first-person perspective. While telling the story, Watson leaves no details, usually in a mysterious way, foreshadowing the plot's upcoming events. The mystery unfolds as the storyline progresses, and characters and events are revealed step by step, and in the end the criminal confesses.⁹
The novels are told in the past tense; However, the narrative is intentionally anticipatory and suspicious. Only the details are given by Watson that he knows, leaving readers to wait for the "big reveal" at the end of the story. Gathering a lot of detail gives Watson a stronghold of the narrative. Apparently he places his information directly in the scene.
For example, in the novel The Hound of the Baskervilles, the narrator says that his journey was smooth and pleasant, he had spent it to make close association with his two companions and playing with the dog (spaniel) of Dr. Mortimer. The narrator (Watson) continues to say that in a few hours, the earth had turned ruddy, the brick had turned into granite, and in a well-hedged field, the red cows gazed; the lush green grasses and more luxuriant vegetation advocates the richer and damper climate. 
As already described, the Sherlock Holmes novels deal with completely different subjects; However, they follow the same pattern in style and technique. Doyle's narrator, Watson, in recounting the adventures, also draws on his time and its shortcomings by including them in his narrative.
At the end of the 19th century the population of London increased massively. This increase in population contributed a lot to the cultural change. Overpopulation and poverty led to slums and compartments of perverted places and people. Conan speaks about these themes in his works, particularly in his novel The Study of Scarlet, in which the villain or antagonist was a lower-class citizen. The Sherlock Holmes stories also depict the culture of the Victorian era, which makes the stories more appealing to the readers. No doubt Doyle added these details on purpose. He wants to increase the popularity of his work. The same method was used by other authors of his time, such as Dickens. By using this method, terrible conditions of people are subtly described.
The key element of Sherlock Holmes's stories is mysterious characterizations and locations. Doyle introduces his characters in steps and stages. As the plot develops and mysterious events unfold, the characters are also portrayed in more detail. With the establishment of the detective story method, Conan alone created a completely new genre in English literature.¹⁰
It changes the technique of storytelling with its rich detail and logic. Sherlock Holmes' attention and observation to observation and logic add significant solidity to the story. For example, in the novel The Sign of Four, Sherlock Holmes Watson reveals his science of logic and reasoning that he assumed by his logic that he had visited the post office that morning, while his reasoning tells him that he sent a telegram from there. Sherlock Holmes says so
... the simplicity itself is so ridiculously simple that the explanation seems overkill and could serve to show the limits of deduction and observation. It is his observation that tells him there was little reddish mould clinging to your step upon entering. Directly opposite Wigmore Street Office, the buildings have removed the payment and put some earth in its place. The earth lies in such a way that no one can avoid stepping on it. Earth has a specific reddish colour not found anywhere else in its vicinity. That's my observation. No deduction. As I sat across from you in the morning, I know you didn't write a letter. Also, sheets of stamps and postcards were lying on your open deck, so there is no way for you to get them. They went to the post office to send a wire transfer and I'm pulling it out, ruling out all other options.
Doyle pays extreme attention to the characters and details of his stories, proving to be a major theme in his works. He added significantly additional detail to the logic demonstrated by Sherlock Holmes.¹¹
Sir Arthur Conan was an influential writer who set a new trend in English literature. He displayed innumerable literary styles and techniques. It is a challenge to report on his writing skills based on selected works. The individual storylines of the stories of Sherlock Holmes and Watson are well known; far more famous, however, are the relationships between the characters and their distinctive capacities. The universe of Sherlock Holmes is created with innumerable descriptions, metaphors, conflicts, and elements of foreshadowing. All these means were used to keep the reader's interest in perfect balance and also to redefine the crime novel genre.