Sherlock Holmes and the Whitechapel Murders

[mklhawley]

Greetings,

I have a question. Since Arthur Conan Doyle created the character, Sherlock Holmes, one year before the Whitechapel murders, would it be safe to assume these murders may have influenced the popularity of the Sherlock Holmes mysteries. If the population was in fear of an unknown killer, reading a fictional character who always solves the case might have helped calm fears. A mondern day example is the TV series 24. The post 9/11 twin towers incident made this show ripe for an eager audience. Am I way off?

Sincerely,

Mike

[The Grave Maurice]

I hadn't thought of it in that way before. Holmes was, of course, popular from his first appearance in Beeton's Christmas Annual and remained so, even with a considerable hiatus, for all his appearances in The Strand and in book form. I'm not sure that the Whitechapel murders had any influence on the success of the stories which owed more, I think, to crisply-written plots and well-defined characters, and that they were, if you'll excuse the expression, ripping good yarns.

[Archaic]

The History of the Detective Novel

Hi Mike; interesting question.

Thought you might enjoy this article by William Marling, PhD. on the development of the detective novel.

Here's the beginning of his essay 'An Overview of the Detective Novel':

"The Detective novel has always been related to public interest in the problems of modern, urban life, particularly in crime. But crime as a feature of Western social life was not generally recognized until the rise of large cities in the early 1800s, a period that corresponds to the creation of a mass reading public. Fascinated by and afraid of crime, new city-dwellers vilified and romanticized criminals, as well as those who fought them.

The first writing on urban crime pretended to be documentary, but it was filled with archetypes and plots from preceding fiction, particularly the gothic novel. The idea of detection and the figure of the detective that would eventually stand at the center of the genre were introduced in the early nineteenth century by a Frenchman, Francois-Eugene Vidocq in his 'Memoirs of Vidocq'."

Website Detnovel.com with many additional links on left-hand side: http://www.detnovel.com/

Best regards,
Archaic

[Gman992]

There's a scene I'm writing in my JtR story where the Detective's of H Division are so upset at ACDoyle's portrayal of Scotland Yard in his stories that one of the detectives throws it onto a fire...


and about "24," doesn't everybody here wish that they had the Cellphone company that Jack Bauer has?

[Adam Went]

That's actually a pretty good suggestion. I've just recently been reading some of Conan Doyle's stories about Holmes and I have to admit they are quite fascinating even today.....there was quite a public outcry at a later time when Doyle tried to kill off Holmes, and he had to be brought back, such was the public interest in the character. I've read stories of locals eagerly awaiting the arrival of the newest issue of "The Strand" and Holmes's latest adventures, and would read them in the street. Some of the stories were set around Victorian London as well....so you never know. It could definitely have played a part. The people were surely smart enough to seperate fact from fiction, though.

Cheers,
Adam.

[belinda]

I remember reading somewhere that Conan Doyle was asked how Sherlock Holmes would have caught the killer and Conan Doyle did give a description of how Holmes would have done it. I can't remember where I read it though

[Steven Russell]

Dear Belinda,
Doyle's idea was to circulate facsimiles of the Dear Boss letter in the hope that someone could identify the handwriting which is, of course, exactly what the police did. He also had a theory that the killer may have been a midwife or someone disguised as such. This would make the bloodstains easily explainable.

As I surmised elsewhere, I wonder if Doyle's use of the bloodhound, Toby, in The Sign of Four was influenced by the Barnaby and Burgho incident. Toby had a decided advantage over B&B in that his quarry was leaving a trail of creosote.

Best wishes,

Steve.

[Celesta]

Hi Mike; interesting question.

Thought you might enjoy this article by William Marling, PhD. on the development of the detective novel.

Here's the beginning of his essay 'An Overview of the Detective Novel':

"The Detective novel has always been related to public interest in the problems of modern, urban life, particularly in crime. But crime as a feature of Western social life was not generally recognized until the rise of large cities in the early 1800s, a period that corresponds to the creation of a mass reading public. Fascinated by and afraid of crime, new city-dwellers vilified and romanticized criminals, as well as those who fought them.

The first writing on urban crime pretended to be documentary, but it was filled with archetypes and plots from preceding fiction, particularly the gothic novel. The idea of detection and the figure of the detective that would eventually stand at the center of the genre were introduced in the early nineteenth century by a Frenchman, Francois-Eugene Vidocq in his 'Memoirs of Vidocq'."

Website Detnovel.com with many additional links on left-hand side: http://www.detnovel.com/

Best regards,
Archaic

In addition to this, Archie, Kate Summerscale has a very interesting book out titled The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher, about the Constance Kent murder. According to Summerscale, this case ramped-up the public's fascination with detectives and detective stories. The real-life Kent case became the prototype for the country house mystery novel and other modern mysteries. Much of the country was caught up in detective fever. However the notion of a detective investigating the murder in a middle class family home was not at all palatable to the Victorians, who believed their home was the ultimate sanctuary. For this reason, the tide soon turned against detectives. This all occurred in 1860 and shortly afterward. Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins, and other writers were caught up in the detective fervor. This aspect of the book was a bonus, as I wasn't expecting a discussion of the development of the detective story. The police detective, Mr Whicher, was one of the earliest Met detectives and he had a very record. The case was a difficult one for him because he was called in so late after the murder and a number of the locals resisted his investigation.

[mklhawley]

I knew I would not be disappointed asking this question. To me, it sounds like the perfect storm, high quality writing during the Victorian Age just when the killings took place.

Sincerely,

Mike

[Doug Irvine]

Edgar Allan Poe took a stab (I know bad pun), at solving the murder of Mary Rogers, a New York cigar girl, in The Mystery of Mary Roget. A movie is being made about it starring Joaquin Phoenix as Edgar Allan Poe.

http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/notorious_murders/classics/mary_rogers/6.html

[Tom_Wescott]

A better question would be 'Did Sherlock Holmes influence the Ripper'? As writer, Jeffrey Bloomfield, pointed out years ago, in a 'Study in Scarlet', appearing in 1887, Holmes investigates a strange, unintelligible graffiti upon a wall. Next year we get the Goulston Street graffito.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[Archaic]

'Study In Scarlet' & Goulston Street Graffittio

Hi Tom. Thanks for mentioning this point, it's fascinating.

Do you happen to know if Jeffrey Bloomfield (or anyone else) wrote an essay on this subject? If so I'd like to read it.

Thanks and best regards,
Archaic

[Tom_Wescott]

Yes, Bloomfield wrote up a short piece in Camille Wolff's anthology of Ripper essays. The name completely skips me at the moment.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[Celesta]

For those who are new to the site and may not know yet, Jeff is a member of the site and is known as Mayerling. He's a great one to ask about history, as Tom points out.

[mattwill]

A better question would be 'Did Sherlock Holmes influence the Ripper'? As writer, Jeffrey Bloomfield, pointed out years ago, in a 'Study in Scarlet', appearing in 1887, Holmes investigates a strange, unintelligible graffiti upon a wall. Next year we get the Goulston Street graffito.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

The Holmes Are The Men That Will Not Be Blamed For Nothing

(well, James Kelly did take up the violin)