福爾摩斯之父

“I think of slaying Holmes…and winding him up for good and all. He takes my mind from better things.我考慮殺掉福爾摩斯……把他干掉，一了百了。他占據(jù)了我太多的時(shí)間。”

Arthur Conan Doyle

因?yàn)閯?chuàng)造了福爾摩斯而名留青史的阿瑟·柯南·道爾真正的夢想是成為一位嚴(yán)肅文學(xué)作家，但正是這些偵探小說確立了他在文學(xué)史上作為偵探小說鼻祖無可爭議的地位。

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle （1859—1930） was born in Edinburgh， Scotland. He studied to be a doctor at the University of Edinburgh and set up a small practice[醫(yī)務(wù)所] at Southsea in Hampshire during his 20s. While the practice proved largely unsuccessful， the lack of patients provided him with the opportunity to create possibly the most popular character ever introduced in the history of fiction—Sherlock Holmes.

While at university， Conan Doyle had been greatly influenced by Joseph Bell， one of his professors. Bell was an expert in the use of deductive[推論的，演繹的] reasoning to diagnose[診斷] disease. Conan Doyle was so impressed that he used these same principles when creating his famous detective.

Sherlock Holmes was introduced in A Study in Scarlet （1887）， followed by A Sign of Four in 1890， but didn’t really take hold of the public’s imagination until Strand Magazine， newly founded in 1890， published a series of short stories called The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. From that point on the public couldn’t get enough of Holmes and his always reliable[可信賴的] confidant[心腹朋友]， John H. Watson， a retired military doctor.

Residing in London at 221B Baker Street， Holmes’s character and personality set him apart from all others. “Holmes， with his keen sense of observation， his lean[瘦的] face and hooked nose， his long legs， his deerstalker[護(hù)耳軟獵帽] hat， his magnifying glass， and his ever—present pipe， caught the reader’s imagination.” （The Literature of Crime and Detection）

Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson from 1891 to 1893， Strand Magazine published stories featuring Holmes and Watson， all avidly[熱心地] followed by the public. When， in The Final Problem（1893） Holmes and his longtime nemesis[給以報(bào)應(yīng)者]， Professor Moriarty， are killed off， the public outcry[大聲疾呼] was so great， Conan Doyle was forced to bring him back to life. He continued the exploits of Holmes and Watson nine years later in The Hound of the Baskervilles （1902）.

More novels and short stories appeared to the delight of Conan Doyle’s fans until The Case—Book of Sherlock Holmes（1927）， the last to feature the brilliant sleuth[偵探].

Sherlock Holmes is without doubt one of the most beloved figures in the history of mystery fiction. Conan Doyle’s works were made into several stage plays and feature films. In all， Holmes and Watson were featured in four novels and 56 short stories.

Despite the success of his most famous character， throughout his life Conan Doyle sought to escape the Sherlock Holmes phenomenon[現(xiàn)象] and concentrate[集中] on writing about his other interests. Although he was never completely successful due to the intense popularity of Holmes， he was knighted [授以爵位] for his nonfiction work on the Boer War注 and also wrote other works such as The Lost Worl（1912） and The White Company （1891）.

The Man Who Inspired the Character of Sherlock Holmes Was Sherlock Holmes a real person？ Not exactly， but Dr. Joseph Bell， the man who inspired the character of Sherlock Holmes shared many qualities with the famous detective.

Conan Doyle met Dr. Bell in 1877 at the University of Edinburgh Medical School. Conan Doyle was studying to be a doctor and Bell was one of his professors.

Bell was 39 years old when Conan Doyle first attended one of his lectures. He is said to have walked with a jerk[急跳的] kind of a step that communicated great energy. His nose and chin were angula[有角的] and his eyes twinkled with shrewdness[精明，機(jī)靈]. In addition to being a brilliant doctor， Bell was also an amateur[業(yè)余的] poet， a sportsman and a bird—watcher.

By the end of Conan Doyle’s second year， Bell had selected him to serve as an assistant in his ward[病房]. This gave Conan Doyle the opportunity to view Dr. Bell’s remarkable ability to quickly deduce[推論，演繹出] a great deal about a patient.

Dr. Bell observed the way a person moved. The walk of a sailor varied vastly from that of a solider. If he identified[識別] a person as a sailor， he would look for any tattoos that might assist him in knowing where their travels had taken them. He trained himself to listen for small differences in his patient’s accents to help him identify where they were from. Bell studied the hands of his patients because calluses[老繭] or other marks could help him determine their occupation[職業(yè)].

So while Conan Doyle went on to write about Sherlock Holmes， he played Dr. Watson， at least for awhile， to his professor.

阿瑟·柯南·道爾爵士（1859—1930）出生于蘇格蘭的愛丁堡。他在愛丁堡大學(xué)學(xué)醫(yī)，，二十多歲時(shí)到漢普郡的紹斯西開了一家小診所。他的診所不大成功，來看病的人很少，這使他有機(jī)會(huì)創(chuàng)作出也許是小說史上最受歡迎的人物—— 歇洛克·福爾摩斯。

讀大學(xué)時(shí)，柯南·道爾深受其中一位教授約瑟夫·貝爾的影響。貝爾擅長利用演繹推理診斷疾病，這給柯南·道爾留下了極為深刻的印象，以至于他用同樣的原理去創(chuàng)作那位著名的偵探。

在1887年發(fā)表的《血字的研究》里，歇洛克·福爾摩斯首次露面，接著又出現(xiàn)在1890年的《四簽名》里。但是，直到1890年新創(chuàng)辦的《海濱雜志》刊登了名為《冒險(xiǎn)史》的系列短篇故事之后，這個(gè)角色才真正引起了公眾的關(guān)注。從此，福爾摩斯和他永遠(yuǎn)可靠的密友——退休軍醫(yī)約翰·H·華生開始風(fēng)靡大眾。

住在倫敦貝克街221號B的福爾摩斯從角色到個(gè)性都與眾不同。“他那敏銳的觀察力、削瘦的臉頰和鷹鉤鼻、長腿、獵鹿帽、放大鏡，還有永遠(yuǎn)少不了的煙斗，緊緊抓住了讀者的想象力。”（《犯罪與偵探文學(xué)》）

歇洛克·福爾摩斯和華生醫(yī)生從1891到1893年，《海濱雜志》刊登的以福爾摩斯和華生為主角的故事受到了大眾的熱烈追捧。在1893年的《最后一案》里，福爾摩斯和他長期以來的死對頭——莫里亞蒂教授同歸于盡。公眾對此表示了強(qiáng)烈抗議，以致柯南·道爾不得不讓福爾摩斯復(fù)活。九年后，在1902年發(fā)表的《巴斯克維爾的獵犬》里，他繼續(xù)講述福爾摩斯和華生的歷險(xiǎn)。

更多的小說和短篇故事陸續(xù)出爐，讓柯南·道爾迷們心滿意足，一直到1927年的《新探案》為止——這也是最后一部關(guān)于這位聰明絕頂?shù)膫商降男≌f。

毫無疑問，歇洛克·福爾摩斯是懸疑小說史上最受愛戴的角色之一。柯南·道爾的作品曾被多次改編成舞臺劇和電影。以福爾摩斯和華生為主角的作品包括4部小說和56個(gè)短篇故事。

盡管柯南·道爾創(chuàng)作的角色大獲成功，但他一生都想逃脫福爾摩斯現(xiàn)象的陰影，專注于他感興趣的其他作品上。雖然福爾摩斯的極度風(fēng)靡使他未能在別的方面稱得上成功，但他還是因其關(guān)于布爾戰(zhàn)爭的非小說類作品被授予爵位，此外他還寫了《失落的世界》（1912年）和《白衣縱隊(duì)》（1891年）等作品。

歇洛克·福爾摩斯的靈感之源歇洛克·福爾摩斯真有其人嗎？并非如此，但啟發(fā)柯南·道爾創(chuàng)作出歇洛克·福爾摩斯的約瑟夫·貝爾博士確實(shí)與這位名偵探有許多共同點(diǎn)。

1877年，柯南·道爾在愛丁堡大學(xué)醫(yī)學(xué)院遇見貝爾博士。柯南·道爾在那里學(xué)醫(yī)，貝爾是他的其中一位教授。

柯南·道爾去上他的第一節(jié)課時(shí)，貝爾39歲。據(jù)說他的步伐有力而急促，充滿活力；他的鼻子和下巴線條清晰、棱角分明，目光敏銳。除了是一名優(yōu)秀的醫(yī)生外，貝爾還是一位業(yè)余詩人、運(yùn)動(dòng)員和觀鳥愛好者。

在柯南·道爾讀大學(xué)的第二年末，貝爾選他到自己的病房當(dāng)助手，這使他有機(jī)會(huì)見識到貝爾博士非同一般的推斷力——他很快就能從一位病人身上推斷出很多事情。

貝爾博士會(huì)觀察一個(gè)人的行動(dòng)方式。水手的走路方式和士兵有很大不同。如果他推斷一個(gè)人是水手，他便會(huì)在那個(gè)人身上尋找一些可能透露他們?nèi)ミ^哪里的紋身。他訓(xùn)練自己去分辨病人口音里的細(xì)微差別，以判斷他們來自哪里。他還會(huì)研究病人的手，因?yàn)槭稚系睦侠O或是其他痕跡能幫他確定他們的職業(yè)。

因此，在柯南·道爾創(chuàng)作歇洛克·福爾摩斯的故事時(shí)，他偶爾也為自己的教授扮演一下華生醫(yī)生的角色。

注：布爾戰(zhàn)爭是英國與南非布爾人建立的共和國之間的戰(zhàn)爭。歷史上一共有兩次布爾戰(zhàn)爭，第一次布爾戰(zhàn)爭發(fā)生在1880年至1881年，第二次布爾戰(zhàn)爭發(fā)生在1899年至1902年。

相關(guān)鏈接

2009年最新版福爾摩斯強(qiáng)勢出擊

熱衷英式格斗的福爾摩斯你見過嗎？如果你以為電影《大偵探福爾摩斯》（Sherlock Holmes）中會(huì)看到紳士派頭十足的福爾摩斯，那就大錯(cuò)特錯(cuò)了。

《大偵探福爾摩斯》根據(jù)萊昂納爾·威格拉姆（Lionel Wigram）的同名漫畫改編，由有“英倫昆汀”之稱的蓋·里奇（Guy Ritchie）執(zhí)導(dǎo)。制作方多次表示，這次的福爾摩斯和華生將更加銳氣，一掃以往版本中維多利亞時(shí)代的沉悶，而福爾摩斯更會(huì)成為一名擊劍高手，赤手空拳制服罪犯，影片也從推理破案變成以動(dòng)作冒險(xiǎn)為主。憑借《鋼鐵俠》（Iron Man）步入好萊塢一線明星行列的小羅伯特· 唐尼（Robert Downey Jr.）扮演福爾摩斯；裘德·洛（Jude Law）出演華生；曾主演《戀戀筆記本》（The Notebook）的瑞切爾·邁克亞當(dāng)斯（Rachel McAdams）扮演福爾摩斯心儀的艾琳·艾德勒（Irene Adler）。