Literature Review Revision

Thesis:
Scholars state that characteristics created by Doyle in the Sherlock Holmes stories like
Holmes observation skills and paradoxical social behavior have become defining conventions of
the detective genre.
Paragraph (Development #1):
An important convention stated by many scholars in their works is the detectives ability
to observe minute details from evidence. Doyle implemented this idea, which ultimately
flourished throughout the detective genre, with his character, Sherlock Holmes. For example, in
the beginning of The Hound of the Baskervilles, Holmes just looks at a cane and comes to the
conclusion that The dogs jaw, as shown in the space between these [bite marks], is too broad
in my opinion for a terrier and not broad enough for a mastiff. It may have been- yes, by Jove,
its a curly- haired spaniel (loc. 163). In the end, Holmes is right because the owner of the
cane, Dr. Mortimer, has a spaniel. According to the literary scholar, Maria Konnikova, in her
book, How to Think like Sherlock Holmes, Holmess way of thinking and observing can be
taught and learned by anyone. She explains this by giving name to how both Holmes and
Watson think by the Holmes System (18) and the Watson System (18). She describes the
Holmes System as someone who takes all facts into consideration before coming to a conclusion
and the Watson System as our nave selves, operating by the lazy thought habits (18). She
believes that people need to think more like Holmes in order to see all of the small details that
people of the Watson System cant see. Konnikova views the way Holmes observes as the
hierarchy of thinking and everyone should learn his way. In contrast, the literary scholar, Leroy

Panek, is addressing Holmess observant skills through an introduction to the detective genre
from Conan Doyle. In Paneks book, An Introduction to the Detective Story, he explains that
through Gaboriau, Doyle [found] the development of the notion of the detective as the
mathematically accurate crime-solving machine (82) and from this inspiration, Doyle made
Sherlock Holmes an instrument for detection (82). Panek shows the reader that Doyle created
Holmes to do one thing and that was to observe things other people cannot in order to solve
crimes. While both Konnikova and Panek address Holmess observant skills, they do it in very
different ways. Konnikova bases his skills as a way to help others by explaining the process
Holmes goes through when he observes an object and why he is different from everyone else.
Panek teaches the readers about how Holmes came to be the way he is and why he observes the
way he does, which was through the detective genre writers like Gaboriau influencing Doyle.