Estudio en rojo: Estudio de los cuatro

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle · Arthur Conan Doyle

Jan 2003 · Biblioteca Edaf Juvenil Book 14 · EDAF

About this ebook

Estudio en rojo (y no en escarlata, como erróneamente se ha traducido con frecuencia) es el principio del canon holmesiano. En este relato aparece fuertemente caracterizado el personaje central como detective, el doctor Watson como cronista, el apartamento de Baker Street, el violín, los agentes de Scotland Yard, etc. En El signo de los cuatro, escrita dos años más tarde, se alcanza la perfección del sistema: se pulen los rasgos más exagerados del carácter de Holmes, Watson se enamora y vuelve al ejercicio de la medicina, se multiplican las peripecias, hay fuertes cambios de ritmos, y se alcanza la resolución del caso por un proceso lógico muy bien medido.

About the author

The most famous fictional detective in the world is Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes. However, Doyle was, at best, ambivalent about his immensely successful literary creation and, at worst, resentful that his more "serious" fiction was relatively ignored. Born in Edinburgh, Doyle studied medicine from 1876 to 1881 and received his M.D. in 1885. He worked as a military physician in South Africa during the Boer War and was knighted in 1902 for his exceptional service. Doyle was drawn to writing at an early age. Although he attempted to enter private practice in Southsea, Portsmouth, in 1882, he soon turned to writing in his spare time; it eventually became his profession. As a Liberal Unionist, Doyle ran, unsuccessfully, for Parliament in 1903. During his later years, Doyle became an avowed spiritualist. Doyle sold his first story, "The Mystery of the Sasassa Valley," to Chambers' Journal in 1879. When Doyle published the novel, A Study in Scarlet in 1887, Sherlock Holmes was introduced to an avid public. Doyle is reputed to have used one of his medical professors, Dr. Joseph Bell, as a model for Holmes's character. Eventually, Doyle wrote three additional Holmes novels and five collections of Holmes short stories. A brilliant, though somewhat eccentric, detective, Holmes employs scientific methods of observation and deduction to solve the mysteries that he investigates. Although an "amateur" private detective, he is frequently called upon by Scotland Yard for assistance. Holmes's assistant, the faithful Dr. Watson, provides a striking contrast to Holmes's brilliant intellect and, in Doyle's day at least, serves as a character with whom the reader can readily identify. Having tired of Holmes's popularity, Doyle even tried to kill the great detective in "The Final Problem" but was forced by an outraged public to resurrect him in 1903. Although Holmes remained Doyle's most popular literary creation, Doyle wrote prolifically in other genres, including historical adventure, science fiction, and supernatural fiction. Despite Doyle's sometimes careless writing, he was a superb storyteller. His great skill as a popular author lay in his technique of involving readers in his highly entertaining adventures.