A presentation (ppt or prezi) that introduces the basic detective genre conventions

by sunday night post on this pageyour ideas for the convention and which sources you plan on
using

Needed:
Content
each person presents their own convention section
Presentation
each person post their section of content on ppt, but then peer review everyone
elses section
Conventions
Tristan: Watson-middle class relate, narrator, scapegoat for Doyle
Panek talks about Watson in the Doyle chapter
I will be using what he says to show the origins of his creation
Its easier for the middle class to relate to Watson than it is to Holmes
Veteran of war/ Medic
Valiant and Loyal
Victorian gentleman
For Queen and Country
student to Holmes
conductor of light
He could not tell his own exploits, so he must have a commonplace comrade as a foil(Panek
77).
Doyle, of course, realized the uses for plot and characterization of the detective's assistant as the

narrator: the writer can use the narrator's ignorance to hide important facts and through him can
praise the detective and keep him civilly reticent at the same time (Panek 80).
middle class had no time to read: Panek Beginnings - The Victorian age shows the emergence
of several new classes of readers brought into being by universal education and the urge to selfimprovement. The most important of these, however, was the middle-class male reader who
long ago had the ability, but not the time, to read fiction (Panek 17)

Marc:
Watson is like Doyle; both doctors, students to intelligent men, middle class
Sherlock Holmes (The Character) Conventions

socially awkward
genius hero intellectual genius
his lack of social skills, his alienation from society, or any of his other eccentricities

his addiction and down time between cases

his scientific method of observation and deduction
his vast knowledge in some areas and lack of it in others
his use of science and experiments
his use of all types of evidence--blood, footprints ash, dust, disguise, etc
his lack of romantic attachment
how he analyzes a crime scene, his ability to do the magic trick of deducing all kinds of
details about a person by looking at him or an object of his
his teacher-role with Watson

Doyle wrote Holmes out of the world of machines and toward the world of human beings
(Panek Doyle 14).
Holmes can feel emotion: annoyance, anger, chagrin. (Binyon, T.J. "Murder Will Out" 10)
Holmes feels impelled to point out Watson's errors and to show him how to do the thing
correctly.(21) Doyle
It is remarkable, therefore, how seldom Holmess inferencesor deductionsprove incorrect.
Indeed, they constitute his trade mark as a detective: that offhand, seemingly magical
characterization of a visitor to Baker Street which then proves, on explanation, to be absurdly
simple. (11) Binyon
He is another proud, alienated hero, superior to and isolated from the rest of humanity; a
sufferer from spleen and ennui, who alleviates the deadly boredom of existence with injections
of cocaine and morphine; an aesthete, a music lover and amateur violinist who, during the
intervals in the action, will drag the philistine Watson to concert hall and opera house. (10)
Binyon

SARA+Kenny: Structure

Consistent Plot- always starts in apt 221b

Assurance of Solution and Order...recreational free of stress
like a crossword puzzle (Dove)

Leroy Panek-chapter Doyle from An Introduction to the Detective Story, address the structure
of Holmes's always beginning the story in apartment 221B where Holmes (Panek 84) makes a
seemingly out of the blue magical observation that upon explanation makes complete
logical sense (Binyon 11).
George Dove(Edgar Award)-consistent plot is present to give the reader a sense of security of

what to expect while reading, such as the guarantee that the crime will be solved (Dove 7).

free of stress (Dove 3) environment where the reader can escape from the disorder
(Delamater and Prigozy 1) of reality.
Dove presents the idea that the reader always has an assurance of solution (Dove 7) in the
detective genre. This assurance of solution is part of the order of the detective story. The
reader constantly looks for solutions in reality but has trouble finding them. In this manner, the
reader settles for order in the sense of being guaranteed a solution. Prigozy and Delamater
concur with Dove that the detective genre bloomed because the crime is always solved
(Delamater and Prigozy 1).