January 5, 2003

The day W.H. Smith announced the shortlist for its Thumping Good Read Award, the results of a poll by Booksdirect.co.uk revealed that, despite the industry’s massive investment in psychological thrillers, the punters still prefer the classic detective story, the genre Graham Greene once described as ‘the modern fairytale’.

So, if we believe the poll, Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes turns out to be the nation’s favourite detective. Holmes’s popularity is a tribute to Conan Doyle’s genius for narrative and character and is another indication of the vogue for things Edwardian, but it also reminds us that exactly a hundred years ago British popular fiction was enjoying a mini golden age.

Empire played its part in this golden age. There was also the marketplace. The first decade of the new century was a good time to be a popular novelist with a mass appeal. The Education Act of 1870 had created a literate adult population eager for self-improvement and entertainment.

The parallels between Edwardian England and our own time are not hard to identify. There is the same global capitalism, the same dizzying technological innovation (particularly in mass communications) and the same clamour from emerging literary markets.

There is, however, one significant difference. A hundred years ago, successful novelists like Kipling and Conan Doyle were colossal celebrities with huge popular followings. True to the traditions of their immediate Victorian predecessors, they saw it as part of their responsibility to participate in the political and social debates of the day. In short, to be public figures expressing their views on contemporary issues.

Successful novelists today are much more remote figures. They may appear at literary festivals, but will probably shrink from getting involved in social or political controversy. Arundhati Roy is the exception that proves the rule. Most writers cultivate an aloof detachment from the real world that is reflected in their output.

The appeal of Sherlock Holmes is more complex. He is, on the face of it, a cold fish. ‘Detection’, he says in The sign of four, ‘is an exact science, and should be treated in the same cold and unemotional manner.’ Part of his charm resides in the amiable, doltish character of Dr Watson. A lot of his fascination rests with the devilish cunning of Conan Doyle’s stories.

His popularity is a tribute to the insatiable public appetite for the well-told tale. —Dawn/Observer news service

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