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@PHDTHESIS{Gehrke:59476,
author = {Gehrke, Constanze},
othercontributors = {Wenzel, Peter},
title = {{S}chema und {V}ariation in den
{S}herlock-{H}olmes-{S}tories von {A}rthur {C}onan {D}oyle},
address = {Aachen},
publisher = {Publikationsserver der RWTH Aachen University},
reportid = {RWTH-CONV-121257},
pages = {Bd. 1: 314 S. - Bd. 2 Anhang: 406 S.},
year = {2003},
note = {Prüfungsjahr: 2003. - Publikationsjahr: 2004; Aachen,
Techn. Hochsch., Diss., 2003},
abstract = {The Sherlock Holmes stories still belong to the best-loved
detective stories. There are countless studies of the master
sleuth Holmes himself, but interestingly enough there is no
study which deals with the structure of the stories that is
partly responsible for their popularity. That is why this
thesis examines the basic pattern and the variations of the
detective stories by Arthur Conan Doyle. In the first part
of the thesis a method for examination of the stories will
be developed. Since literary studies preferred not to deal
with formula literature for a long time, we do not have an
adequate method for analysing literature that does not
follow the patterns of "high" literature. To analyse a
literary work like the Sherlock Holmes stories, new ways of
dealing with formula literature have to be found. Taking a
close look at the structure of detective stories shows on
the one hand that they funcrion according to a strict
pattern or formula, on the other hand they are game-like.
Thus this thesis shows the resemblance between the basic
construction of a game and a detective story. The second
part of the thesis deals with the development of the
detective story, therefore Edgar Allan Poe's theoretical
premises for the conception of the shorz story and the
construction of his tales of ratiocination (a kind of
forerunner of the detective story) are analysed. Then a
method for the analysis of the Sherlock Holmes stories is
developed and explained. To be precise in showing according
to which rules Conan Doyle's stories function, three
different tables are presented which help to examine the
stories on three levels regarding the particular pattern and
different variations: a) characters, b) setting and elements
of action and c) course of action. The third part of the
thesis consists of an analysis of all 56 Sherlock Holmes
stories which are analysed according to their particular
varied character. Here it is shown how the typical basic
structure of the stories and their extreme variations look
like, how the various elements are varied and combined and
which types of elements are used often or rarely. It can be
shown that Conan Doyle sticks to a very strict pattern of
variations which surprisingly leads - against the conviction
of former studies on Conan Doyle - to many modifications on
various levels. Conan Doyle is - in contrast to Poe -
successful in creating a clear pattern of various elements
for the detective story. The reader recognizes these
elements again and again and thus is given help for
orientation. On the other hand, this pattern gets modified
at the same time so that the reader is always confronted
with an interesting interplay of elements familiar and
unfamiliar to him. It is this very interplay of basic
pattern and modification which makes the stories so
attractive - the variations prevent the pattern from
becoming boring. We can thus say that it is incorrect to
criticize Conan Doyle for using a stereotyped pattern which
ended as a total cliché because this thesis' analyses show
that the frame used for the stories remains very variable
although it consists of constant factors. Although Conan
Doyle uses a lot of typified elements, he varies their
composition in every story in a new way: there is hardly a
story with a low degree of variation of the elements on
either the character or the setting level or the level of
the course of action. We can detect a cybernetic balance on
all three levels due to variation: when Conan Doyle uses a
low degree variation on one or two levels, the variation on
at least one other level is due to be higher. This thesis
ends with a discussion of the importance of the author of
the Sherlock Holmes stories for the genre of the detective
story. The results of the analyses in this thesis show that
not Edgar Allan Poe, but Arthur Conan Doyle is to be
regarded as the founding father of the genre detective
story.},
keywords = {Doyle, Arthur Conan / Sherlock Holmes (SWD) /
Handlungsschema (SWD)},
cin = {700000},
ddc = {820},
cid = {$I:(DE-82)700000_20140620$},
typ = {PUB:(DE-HGF)11},
urn = {urn:nbn:de:hbz:82-opus-8550},
doi = {10.18154/RWTH-CONV-121257},
url = {https://publications.rwth-aachen.de/record/59476},
}
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