‘Nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact.’
I’m in love with Sherlock Holmes. He is the witty, observant, strictly logical, overtly rational and exceptionally eccentric detective. The chances are that everyone is in love with him. The new series (relatively new as compared to the books of 19th century), put me in a re-reading mode. An attempt to understand the mind of one of the most famous fictitious detective woven into the literary world.
My love for detective stories obviously started with the ever famous “Famous Five”s and “Secret Seven”s. Growing up, I transitioned to “Nancy Drew”, and even dreamed of being a successful detective one day.
Truth be told, which of us hasn’t imagined wonderfully exotic careers while growing up. Right? All the detective stories I read lead me to believe that this was the best profession beyond the school years. Alas! What a child dreams are purely innocent and often forgotten as soon as a better prospect comes along. (At one point I wanted to be the Ice-Cream man, obviously because of the unlimited access to ice-cream!!!) But amid all dreams and hopes, stories etched in memory remain with us. My thirst of for detective stories remain grounded.
In an attempt to absorb the world in which the best of the sleuths were born, I started my journey to reappraise the most popular literary detectives. The first being, Hercule Poirot, a poignant character gifted to the world of crime by Agatha Christie. And then there was Miss Marple, the grandmotherly figure, sweet and strong, unraveling the most dangerous mysteries in seemingly quiet English villages.
Mystery solving wasn’t the only flavour of these stories. P.G Wodehouse bestowed upon us enthusiastic readers a humorous relief. Jeeves, a simple butler with crime solving mind, indulging in satire, changed the world of detective by identifying opportunities in simple mishaps and misunderstandings.
But what is this obsession with detectives?
The act of being a detective has an innocent charm to it. An aura that appeals to many people. To look for missing items, find the culprit, put pieces of a puzzle together is an inherent human tendency. Or so I believe. Perhaps a need to bring a sense of order to a world otherwise chaotic and different from it’s perceived natural vocabulary.
Kazuo Ishiguro (one of my favourite authors), gave a much deeper insight into the psychology of a detective in ‘When we were Orphans’. He opened a plethora of questions, divulging bits and pieces of what goes into making a superlative detective character. My obsession with detective is not a personal infatuation with an idea. I believe and have observed that most people have an instinct of a detective inside them. It is the cumulative collection of these intrinsic human instincts that the authors give personas to. Moe often than not, characters are merely exaggerated personification of our emotion. That is what I conjecture makes these characters credible and lovable.
Obviously all this could just be in my head and I’m after all just thinking aloud. But haven’t we all played some sleuth game as kids? What about a simple game of ‘Hide and Seek’? Do you not feel the curiosity rising within in unknown situations? A desire to know more, a question demanding answers…
Children are much more inquisitive, an asset we lose as we become adults. As a consequence, children’s stories are built around the idea of “finding an answer”. We, as adults, may have lost our inquisitiveness, but asking questions is still there, embedded into our daily conversations. We still ‘have’ to know, ‘need’ to find out, ‘want’ an answer. But it isn’t is the answers that relieve us from the ‘desire’, it is the journey we undertake that enriches and entrances us.
My fixation with detective stories isn’t about the goal of the investigation. It is the why of it that intrigues me.
As we evolved into the 21st century, our agents have evolved too. The new ‘tech’ driven generation have their own new age detectives with super powers (Jessica Jones, Marvel) or alien origins (Doctor Who, though it is old too…). They have some fantastic gadgets with very futurist approach.
No matter what age, what time period, we have never stopped ‘looking’. That is what drives us…
“I don’t stop when i’m tired, i stop when i’m done.”
— James Bond (the most sophisticated sleuths of all time)
A toast to us, for never giving up on our curiosity, to a lifetime of questions and sleuthing. Cheers!
Originally published at nivetofive.blogspot.com.
