Summary
21 January 2011
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle killed off Sherlock Holmes when writing the stories took up too much of his time. Now, 80 years after the author's death, Britain's most famous detective is being brought back to life with a new novel by Anthony Horowitz.
Reporter:
Sunita Nahar
Sherlock Holmes is famous around the world
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The character of Sherlock Holmes was originally created by the Scottish writer Arthur Conan Doyle, who featured him in four novels and more than 50 short stories. After his death, his son Adrian wrote several stories featuring the famous Victorian detective, but critics say he was never that popular.
But it's the first time that the Arthur Conan Doyle estate has officially asked an author to write a new novel. He has been named as Anthony Horowitz and is best known his Alex Rider children's series. So was he daunted by the challenge?
Anthony Horowitz:
"Well obviously, it was daunting to a certain extent and you are dealing with probably the most iconic detective in the whole history of literature. And the one thing I didn't want to do was to disappoint those really devout fans, the sort of Sherlock Holmes Society and people who love these books.
But to be honest with you, I actually found it fairly easy to write because I have loved those books since I was 16 years old, I've read them two or three times during the course of my lifetime – in fact, my whole life as a writer of crime fiction myself was, to a certain extent, inspired by Doyle and I find the book not so scary as I thought it might be."
Anthony Horowitz says he's a devoted fan and aims to produce a first rate mystery for a modern audience.
Sunita Nahar, 大象传媒 News
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Vocabulary
- character
here, a person or a creature that has been created for a story
- Victorian detective
person who tried to solve crimes during the time of Queen Victoria's reign in Britain (1837-1901)
- critics
people who write or talk about their opinions, sometimes in the media
- an author
someone who writes books or articles
- daunted by
worried, slightly frightened or intimidated by
- to a certain extent
in some ways
- iconic
someone or something which is representative of a time, culture or purpose
- to disappoint
to make others feel sad because you haven't done something they expected you to
- devout fans
people who love and support something or someone with a passion that's almost religious
- crime fiction
stories that are created by writers about illegal activities which are not true
