Sherlock Holmes saving Mr. Venizelos : using science in an early Greek crime fiction novel

Abstract

Crime fiction was introduced to the Greek reading public at an early period, first through the translation of works of Émile Gaboriau (1878) and later through the works of Arthur Conan Doyle from 1905 onward. Their effect can be seen in the first Greek crime fiction novel, by an anonymous writer, serialized in 1913 in the periodical Hellas, entitled Sherlock Holmes Saving Mr. Venizelos, who was the Greek Prime Minister of the time. The novel, that takes place in London, is a hybrid of a political and a crime fiction novel, using Doyle's forensic methods and electrical devices for its resolution. In this paper we will try to see how far this Greek by-product of the Holmes tradition follows the scientific approach of the original Doyle works, using his forensic methods as well as technological inventions of the time to solve the case.