Theme Of Modernism In The Hound Of The Baskervilles

Over the years, mystery novels have evolved and modernized to incorporate different methods of science, but the overall suspense and intrigue of mystery novels has never changed. However, in reading the story The Hound of the Baskervilles, the reader is thrown into both the supernatural effect and scientific explanation, and always having to choose a side. According to Nils Clausson in his work The Hound of The Baskervilles: “Modern Belgian Masters, Paralyzing Spectacles, And The Art Of Detection”, “The story is constructed around an opposition between science and art” (Clausson 37). Many critics debate whether or not the story is a modern piece of literature, because of the scientific base, or rather a work of victorian literature due to the artistic supernatural element. In Michael McGirk’s writing “Victorianism vs. Modernism: Compare and Contrast” the two different eras are easy to define, “In the Victorian Era, the main focus of writing was the idea of relating people to nature. The Modernist Era, however, had no interest in expressing literature through nature; rather Modernist preferred to express literature through science and logic” (McGirk 1). Nevertheless, the story The Hound of the Baskervilles is a true authentic piece of Victorian literature, as it combines together both the detective and gothic genres, two popular Victorian …show more content…
There is the curse of the Baskervilles, the red-herring plots of Selden, the man on the moor, and finally the events happening in Baskerville Hall, as narrated from Watson. Nonetheless, Conan Doyle, in The Hound of the Baskervilles, makes the piece of literature still interesting and unexpectant for the reader. Even though he uses traditional Victorian plots, he uses enough surprise and suspense to throw the reader off kilter, and make them wonder if it actually will follow the traditional masterplot which was originally brought