Descriptions of Investigative Methods and Their Translations into Russian (a Case Study of A.C. Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes Stories)

The present research paper is devoted to the translation analysis of descriptions of investigative methods in the Sherlock Holmes series written by A.C. Doyle. The novels and short stories of the British writer are known all over the world and one of their distinctive features is the detailed description of the detective’s investigations. There exist several works focused on the analysis of the Sherlock Holmes series translations, however, the problem of translation of such descriptions into the Russian language has not been studied yet. In the course of the work, general characteristics of the detective genre were outlined and the peculiarities of A.C. Doyle’s individual style were identified. Special attention was paid to the examination of the specifics of the series and the translation difficulties they contain. The comparative analysis of translations made in the early and mid-20th century and in the 21st century containing extensive descriptions of crime-solving methods helped reveal key features of each of the time periods, as well as discover translation mistakes. The achieved results may be useful for translators specialising in literary translation and the detective genre in particular. Moreover, other scientific papers devoted to the translation of the Sherlock Holmes series may be based on the outcomes in order to achieve more fundamental results.