刘群同志: 来信收到了。你说,群众出版社自从1957年起陆续出版了《福尔摩斯探案》中的《巴斯克维尔猎犬》、《四签名》、《血字的研究》之后,在读者中,特别是在广大青年读者中引起了广泛的注意,而且大家对这些书的认识很不一致。你问,对这些作品应该如何评价,是否可以阅读,以及应当怎样去阅读,等等。我认为,这些问题都是很值得加以研究和探讨的。现在趁复信的机会,谈谈我的一些看法。十九世纪资本主义社会中侦探小说的出现和盛行,并不是偶然的现象,它正是反映了资产阶级的真实趣味、利益和实际“道德”。对于资产阶级的侦探小说,苏联伟大的文学家高尔基曾经指出它是标准的资产阶级的文学。十九世纪英国作家阿·柯南道尔所写的《福尔摩斯 Comrade Liu Qun: The letter has been received. You said that mass publishers have published “Baskervilhound”, “Four Signatures” and “Study of Blood Words” in Sherlock Holmes since 1957. Among readers, especially young readers Aroused widespread attention, and everyone’s understanding of these books is very inconsistent. You ask, how to evaluate these works, whether they can be read, how to read them, and so on. I think these issues are worth studying and discussing. Now take the chance to reply, talk about some of my views. The appearance and prevalence of detective novels in the capitalist society in the nineteenth century are not accidental phenomena. They precisely reflect the true taste, interest and actual “morality” of the bourgeoisie. For bourgeois detective novels, Gorky, the great Soviet writer, once pointed out that it was the standard bourgeois literature. Holmes, written by nineteenth-century British writer A. Conan Doyle