Why We Still Love Agatha Christie
Her appeal as strong as ever, new audiences are discovering the human side of crime…
She was a lucky woman who had established a happy knack of writing what quite a lot of people wanted to read”, wrote Christie in Elephants CanRemember. You’d be forgiven for thinking that line was autobiographical, for indeed, Agatha Christie’s legacy is one that has endured. But what is it about her works that gives it this longevity? Put simply – they’re very, very good!
A pioneer of detective fiction, Christie expertly weaved intricately detailed plots, throwing red herrings with ruthless efficiency.
Yet her detective tales were not simply a series of cold calculations – her trademark was her detective work into the human spirit and her ability to unearth the emotions we all feel.
“Crime is terribly revealing. Try and vary your methods as you will, your tastes, your habits, your attitude of mind, and your soul is revealed by your actions”, she states in And Then There Were None. It’s the allure and the drama, the elegance and the intrigue of plot twists that undoubtedly draws the reader in, but it’s the poignant core that lends her work a timelessness.
Have you ever picked up a romance novel by the author Mary Westmacott? You may be surprised to know this is actually Agatha Christie. She went by this pseudonym to release novels quite different from what we’d typically associate her with, further documenting her fascination with human nature.
Growing up in an uppermiddle class family in Devon, Christie’s life is one that draws strange and fascinating parallels with her literary works, although this is a topic she’d be loath to tolerate, saying, “People should be interested in books, not their authors.”
She spent a lot of time in
solitude from other children, doting on her beloved pets. She grew up with a belief, shared among her close family, that her mother was a clairvoyant. Her early encounters were likely drawn upon when she crafted her first short story, The House of Beauty, which interwove themes of dreams, death, and unrealities. In 1926 she went missing for 11 days, following a string of personal ordeals. Found safe in a hotel in Harrogate, she notoriously declined to speak about it.
It is the impact of her work which is still felt today. Considering that the very first soap opera debuted in 1930, and detective fiction took off during the 1920 and 30’s, it’s not a far stretch of the imagination to see how her clever cliff-hangers may have influenced their emergence.
Testament to the enduring appeal of Agatha Christie’s stories, esteemed director Kenneth Branagh has just released his adaption of Murder On The Orient Express starring Judi Dench and Penélope Cruz.
Truly, Christie’s work, and the author herself, still hold us rapt – and will do, for generations to come.
CHRISTIE UTILISED HER REAL LIFE EXPERIENCES AS A PHARMACIST IN HER FICTIONAL TALES AND HER EXTENSIVE KNOWLEDGE OF DEADLY POISONS CERTAINLY CAME IN HANDY – AFTER A MEDIC RECALLED HER DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THALLIUM POISONING IN A NOVEL, THEY WERE ABLE TO SAVE THEIR PATIENT!