Two figures dominate the world of British detective fiction: Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie. While the former created the iconic master of deduction in Sherlock Holmes, Christie conjured heroes who reflected human life and behaviour. The appeal of figures like Hercule Poirot and Jane Marple hasn’t dulled with time and Agatha Christie remains the best-selling author of all time.
Celebrating her 125th birthday Mark Campbell compiled The Pocket Essential Agatha Christie. Talking Book’s Susan Cahill spoke with Mark about the life of Agatha Christie and why “we’ll be celebrating [her]...in a thousand years”.
Born into a wealthy family in 1890 Christie’s literary career didn’t really begin until 1920. The Mysterious Affair at Styles introduced the world to Hercule Poirot. Probably Christie’s most famous character this eccentric Belgian detective was originally cast in the mold laid down by Edgar Allan Poe and Conan Doyle.
Across 33 novels and more than 50 short stories though Poirot’s character developed into a force of its own. Laughed at as much as with, Poirot’s peculiarities endered this short, fastidious, detective to the wider public. Christie, however, grew to dislike this “detestable, bombastic, tiresome, ego-centric little creep”.
While his popularity made it almost impossible to kill off Poirot the unthinkable finally happened in the gripping Curtain. Christie had created such a beloved figure and icon of literature that Poirot received an obituary on the front page of The New York Times, the only time a fiction character has been afforded such an honour.
According to Mark what makes Christie’s works great is that, “she gets under the skin of the characters...Christie knows what motivates people, and often those motivations are quite low”. These low motivations were readily experienced by the other iconic Agatha Christie detective, Miss Jane Marple.
A shrewd spinster Miss Marple tackles the astoundingly high level of violent crime in the quaint village of St Mary Mead. Created in reaction to the recasting of an earlier Christie heroine for a younger model, age and circumstance became key aspects of Miss Marple’s character. In creating this character, inspired by her own step grandmother, Christie enshrined the figure of the strong, shrewd, and self-reliant spinster forever into the canon of English literature.
Today the figures conjured by Agatha Christie continue to captivate the public imagination. Her heroes and heroines have become literary icons with their own place in the public consciousness. As Mark observes “in perhaps five, 10, 15 years time you will have another actor being Poirot...others might come and go but [Christie] will still be there”.
Listen here as Susan and Mark talk about the amazing life and astounding career of Agatha Christie. What makes her characters so memorable? How has she shaped detective fiction? And why will she be remembered in the centuries to come?
This week's music to read to
"Shenandoah" by Goldmund, aka Keith Kenniff, open's the show before Olafur Arnalds brings part one to a close with "Near Light". The show ends with Nick Cave's "People Just Ain't No Good".
