Agatha Christie- Anarchist

[poliphilo]

ITV is screening a new set of Miss Marple dramatizations, starring Geraldine McEwan.

We've seen a couple now. I always found Christie a dull read, but she works fabulously on the small screen.

Murder At The Vicarage spent a leisurely three quarters of an hour establishing the 1950s rural idyll that is St Mary Mead and then tore it to
shreds as it was revealed that all these prosperous, respectable middle-Englander stereotypes are in fact murderers, adulterers, thieves, embezelers and traitors.

In her own way Christie is as subversive as Bunuel. Something like Murder At The Vicarage is really just The Discreet Charm Of The Bourgeoisie by other means.

Comments

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I read a lot of detective stories in my twenties. Christie never really did it for me. My favourites were the all-but-forgotten Margery Allingham and John Dickson Carr.

[karenkay.livejournal.com]

Christie would have done it for you if she were the only thing available.

Actually, my VERY favorite book of hers is Murder On The Orient Express translated into Japanese. The indications of who is speaking are all done through subtle language cues. (Male speech, female speech, various levels of politeness and obsequy.)

On the different subject of detective novels in general, when I was in grad school at Yale, I was in Hog Heaven--one of the tenured history professors (Robin Wink) writes about mysteries, and he ordered all the new books. And, being the second lgst library in the US, they had all the old ones. One guy died and left all of his books to the library--I read my way through most of that collection. His relatives gave him books for every occasion. So I've pretty much read all of Allingham and Carr, both of whom are also quite interesting people.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I've never quite understood why Christie has survived when other writers of the "golden age" have all but vanished. It doesn't seem to have anything much to do with literary merit.

I like locked room mysteries. Hence my taste for Carr. The best of his stories are deliciously weird.

[karenkay.livejournal.com]

Yes! I don't share your love of ghost stories, etc., but JD Carr, most definitely.

And I don't know why Christie has survived. Maybe because she had a good publicist.:) I agree with you about literary merit.