Agatha Christie 1939
Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None was my mother’s all time favorite book. If that isn’t true, well, she can come back from the other side and tell me about it (that statement causes me a bit more anxiety than you might think). She died fifteen years ago and lately I’ve been re-examining the crash and thud of our extremely difficult and often semi-violent relationship. Now, I never swung at Mom except once when I was nine, and she actually pulled a knife on me once when we were both considerably older. I believe “volatile” sums it up if I had only one word to choose from.
Mom was poorly educated, extremely intelligent, mentally unsteady and a voracious reader. I figure it is fair to say that she read somewhere between a hundred and fifty to two hundred books a year. Three or four a week. And they stayed read. She enjoyed mystery and something best described as old fashioned gothic–such as Rebecca. She hated romance, learned to like Stephen King (but never as a fan; she believed he used profanity too much for “hooking” and not for honest dialogue). She also read John Saul, Robin Cook, Sue Grafton and many other well known, or at least semi-well known writers. And although I never saw her read anything by the Bard, she knew a great deal of Shakespeare and (due to being raised as a ward of the Catholic church) “too much of the goddam Bible.”
I have never been much of a mystery or gothic reader but I have to hand it to Christie–she knew how to tell a story and was even better at creating protagonists you can care about. Tremendously prolific, her output of sixty-six novels and fourteen short story collections makes Stephen King look a tad lazy in comparison. She, as of the moment, remains the best selling author of all time. And although everyone knows that success and quality are not necessarily aligned I feel it safe to say that she was a very good writer during a time when the social mores did not take women writers seriously.
Now, there are always snipes who want to place a white pointy sheet on the heads of all dead famous white people. I find that sort of behaviour unworthy of persons who claim that the world needs to be a fairer minded place. I have a feeling that Christie’s use of the world “nigger” (as it was a part of an earlier title) should not result in her elimination from history. Mainly I am sick of shrews and scolds and shitheads who demand perfection from the dead and the living. Actually, they want people to say their version of the right thing. I find that sort of thing to be highly offensive and I utterly despise the cowards who first scan the pulse of the nonsense posted on Instagram prior to the dispensing of their own canned opinion. I find myself asking is there an echo in here…in here…here…
For instance, you’d have to search long and hard to find a famous person better at saying stupid shit than Charlie Sheen. But I’m just fine with him because at least he says something. For the most part I do not understand why anyone reads anything spoken by your average Hollywood star any more–whatever Hanks says is the same Roberts blurts and for damn sure it is all met with by the approval of Oprah.
Fuck that. We are shaped by our childhoods and the world around us. Any thinking being sent back a hundred years, their mind cleared of what they know now, will develop a tremendously different point of view. I despair over false progressives who appear to be more focused on pay back than developing a generous spirit for tomorrow.
I say this because too many writers of the past are being framed for things they probably did not do, say or even feel. I detest grave spitting by people who had no contact with the resident of the hole. Moreover, I trust my instincts and I believe that a reader can gain an understanding of the personality of a writer from long exposure to her/his work. For instance, indeed you can just smell the manliness emanating off Hemingway, but he also understood things much more deeply and he was not all about booze, “ravishing women” and killing shit. Like him or not, I think that it is criminal to deny him his tremendous influence over the development of fiction in the twentieth century. For the sake of comparison, read his short Hills Like White Elephants then compare it to anything put out by Theodore Dreiser (in a book review Dorothy Parker wrote “Dresier ought to write nicer”) and you will appreciate the cleansing effect Ernie had on the written word.
Agatha Christie was also a tremendous positive force. She was key in the development of raising the who-dunnit from the pages of the penny dreadfuls to something one may call literature. And for anyone unacquainted with her work, there is no better place to start at than from And Then There None.
It has not escaped me that I have not said a word about the innards of this novel. That’s because it is a mystery, and for the sake of not remotely giving anything away because I often “talk too much” I feel that the wisest thing I can do is give it my recommendation.
literally stories 
We watched a version of this on the television recently – title had been changed yet again but she still has the magic. She is a figure who fascinates me and it was great to read your opinion. thanks – dd
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Hi Diane
Thank you! Yes with all her well made characters and well thought story lines I believe Aggie will run as long as the Bard.
Thanks again!
Leila
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A.C. is a good choice, I reckon. I read most of ’em in the past, and reruns of Miss Marples and Hercule Poirrots feature very frequently on UK tv channels. Of course, she wrote so many stories that there’s bound to be some dross in the mix (her Tommy & Tuppence stories, for instance). But she was a really really excellent plot creator, and surely in a murder mystery a good plot is absolutely crucial.
bw
mick
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Hi Mick
AC is a huge presence on American Public Television. Hercule and Marple have been running on PBS for years and I do not see any slow down. Classic tales well filmed.
Thanks as always!
Leila
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Fascinating essay. I do agree about not judging people by the time they lived in. Or condemning people for the opinions of their time.
On the other hand, I don’t think history should be erased, as seems to be happening in America. And also on the other hand, we cannot say everyone approved and accepted some ideas.
There was an early Quaker, Jonathan Woolman (1720-1772) who was among the early opponents of slavery. Many many years ago I heard him described as the Quaker Saint, in that, while he opposed slavery, he somehow could speak of it without contempt for slaveholders.
Quite a difference from both sides today.
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Hi there Ed,
Yes, we should not erase history. I mean, who chooses? Sounds like the State in 1984. And I do not feel it is well meaning, I see it as a method of control. And if one thing is allowed, then what next, the Holocaust? And all it causes are backlashes inspired by equal ignorance; much like knocking off the noses of Egyptian leaders who fell out of favor centuries ago .
I was reading about the Quakers and the Shakers (only three left of the latter), utterly fascinating and we could use a few more of them.
Leila
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Leila
I’ve never read Agatha but this makes me want to check her out. Personally, in writing, I consider myself a fan of the best in every genre of writing. That includes, for example, Philip K. Dick in science fiction, Edgar Allan Poe and Shirley Jackson in horror, Chandler and Hammet in detective fiction, JRRT in fantasy, etc. etc. I don’t think writers should limit their reading by only focusing on one kind, and bashing all the rest, even when they haven’t read it. I think they should start with the best of everything and go from there. There isn’t time to waste life on trash.
Your mother is a fascinating character.
I think a lot of resentment was created by white folks keeping everyone else down. But I also think that if they hadn’t done so, it would have been they themselves who were kept down. This is a dog-eat-dog world. And I think the way white America tried to make amends for its utterly egregious sins in the genocide against Natives and the horrors of slavery is one of the greatest things any slice of humanity has ever tried to do in all of history. And I also agree with you that in many segments of the population the resentment has now gone way too far, and it usually comes strongest from those who are already wealthy and comfortable. The statues of Robert E. Lee should not be taken down. But we should put another one of Frederick Douglass or Sojourner Truth or Sitting Bull right next to it.
Americans don’t understand their own history AT ALL, and that comes very strongly from BOTH sides of the aisle. Very, very often, the so-called educated ones are really, truly the most ignorant ones of all. And on the other side of the aisle, all these old fart white men and a lot of women, too, are still racist assholes.
“Put it away,” said the Buddha. All this clinging to history is a mental disease that runs rampant across the globe. And it is a very, very deadly mental disease in every single way I can possibly think of.
Thanks for your great thinking and your fearless speaking!
Dale
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Hi Dale
Thank you for your always insightful comments and I encourage all to check out your weekly Sunday Column on Saragun Springs.
The more I think about it the more I wonder has there ever been a government or ruling class anywhere at anytime that hasn’t been terrible. Self governing African nations are as evil as it gets for the most part, same with the east, the west, up and down. The Good Guys never win the revolution nor do they ever lose one. But we are what we are and we must keep trying, no matter how sad and frustrating the task ahead appears.
Thanks again!
Leila
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Hi Leila,
How strange! I have a non-comment, that, for the life of me, I don’t understand.
I read your post and did a wee bit of research to find something I could comment on. I can normally say what I’ve read, why I haven’t read, what I’ve seen and give some comment. I have nothing!!
I’ve just realised, I have never read any Agatha Christie. I have read a story of hers, never watched a TV episode all the way through and I’ve never seen a film. I’ve meant to watch the Poirot one with Kenneth Branagh but haven’t got round to it.
…Off on a tangent! His film with Emma Thompson and the late great Robin Williams is a bit unknown but totally brilliant. (Dead Again)
I have no idea why I have no knowledge of any of this ladies works?? It’s weird – I have nothing!!!!!
If it had been a conscious decision, I could have spoken about that but nope – Shite all!!!
Anyhow, this is a brilliant posting making me realise – I…know…nuting!!!
(Fawlty Towers was a classic – RIP Andrew Sachs!!)
All the very best.
Hugh
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