Happy Birthday, Agatha Christie!

Today is the historic birthday of the great Dame Agatha. I blogged about her at Poe's Deadly Daughters--both about her impact on the world and her influence in my life.

Happy Birthday, Agatha!

September 15th marked the birthday of Agatha Christie, who was born on that date in 1890 (and who died in 1976). Guinness Book of World Records calls her "the best selling writer of books of all time." I'm not sure if J.K. Rowling has yet given her some competition for that title, but the women have something in common--their ability to tell a story, and their gift for cloaking their characters in mystery.

Agatha's mysteries made her famous, especially because of her gift for writing the unguessable crime--for hiding her clues in plain sight. She created the still-famous characters of Miss Jane Marple and Hercule Poirot, who are endlessly re-interpreted in televised versions of Dame Agatha's work.

Christie was fascinated with all things mysterious, and perhaps this was why she loved Egypt--a place in which she lived at times and where she set several of her novels. Christie shared her love for the ancient world with archeologist Max Mallowan, who married the divorced Agatha in 1930.

Christie's legendary play, The Mousetrap, is the longest-running play of all time (it is still running after 55 consecutive years of performance).

Her mysteries are numerous, and I have read many of them. One of my favorites is set in Iraq, one of Christie's favorite countries, and where she spent a great deal of time when traveling with Mallowan. They Came To Baghdad is a fun little romp through a very different Iraq, one which captures the mystery and glamour of the ancient world.

What's your favorite Christie?



(image link here)

Why Mystery Lovers Shouldn't Play Trivial Pursuit

Last night my son asked if we could play Trivial Pursuit; this is ironic, since the last three times we played as a family we all ended up in bad moods, and last night was no exception.

My oldest son hates it when he doesn't know the answers; I think he got that from me. Generally, because the questions vary so wildly, I will get some sort of obscure query about the Bataan Death March and will fail to answer. Then my opponent will get a question like this (which is actually a question in one of the versions of Trivial Pursuit): "Which fictional mouse, created by Walt Disney, has become an American Icon?"

This will drive me crazy. I never get the mouse question. Last night, when I landed on "literature," I was thrilled to think I might actually earn a chip. My question, however, was about a comic strip--one I'd never heard of. Is this how we define literature, I wondered? Then I looked back at the box and saw that the brown, in its newest version, stands for "the printed word." I failed the comic book question, and then my nine-year-old got the question about Emily Dickinson, so we were both furious.

And yet in a few weeks, we will all want to play Trivial Pursuit again. Why? I've been thinking about this today, and I can only assume that it's about the mystery. That perfect question is out there, and I will know the answer next time! And so it lures me like the siren of board games, and I falter again and again. I did not know which eastern state has the largest display of collectible spoons. I was not aware that Pete Rose achieved his 4000th hit right before his 42nd birthday.

But I did get one terrific mystery lover's question: "What is the more politically correct title of Agatha Christie's TEN LITTLE INDIANS?" I answered, I was correct, and my family decided I had some value as a player.

So do you know? Or should I try the mouse question? :)

Agatha's Early Inspirations

I recently stumbled across a book I got for Christmas long ago called In the Footsteps of Agatha Christie, by Francois Riviere and with photos by Jean-Bernard Naudin. The book is simply breathtaking with its images of Agatha's Torquay and of the many settings she made into the settings of her books. My particular favorites were the little English village of Miss Marple and, of course, the old seaside resorts.

The book recounts tales from Agatha's life, one of which was her determination to write The Mysterious Affair at Styles and how she ended up staying in moody Dartmoor for inspiration (this Dartmoor photo from http://www.independenthostelguide.co.uk/jpegs/Dartmoor%20Exp%20Centre%202.jpg)

Here's a little excerpt which I find particularly interesting and ironic:

"Mrs. Miller suggested that she leave the hospital for a while and stay in a hotel which they both knew well, on the edge of Dartmoor.

Dartmoor is a bleak tableland in the very heart of Devon, scattered with weirdly shaped rocks and haunting to susceptible spirits. It is a remote, empty, windswept place at whose centre only two roads of any note cross. Seemingly uninhabited, except by ponies and sheep, the impressive scenery had always fascinated Agatha. As a child she had followed her parents looking for prehistoric traces known as 'hut circles', which seem to fade away as one draws near. She also remembered picnics on the moor in the pouring rain, and, like many of her contemporaries, had been marked by The Hound of the Baskervilles, that long investigation conducted by Sherlock Holmes in an other-worldly atmosphere and the setting of Dartmoor. It was to this land of dreams and mysteries that Agatha came to regain her forces and set her imagination to work again. . . .

The manuscript of The Mysterious Affair at Styles was completed in 1916 and sent to four publishers in succession. The first three replied with a polite refusal. The fourth, John Lane of The Bodley Head, did not deign to answer."

Even Agatha, the woman who would become the GREAT Agatha, couldn't get past those rejection letters. And that should give hope to us all. :)