The years of Agatha Christie's life. Biography of the famous writer Agatha Christie. Agatha Christie's best detective stories
Agatha's childhood and youth
Agatha spent her childhood on the Ashfield estate in Torquay. Ashfield remained in Agatha's memory as a symbol of a happy childhood. “Despite the fact that my parents loved social life, in Ashfield I had silence and the opportunity to retire,” Agatha recalled many years later. Agatha’s need for privacy arose very early: already at the age of four, she preferred the company of her Yorkshire terrier Tony, conversations with the nanny and a family of kittens created by her rich imagination.
She was considered a not very smart girl. But this did not affect parental love to my daughter. Mom and Dad were forced to admit: unlike brother Monty and sister Madge - lively, energetic, never at a loss for words - little Agatha did nothing but get lost, embarrassed and stammered.
Agatha did not shine in her studies either. However, at that time, studying for a girl seemed a completely abstract concept, and there was no need to even attend school. From an early age, young ladies were prepared exclusively for a successful marriage; they were taught needlework, music, and dancing. However, attention was paid to competent writing even then: successfully responding to a gallant message from a future gentleman is no joke. So, Agatha always had problems with grammar. And until the very end of her days, having already become a great writer, she continually made gross grammatical errors.
Agatha completely ignored the toys that her parents bought and could spend hours rolling an old hoop along the garden paths.Agatha Christie later recalled these games as follows:
“Reflecting on what gave me the greatest pleasure as a child, I am inclined to think that the firm primacy belonged to the hoop, this simplest toy that cost... how much? Sixpence? Shilling? No more. And what an invaluable relief for parents, nannies and servants! On a fine day, Agatha goes into the garden to play with a hoop, and everyone can be completely calm and free, until the next meal, or, more precisely, until the moment when hunger makes itself felt.
The hoop turned into a horse in turn, sea monster and the railway. Chasing the hoop along the paths of the garden, I became either a knight errant in armor, or a court lady riding a white horse, Clover (from “Kittens”) escaping from prison, or - somewhat less romantically - a driver, conductor or passenger on three railways my own invention.
I developed three branches: “Trubnaya” - a railway with eight stations with a length of three-quarters of the garden, “Bakovaya” - walked along it freight train, serving a short line that started from a huge tank with a crane under a pine tree, and the “Terrace” railway that ran around the house. Just recently I discovered in a closet a sheet of cardboard on which, some sixty years ago, I had clumsily drawn a plan of railroad tracks.
Now I just can’t understand why it gave me such inexplicable pleasure to drive the hoop in front of me, stop and shout: “Lily of the valley.” Transfer to Trubnaya. "Pipe". “The ultimate. Please vacate the carriages." I played like this for hours. It must have been great exercise. With all my diligence I learned the art of throwing my hoop so that it would come back to me; one of our friends, naval officers, taught me this trick. At first I couldn’t do anything, but I persistently tried again and again and finally caught the right movement - how happy I was!”
One day, the nanny, having observed the girl more closely, discovered that Agatha, left alone, was constantly talking to herself. That is, not even with yourself, but with non-existent interlocutors. At home she had long conversations with some kittens, and in the garden she greeted the trees and asked them about the events of the previous night...
Little Agatha loved listening to the stories of relatives who came from the colonies and secretly dreamed of seeing the whole world with her own eyes. But at home she was prepared for another role - the role of a respectable wife: they taught her the art of pleasing her husband and cooking well.
Agatha's mother believed that children should not be allowed to read until they were eight years old. But from early childhood, little Agatha showed an increased interest in “squiggle letters.” Already at the age of four, to the surprise of her nanny and parents, she began to read on her own - and since then she has not parted with books. Collections of fairy tales become the most desired gift for her during the holidays, and the library in the study room is subject to frequent raids.
Agatha's reference book was Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland. And the first detective story she heard, “The Blue Carbuncle” by Arthur Conan Doyle, was told to little Agatha by her sister Magie. As Agatha later recalled, it was then that “in some corner of my brain, where topics for books are born, the thought appeared: “Someday I will write a detective novel myself.” Subsequently, it was from the style of Conan Doyle that the writer Agatha Christie learned to write her detective stories.
Agatha wrote her first story in 1896, expressing in it her cherished childhood dream: to be a real lady. This meant “always leaving a little food on your plate, putting an extra stamp on the envelope, and putting on clean underwear before traveling.” railway in case of disaster."
Agatha dutifully followed these and a thousand other instructions from her nanny and once asked when she would finally become Lady Agatha? The nanny, a convinced realist, replied: “This will never happen. Lady Agatha can only be born, that is, to be the daughter of an earl or duke.” Agatha was very upset. And, as it turned out later, it was completely in vain. After a few decades, she will still become Lady Agatha, and the dream, destroyed by the nanny, will be realized in 1971 by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth.
In the meantime, Agatha was learning proper lady manners, taking piano lessons and studying with a home teacher. She started reading early, but penmanship, grammar and spelling were much more difficult for her. Having already become famous, Agatha Christie continued to write with errors. But mathematics delighted her. It seemed to Agatha that behind the conditions of the simplest problems like “John has five apples, George has six” there was a real intrigue hidden. Which of these boys loves apples more? Where did they even get the apples from? And will something happen to John if he eats the apple that George gave him?
Agatha’s life, like that of the entire Miller family, was carefree: a steady income in the form of interest on her grandfather’s capital, high society in Ashfield, summer trips to France... “I did not suspect that behind the doors of the nursery there was another, different nice world", Agatha recalled.
But in November 1901, Father Fred Miller died. Stunned by grief, eleven-year-old Agatha did not immediately realize that the family’s life had changed. Clara did not leave her bedroom for weeks, refusing to communicate even with her children. Madge, her father's pride, got married. Monty experienced his father's death more difficult than others: he was Fred's favorite and, unable to stay in the empty house, volunteered for India.
Agatha Mary Clarissa, Lady Mallowan (Agatha Mary Clarissa, Lady Mallowan), née Miller (Miller), better known by the name of her first husband as Agatha Christie was born September 15, 1890 in Torquay, Devon.
Her parents were wealthy immigrants from the United States. She was the youngest daughter. The Miller family had two more children: Margaret Frary (1879-1950) and a son, Louis "Monty" Montan (1880-1929). Agatha received a good education at home, in particular music, and only stage fright prevented her from becoming a musician.
During the First World War, Agatha worked as a nurse in a hospital; she loved the profession and described it as “one of the most rewarding professions a person can engage in.” She also worked as a pharmacist in a pharmacy, which subsequently left an imprint on her work: 83 crimes in her works were committed through poisoning.
Agatha got married for the first time on Christmas Day in 1914 for Colonel Archibald Christie, with whom she had been in love for several years - even when he was a lieutenant. They had a daughter, Rosalind. This period was the beginning creative path Agatha Christie. In 1920 Christie's first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, was published. There is an assumption that the reason for Christie's contact with the detective was a dispute with older sister Madge (who had already proven herself to be a writer) that she, too, could create something worthy of publication. Only the seventh publishing house published the manuscript in a circulation of 2,000 copies. The aspiring writer received a fee of £25. In 1922 together with her husband, Agatha Christie made a round-the-world sea voyage along the route Great Britain - Bay of Biscay - South Africa - Australia and New Zealand- Hawaiian Islands - Canada - USA - UK.
In 1926 Agatha's mother died. Late that year, Agatha Christie's husband Archibald admitted to infidelity and asked for a divorce because he had fallen in love with fellow golfer Nancy Neal. After a quarrel early December 1926 Agatha disappeared from her home, leaving a letter to her secretary in which she stated that she was heading to Yorkshire. Her disappearance caused a loud public outcry, since the writer already had fans of her work. For 11 days, nothing was known about Christie's whereabouts.
Agatha's car was found, and her fur coat was found inside. A few days later the writer herself was discovered. As it turns out, Agatha Christie registered under the name Teresa Neil at the small spa hotel Swan Hydropathic Hotel (now Old Swan Hotel). Christie gave no explanation for her disappearance, and two doctors diagnosed her with amnesia caused by a head injury.
Despite mutual affection at the beginning, Archibald and Agatha Christie's marriage ended in divorce in 1928.
In 1930 While traveling around Iraq, at excavations in Ur, she met her future husband, archaeologist Max Mallowan. He was 15 years younger than her. Agatha Christie said about her marriage that for an archaeologist a woman should be as old as possible, because then her value increases significantly. Since then, she periodically spent several months a year in Syria and Iraq on expeditions with her husband; this period of her life was reflected in the autobiographical novel “Tell How You Live.” Agatha Christie lived in this marriage for the rest of her life.
Thanks to Christie's trips to the Middle East with her husband, several of her works took place there. Other novels (such as Ten Little Indians) were set in or around Torquay, Christie's birthplace. Novel "Murder on the Orient Express" ( 1934) was written at the Hotel Pera Palace in Istanbul (Turkey). Room 411 of the hotel where Agatha Christie lived is now her memorial museum. The Greenway Estate in Devon, which the couple bought in 1938, is under the protection of the Society for the Preservation of Monuments (National Trust).
Christie often stayed at the mansion Abney Hall in Cheshire, which belonged to James Watts, her sister's husband. At least two of Christie's works were set on this estate.
In 1956 Agatha Christie was awarded the Order of the British Empire, and in 1971 For her achievements in the field of literature, Agatha Christie was awarded the title of Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire, the holders of which also receive noble title"lady" used before a name. Three years earlier in 1968 Agatha Christie's husband, Max Mallowan, was also awarded the title of Knight of the Order of the British Empire for his achievements in the field of archaeology.
In 1958 The writer headed the English Detective Club.
Between 1971 and 1974 Christie's health began to deteriorate, but despite this, she continued to write. Experts from the University of Toronto examined Christie's writing style during these years and suggested that Agatha Christie suffered from Alzheimer's disease.
In 1975 When she became completely weak, Christie transferred all rights to her most successful play, The Mousetrap, to her grandson.
The writer died January 12, 1976 at her home in Wallingford, Oxfordshire after suffering from a short cold and was buried in the village of Cholsey.
Agatha Christie's books have been published in over 4 billion copies and translated into more than 100 languages.
She also holds the record for the maximum number of theatrical productions of a work. Agatha Christie's play The Mousetrap was staged for the first time in 1952 and is still on continuous display today.
In 1920 Christie publishes her first detective novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, which had previously been rejected by British publishers five times. Soon she has a whole series of works in which the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot acts: 33 novels, 1 play and 54 stories.
Continuing the tradition of the English masters of the detective genre, Agatha Christie created a pair of heroes: the intellectual Hercule Poirot and the comical, diligent, but not very smart Captain Hastings. If Poirot and Hastings were largely copied from Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, then the old maid Miss Marple is a collective image reminiscent of the main heroines of the writers M.Z. Braddon and Anna Catherine Green.
Miss Marple appeared in the story 1927 of the year “The Tuesday Night Club”. The prototype of Miss Marple was Agatha Christie’s grandmother, who, according to the writer, “was a good-natured person, but always expected the worst from everyone and everything, and with frightening regularity her expectations were justified.”
Like Arthur Conan Doyle from Sherlock Holmes, Agatha Christie was tired of her hero Hercule Poirot by the end of the 1930s, but unlike Conan Doyle, she did not decide to “kill” the detective while he was at the peak of his popularity. According to the writer’s grandson, Matthew Pritchard, of the characters she invented, Christie liked Miss Marple more - “an old, smart, traditional English lady.”
During World War II, Christie wrote two Curtain novels ( 1940 ) and "Sleeping Murder", which was intended to end the series of novels about Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple, respectively. However, the books were published only in the 1970s.
Other Agatha Christie detectives:
Colonel Race appears in four Agatha Christie novels. The Colonel is an agent of British intelligence, he travels around the world in search of international criminals. Reis is a member of MI5's spy department. He is a tall, well-built, tanned man.
He first appears in The Man in the Brown Suit, a spy mystery set in... South Africa. He also appears in two Hercule Poirot novels, Cards on the Table and Death on the Nile, where he assists Poirot in his investigation. IN last time he appears in the novel 1944 "Shimmering Cyanide", where he investigates the murder of his old friend. In this novel, Reis has already reached old age.
Parker Pyne is the hero of 12 stories included in the collection Parker Pyne Investigates, as well as partially in the collections The Regatta Mystery and Other Stories and Trouble in Pollensa and Other Stories. The Parker Pyne series is not detective fiction in the generally accepted sense. The plot is usually not based on a crime, but on the story of Pine's clients, who... various reasons unhappy with your life. It is these dissatisfaction that brings clients to Pine's agency. In this series of works, Miss Lemon first appears, who leaves her job with Pine to become a secretary to Hercule Poirot.
Tommy and Tuppence Beresford full names Thomas Beresford and Prudence Cowley are a young married couple of amateur detectives who first appear in the novel The Mysterious Assailant. 1922 years, not yet married. They begin their lives with blackmail (for money and out of interest), but soon discover that private investigation brings more money and pleasures. In 1929, Tuppence and Tomie appeared in the short story collection Partners in Crime, in 1941 in N or M?, in 1968 in Snap Your Finger Just Once, and most recently in the 1973 novel The Gates of Doom. , which was the last Agatha Christie novel written, although not the last published. Unlike the rest of Agatha Christie's detectives, Tommy and Tuppence age along with the real world and with each subsequent novel. So, to last novel, where they appear, they are nearly seventy.
AGATHA CHRISTIE
“I’m just a fantastic sausage production line,” Agatha Christie said about herself in an interview. She, of course, had in mind her prolific writing, and not at all the quality of her work. The best evidence of quality is the love of readers: to date, more than two billion of her books have been sold. The “Queen of Detective” managed to earn a fabulous fortune from murders without committing a single crime.
The father of the virtuoso English writer was an American. Born Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller, she was raised and had a truly English upbringing in sea coast in the town of Torquay, where Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, one of her main literary role models, composed The Hound of the Baskervilles. Her mother sparked her interest in writing when she once suggested she come up with a story to while away a rainy day.
In 1914, Agatha married Archibald Christie, a pilot in the Royal Flying Corps. During the First World War she worked as a nurse in a hospital. There Christie acquired a deep knowledge of poisons and how they affect human body. “Give me a cute, deadly bottle instead of a toy - I’ll be happy,” she once said. Indeed, approximately half of the murders that occur in her novels are poisonings.
After the end of the war, Christie worked for almost a year and a half on her first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles. Here, the plump Belgian detective Hercule Poirot appears before readers for the first time. However, the book sold at such a snail's pace that the writer did not earn a penny from sales. Six years later, when The Murder of Roger Ackroyd was published, everything changed overnight. The original plot twists and astonishing denouement revolutionized the orderly and measured detective genre. And off we go! Christie wrote and published ninety-three books and seventeen plays, including six romance novels, created under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott. Her works have been translated into 103 languages (in this matter she even overtook Shakespeare). In addition to Poirot, the list of her most famous characters includes the stubborn English old woman Miss Jane Marple, the mysterious Colonel Race and the tireless detective couple Tuppence and Tommy Beresford.
Christie's crime and investigation novels invariably had an elegant, neatly English ending. But in the writer’s personal life, everything was by no means so smooth. Her first marriage ended in divorce in 1928 when she discovered Archie was cheating on her. In 1930, Agatha married again, this time to archaeologist Max Mallowan, who... also cheated on her. Despite this, they managed to stay together for forty-five years, during which Agatha often traveled with her husband to excavations in Iraq and Syria. She created several books in these exotic oriental settings.
In 1955, Christie became the first recipient of the Grand Master Award, awarded by the Mystery Writers Association of America. She was also awarded the title of Dame of the Order of the British Empire (1971). Many of her novels were filmed in the form of films and television films - and most of these film adaptations, in the opinion of Agatha herself, were completely worthless. But she approved the film “Murder on the Orient Express” (1974); actor Albert Finney, who played the role of Poirot in this production, was nominated for an Oscar. Undoubtedly, the writer would be very surprised to see Agatha Christie's Great Detectives, an anime series that aired in 2004 on the Japanese channel NHK and to which the writers added love line between two of the most famous detectives - Poirot and Miss Marple. Regardless, this series, which gives Agatha Christie's classic characters a new look and introduces several new characters (including a talking duck), proves that the works of the "Queen of Detective" have not been erased from popular memory.
Agatha Christie died in 1976, having enjoyed the title of the world's most famous detective author. Guinness World Records names Agatha Christie 'best-selling' author fiction of all times and peoples. Her play “The Mousetrap,” first staged in London in 1952 and still present in the repertoire of the same theater, is recognized as the longest-running production in the world. Not too bad for a “sausage production line” and a woman who took up literature only because she thought, “It might be fun to try writing a detective story.”
VICTIM OF CARPLAIN SYNDROME?
Despite her reputation as one of the most prolific writers in literary history, Agatha Christie never put pen to paper in her life. She suffered from dysgraphia, a writing disorder, so she wrote with great difficulty. Christie had to dictate her novels. One can only hope that her typist, in addition to her salary, also received “combat wages.”
THE 1907 WOMAN OF THE YEAR AWARD FROM THE PEOPLE FOR THE ETHICAL TREATMENT OF ANIMALS IS…
In her youth, Christy considered herself a good housewife and was very proud of it. In her autobiography, she described how she once deftly chloroformed a hedgehog caught in a tennis net in order to free it.
AGATA AND THE “BAD WORD”
One of Agatha Christie's most popular books, And Then There Were None, has been filmed several times and has spawned many theatrical productions. It inspired a TV movie, a parody musical, and a song written by popular 1970s singer-songwriter Harry Nilsson. How? Have you ever heard of such a novel? This is not surprising, because previously it was published under a different name - “Ten Little Indians”. Later, due to political incorrectness, the book was renamed “Ten Little Indians,” and when this name was no longer considered correct, the book was republished under the title “And Then There Were None.”
PATHETIC FAT BELGIAN FREAK
The imperturbable Hercule Poirot (whose surname, according to one version, comes from French word, meaning “simp”) is one of the most beloved literary detectives by readers. The writer herself did not at all lead the ranks of his fans. Having dedicated her second novel, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926), to the pompous Belgian, Agatha Christie soon grew tired of him. In the 1930s she stated that she found Poirot unbearable. And in the 1960s she ridiculed him as a “self-centered hypocrite.” However, Poirot helped her pay the bills all this time. “I can’t stand him,” Christie once said, “but I have to keep writing about him because that’s what the readers want.”
Despite her dislike, Agatha Christie zealously defended the image of Poirot. When “The Murder of Roger Ackroy” was going to be staged in the theater and the director proposed to “refresh” her hero by “cutting off Poirot for twenty years, calling him Handsome Poirot and surrounding him with girls in love with him,” the writer resolutely opposed this.
MAYBE SHE JUST READ THE SCRIPT?
Another popular Christie heroine, the elderly detective Miss Jane Marple, was liked by her creator much more. Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple appear under the names Milo Perrier and Jessica Marbles in the parody detective story “A Murder Dinner,” filmed in 1976 and written by the famous American playwright Neil Simon. Unfortunately, Agatha Christie never lived to see the premiere.
SCABIES IN THE ORIENT EXPRESS
One of his most famous novels, “Murder on the Orient Express,” Agatha Christie wrote in room 411 of the Pera Palace Hotel in the Turkish capital Istanbul. Now this room is called the “Agatha Christie Room”, guests are no longer accommodated there, and the room is preserved in the same form as it was when the great writer stayed there. The journey from Paris to Istanbul, which Christie herself made on the Orient Express, was not so cloudless, and she chose to omit some details in her book. She was plagued by bedbugs all the way.
I DIDN'T SAY THIS!
Although Agatha Christie loved aphorisms, the phrase most often attributed to her is: “ Best husband, which a woman can only dream of, is an archaeologist. The older a woman gets, the more infatuated he is with her,” she never actually said. Her second husband, archaeologist Max Mallowan, was clearly not so keen. He changed a whole string of mistresses, and married one of them just a year after Agatha’s death.
AGATHA CHRISTIE SUFFERED WITH DYGRAPHIA AND THEREFORE COULD ALMOST COULD NOT WRITE BY HAND. ALL HER NOVELS WERE DICTED.
The biggest secret associated with Agatha Christie lies not in her works, but in her biography. In December 1926, the thirty-six-year-old writer mysteriously disappeared for eleven days. The police suspected that Christie was the victim of some kind of crime, but her ambling hubby, Archibald Christie, had an ironclad alibi. During the disappearance of his wife, he was in the arms of his mistress. Following a tip from a nosy waiter, the police found Agatha in a Yorkshire hotel. She stayed there under an assumed name. At first, Christie pretended to suffer from amnesia, but many years later it turned out that this incident was part of a plan hatched by the angry Agatha to take her husband away from her mistress. However, whatever her true intentions, the idea failed. Two years later the couple divorced. The 1979 film Agatha, starring Vanessa Redgrave as Agatha and Timothy Dalton (one of James Bond) as Archie, is a live-action account of that strange event.
THANK YOU FOR THE CLARIFICATION
In her autobiography, Agatha Christie listed in detail what she loved and what she didn’t. The list of things that caused the most irritation included: “crowds; when I'm squeezed among people; loud voices; noise; long conversations; parties, especially cocktail parties; cigarette smoke and smoking in general; any alcoholic drinks except for their use in cooking; marmalade; oysters; lukewarm food; bird's feet or even the whole bird" - and, most importantly, "the taste and smell of hot milk."
Gwendoline Christie. Brienne of Tarth Gwendoline Christie was born on October 28, 1976 in the English city of Worthing. As a child, Gwendoline attended classes rhythmic gymnastics and dreamed about sports career, however, a spinal injury ruined the plans. Then Gwendolyn decided
7. Obsessed with Christy I Want Great love, I want great love. Led Zeppelin I cooked for Christy. At her home. Baby and Sweet remained somewhere far away, on the other side of life. I fried onions, garlic and Italian sausage, inhaled the wonderful smell and became convinced that it was better not
4. Agatha Christie “The Mournful Cypress” I am by no means one of the sworn enemies of the detective story in general and Agatha Christie in particular. The venerable lady knows how to write very well - her language is excellent, the plot is masterfully constructed and not as senselessly bloody as those of her countless colleagues. U
Leonid Christie, or the talent of morality Leonid Mikhailovich was a talented director and a wonderful, deeply decent person. He was one of the few intelligent people in our studio, and his opinion was authoritative for everyone - today, looking back, I believe this with
July 13, 2011 About Agatha Christie and authorial voluntarism My dears, tell me, why do you love Agatha Christie? I, for example, don’t love her. Although it would seem - who else to love in this blessed genre if not her ? Cozy villages. Houses in pink ivy. Kindergartens. Corpses. Sarcophagi.
WORKS OF AGATHA CHRISTIE (If the book was published under a different title in the United States of America, this title is given in parentheses) 1920. "The Mysterious Affair at Styles" 1922. "Secret Enemy" 1923. "Murder on the Golf Course" 1924. “Poirot Investigates” (collection of stories) 1924.
CHRISTY MATTHESON (1880-1925) America in the early 1900s was confident and complacent, uncertain about its place in history but searching for itself. And she found her own essence in her heroes: Teddy Roosevelt in politics, Jack London in literature and
Chapter Three Mrs. Archibald Christie A is “Heavenly Angel, Agatha” - Archie’s wife, handsome and smart. “The Poetic Alphabet” by Agatha Christie 1915 OCTOBER 12, 1912. On the evening when Agatha Christie met Archibald Christie, for some reason there was no ringing in her ears
Works of Agatha Christie The following list of literary works by Agatha Christie published in Great Britain gives an idea of how famous she was at the time of her disappearance. Stories marked ** were included in the collection “Poirot Investigates”;
E. N. Tsimbaeva Agatha Christie
Chapter Seven A MURDER ANNOUNCED (Novels and Stories of Agatha Christie) 1Agatha Christie treated her own detective work with a disdain that would have offended any of her devoted admirers had it been shown by anyone else. She neglected her repeatedly
Chapter Nine DRAMA IN THREE ACTS (Dramaturgy by Agatha Christie) Act I. Overture Agatha Miller loved the theater. She spent wonderful hours of her childhood at matinee performances in Exeter and London. The plays that her father and grandmother-aunt took her to were sometimes completely mediocre, but the girl
MAIN DATES IN THE LIFE AND WORK OF AGATHA CHRISTIE 1890, September 15 - Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller was born into the family of Frederick and Clarissa Miller in Ashfield (Torquay, Devonshire, England). 1895 - departure of the Nanny who played main role in her childhood.1896–1897 - traveling with her parents and elder
September 15th. Agatha Christie was born (1891) Christian country The good detective story is not the one where the reader, together with the hero, is looking for the next Charles or corals, but the one where the author is looking for meaning. In our country this is illustrated by the example of Dostoevsky, the author of two of the most popular Russian detective stories -
Agatha Christie is a famous English writer, prose writer, author of plays and popular detective novels. She is the author of stories about such iconic detectives as Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot, who can rival the fame of the unforgettable Sherlock Holmes (author - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle).
A biography and essay on Agatha Christie's work will undoubtedly prove quite useful and interesting for our readers.
short biography
Agatha Mary Clarissa Mallone (Miller before her second marriage), who later became famous as the writer Agatha Christie, was born in a small English town. The girl's parents were fairly wealthy emigrants from the United States of America. Three children grew up in the family: Agatha, as well as her brother Louis and sister Margaret.
Agatha Christie's biography is devoid of events, at least in early years life of a writer. Agatha's father died early, and the family lived poorly. The girl did not study well and changed several educational institutions, while she was interested in music.
When the First World War began at the beginning of the twentieth century World War, Agatha went to work in a hospital for wounded military personnel as a nurse. This gave her invaluable life experience. It is known, by the way, that a young, unknown nurse began writing her first novel while working in a hospital.
When the war ended, the future famous writer studied to become a pharmacist. Thanks to this, she, having become the author of detective works, was able to describe poisoning using various toxic substances quite reliably.
The very first detective novel by this author, who changed his cumbersome name to a euphonious pseudonym, was written in 1915. True, the public was able to get acquainted with this work only in 1920, since until that moment all publishing houses rejected it.
There is also an autobiographical work: “Agatha Christie. Autobiography".
It will be useful for the reader to learn some instructive and funny facts about the famous writer:
- Agatha Christie was honored to be awarded the Order of the British Empire, received the title of noblewoman - “lady”, and her biography invariably sells in huge numbers.
- Christie signed some of her works with the pseudonym Mary Westmacott.
- According to some researchers, the writer suffered from incurable diseases: some call Alzheimer's disease, and others call dysgraphia.
- Agatha Christie happened to disappear, frightening the entire world community: when her husband asked for a divorce, the author of detective stories disappeared for eleven whole days and was even put on the national wanted list.
- In the books of the English writer, exactly 83 murders were committed with the help of highly toxic poisons.
- Agatha Christie's autobiographical story ends with the following phrase: “Thank you, Lord, for my wonderful life and for all the love that was given to me.”
During her lifetime, Agatha Christie received the proud title of “Queen of Detectives” from the British and American press.
Contribution to literature
This writer penned many literary works. There are two major series of her novels about great detectives: the adventures of Hercule Poirot, a funny Belgian eccentric detective; as well as a series of stories about Miss Marple, a sweet and respectable old lady, whose prototype is called Agatha Christie herself, as well as her elderly grandmother, who has not lost her sharp mind.
It should also be mentioned that literary works Christie's Agathas have been filmed several times. Even the most famous film adaptations cannot fit on one page. Here are some of them:
- "Murder on the Orient Express".
- "Agatha Christie's Poirot."
- "Ten Little Indians."
- "The Big Alibi"
- "Miss Marple".
- "Mousetrap".
And this is not a complete list of film adaptations of her novels.
The series about Hercule Poirot was even adapted into a TV series, which is now quite popular and includes several well-developed seasons. But Miss Marple was not left without her own series: it was filmed Feature Film, consisting of many parts, in which the main roles were played by wonderful English as well as American theater and film actors.
Under another pseudonym, the English writer also published psychological novels - thrillers, as they would be called today. These psychological novels, like, in principle, her detective prose, were distinguished by a twisted, extraordinary plot and eventful action that kept the reader in suspense until the very last page.
In general, the work of the famous Englishwoman was truly heterogeneous, rich in new plot solutions, techniques and intrigues that had not previously been used by other writers.
Agatha Christie can be called a truly great writer. Her works occupy third place in the list of most published books, second only to the Bible and William Shakespeare. The writer created more than sixty novels, wrote creepy thrillers under another pseudonym, and was also the author of several plays that immediately appeared in the repertoires of the most famous London theaters. Her best books were filmed.
So, there is no doubt that Agatha Christie made a truly invaluable contribution to English and, of course, world literature. Author: Irina Shumilova
Spy novel, autobiography
Lady Agatha Mary Clarissa Mallowan(English) Agatha Mary Clarissa, Lady Mallowan), born Miller(eng. Miller), better known by the name of her first husband as Agatha Christie(September 15, Torquay, UK - January 12, Wallingford, Oxfordshire, UK) - English writer.
She is one of the world's most famous authors of detective prose; her works have become some of the most published in the history of mankind (second only to the Bible and the works of Shakespeare).
Christie published more than 60 detective novels, 6 psychological novels (under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott or Westmacott), and 19 collections of short stories. 16 of her plays were staged in London.
Agatha Christie's books have been published in over 4 billion copies and translated into more than 100 languages.
She also holds the record for the maximum number of theatrical productions of a work. Agatha Christie's play "The Mousetrap" was first staged in 1952 and is still shown continuously. At the ten-year anniversary of the play at the Ambassador Theater in London, in an interview with ITN television, Agatha Christie admitted that she did not consider the play the best to be staged in London, but the public liked it, and she herself went to the play several times a year.
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Biography
Childhood and first marriage
Her parents were wealthy immigrants from the United States. She was the youngest daughter in the Miller family. The Miller family had two more children: Margaret Frary (1879-1950) and a son, Louis "Monty" Montan (1880-1929). Agatha received a good education at home, in particular music, and only stage fright prevented her from becoming a musician.
During the First World War, Agatha worked as a nurse in a hospital; she liked this profession and spoke of it as “ one of the most rewarding professions a person can engage in". She also worked as a pharmacist in a pharmacy, which subsequently left an imprint on her work: 83 crimes in her works were committed through poisoning.
Agatha married for the first time on Christmas Day in 1914 to Colonel Archibald Christie, with whom she had been in love for several years - even when he was a lieutenant. They had a daughter, Rosalind. This period marked the beginning of Agatha Christie's creative career. Christie's first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, was published in 1920. There is an assumption that the reason for Christie’s turn to the detective was a dispute with her older sister Madge (who had already proven herself to be a writer) that she, too, could create something worthy of publication. Only the seventh publishing house published the manuscript in a circulation of 2,000 copies. The aspiring writer received a fee of £25.
Disappearance
Between 1971 and 1974, Christie's health began to deteriorate, but despite this, she continued to write. Experts at the University of Toronto examined Christie's writing style during these years and suggested that Agatha Christie suffered from Alzheimer's disease.
In 1975, when she was completely weakened, Christie transferred all rights to her most successful play, The Mousetrap, to her grandson.
The autobiography of Agatha Christie, which the writer graduated in 1965, ends with the words: “ Thank you, Lord, for my good life and for all the love that was given to me».
Christie's only daughter, Rosalind Margaret Hicks (eng. Rosalind Margaret Hicks) also lived to be 85 years old and died on October 28, 2004 in Devon. Agatha Christie's grandson, Mathew Prichard, inherited the rights to some of Agatha Christie's literary works, and his name is still associated with the foundation. Agatha Christie Limited».
Creation
| One Indian correspondent who interviewed me (and, admittedly, asked a lot of stupid questions), asked: “Have you ever published a book that you consider to be downright bad?” I answered indignantly: “No!” No book came out exactly as intended, was my answer, and I was never satisfied, but if my book turned out really bad, I would never have published it. Agatha Christie "Autobiography" |
In an interview with the British television company BBC in 1955, Agatha Christie said that she spent her evenings knitting with friends or family, while in her head she was busy thinking about a new storyline, by the time she sat down to write a novel, the plot was ready from start to finish. By her own admission, the idea for a new novel could have come anywhere. Ideas were entered into a special notebook full of various notes about poisons and newspaper articles about crimes. The same thing happened with the characters. One of the characters created by Agatha had a real-life prototype - Major Ernest Belcher, who at one time was the boss of Agatha Christie's first husband, Archibald Christie. It was he who became the prototype for Pedler in the 1924 novel “The Man in the Brown Suit” about Colonel Race.
Agatha Christie was not afraid to address social issues in her works. For example, at least two of Christie's novels ("Five Little Pigs" and "Ordeal by Innocence") described cases miscarriages of justice related to death penalty. In general, many of Christie’s books describe various negative sides English justice of that time.
The writer has never made crimes of a sexual nature the theme of her novels. Unlike today's detective stories, there are practically no scenes of violence, pools of blood or rudeness in her works. “The detective story was a story with a moral. Like everyone who wrote and read these books, I was against the criminal and for the innocent victim. No one could have imagined that the time would come when detective stories would be read for the scenes of violence described in them, for the sake of obtaining sadistic pleasure from cruelty for the sake of cruelty ... "- this is what she wrote in her autobiography. In her opinion, such scenes dull the feeling of compassion and do not allow the reader to focus on the main theme of the novel.
Agatha Christie considered her best work to be the novel “Ten Little Indians.” The rocky islet on which the novel takes place is copied from life - this is the island of Burgh in southern Britain. Readers also appreciated the book - it has the largest sales in stores, but to comply with political correctness it is now sold under the title And Then There Were None- “And there was no one.”
In her work, Agatha Christie demonstrates the conservatism of her political views, which is quite typical for the English mentality. A striking example serves as the story “The Clerk’s Story” from the series about Parker Pyne, about one of the heroes of which it is said: “He had some kind of Bolshevik complex.” In a number of works - “The Big Four”, “ Eastern Express", "The Captivity of Cerberus" feature immigrants from the Russian aristocracy, who enjoy the author's unfailing sympathy. In the aforementioned story, "The Clerk's Tale," Mr. Pine's client becomes involved in a group of agents who are passing secret blueprints of Britain's enemies to the League of Nations. But according to Pine’s decision, a legend is invented for the hero that he is carrying jewelry that belongs to a beautiful Russian aristocrat and saves them together with the owner from agents of Soviet Russia.
Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple
Inspector Narracott is a detective, the hero of the novel “The Riddle of Sittaford”.
List of works
- - Agatha Christie: The Alphabet Murders (not published in Russia)
Agatha Christie in films
In the fourth season of the British television series Doctor Who, the Doctor and his companion Donna meet Agatha on the day of her disappearance. The series tells about the events that happened to Agatha these days. The Doctor and Donna also give her ideas about creating Miss Marple and the book Death in the Clouds.
In the second season of the Spanish television series Grand Hotel, one of the main characters, Alicia Alarcon, meets a young girl, Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller, who is interested in writing detective stories.
see also
- The Agatha Christie Hour
Notes
- ID BNF: Open Data Platform - 2011.
- Encyclopædia Britannica
- SNAC - 2010.
- Edited Guide Entry(English) . BBC Home (9 August 2001). Retrieved April 8, 2010. Archived August 25, 2011.
- Author Spotlight: Agatha Christie(English) (undefined). BookClubs. Retrieved April 8, 2010. Archived August 25, 2011.
- Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie (Miller) (undefined) . People (September 26, 2007). Retrieved April 8, 2010. Archived August 25, 2011.
- Newspaper “Book Review” 2012, No. 17
- Report from the ITN television company about the anniversary of “Mousetraps” in 1962 (video)(English) (undefined). ITN. Retrieved April 8, 2010.