Agatha Cristie's individual style: how true illusions are created

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Oles Honchar Dnipro National University

Agatha Cristie's individual style: how true illusions are created

O.V. Pakhomova, V.V. Yashkina

Abstract

The article considers the uniqueness of Agatha Christie's individual style in thematic, plot and compositional, figurative and both linguistic and stylistic aspects. Numerous scholars (A.Adamov, G. Andjaparidze, A. Vulis, S. Van Dyne and R. Knox) explored the mystery of its success. A large number of foreign and domestic literary critics study the linguistic and stylistic originality of detective stories of the famous writer, among which are I. Dudin, J. Markulan, M. Summers, B. Raynov, T. Kestgei, N. Berkovsky and M. Volkenstein. In general, scholars analyzed detective utterance as a literary genre and determined the contribution and place of A. Christie in the general literary process. M. Kozhin, A. Fedorov, N. Mikhalska and others concentrated attention on the consideration and analysis of linguistic and stylistic, thematic and compositional features of the works of A. Christie. This article aims to give an overview of A. Christie's idiosyncrasy and outline the various features of the creation of imagery, linguistic and stylistic techniques inherent in the outstanding writer's style. In general, scholars analyzed detective stories as examples of literary genre presentations and determined the contribution and place of A. Christie in the overall literary process. Despite the existing theoretical achievements of scholars, in our study we found that A. Christie is characterized by her unique style, which combines not only linguistic but also linguistic elements. The stylistic constant of the writer's work is the appropriate image system, thoroughly portrayed and described according to the genre (a detective who investigates a crime and a criminal (and each of the characters can be one person at a time). In general, the writer uses a rich arsenal of linguistic and stylistic means (irony, epithets, metaphors, simile, hyperbole), which become markers of her unique pen.

Key words: individual style, detective genre, irony, epithet, metaphor, simile

Анотація

О. В. Пахомова, В. В. Яшкіна

Дніпровський національний університет імені Олеся Гончара

СВОЄРІДНІСТЬ ІДІОСТИЛЮ АГАТИ КРІСТІ: ЯК СТВОРЮЮТЬСЯ ПРАВДИВІ ІЛЮЗІЇ

У статті розглядається своєрідність ідіостилю Агати Крісті у тематичному, сюжетно-композиційному, образному та лінгво-стилістичному аспектах. Численні автори (А.Адамов, Г. Анджапарідзе, А. Вуліс, С. Ван Дайн та Р. Нокс) досліджували загадку її успіху. Велика кількість зарубіжних та вітчизняних критиків та літературознавців вивчають лінгвістичну та стилістичну своєрідність детективних творів знаменитої письменниці, серед яких можна назвати І. Дудіна, Я. Маркулан, М. Саммерса, Б. Райнова, Т. Кестгеї. Н. Берковського та М.Волькенштейн. Загалом вчені аналізували детектив як літературний жанр та визначали вклад та місце А. Крісті у загальному літературному процесі.Праці С. С. Ван Дайна, О. Вуліс, П.Денієлсона, Р. Капферера, Р. Нокса, Н. Вольського, М. Кожина, А. Федорова, Н. Михальської та інших присвячені розгляду та аналізу лінгвостилістичних, тематичних та композиційних особливостей творів А. Крісті. Ця стаття має на меті дати загальний огляд ідіостилю А. Крісті та окреслити різні особливості створення образності, лінгво-стилістичних прийомів притаманних видатній письменниці. Незважаючи на великий теоретичний доробок, наше дослідження виявило, що для А. Крісті характерний свій неповторний стиль, що поєднує не лише мовні, але й надмовні елементи. Стильовою константою творчості письменниці є відповідна образна система, ґрунтовно портретизована і описана відповідно до жанру (детектив, котрий розслідує злочин, і злочинець (причому кожен із героїв може ним бути)). Загалом письменниця використовує багатий арсенал лінгво-стилістичних засобів (іронія, епітети, метафори, порівняння, гіперболізацію), які стають маркерами її ідіостилю.

Ключові слова: ідіостиль, детективний жанр, іронія, епітети, метафори, порівняння.

Аннотация

Е.В. Пахомова, В.В. Яшкина

Днепровский национальный университет имени Олеся Гончара

СВОЕОБРАЗИЕ ИДИОСТИЛЯ АГАТЫ КРИСТИ: КАК РОЖДАЮТСЯ ПРАВДИВЫЕ ИЛЛЮЗИИ

В статье рассматривается своеобразие идиостиля Агаты Кристи в тематическом, сюжетно-композиционном, образном и лингво-стилистическом аспектах. Многие авторы (А.Адамов, Г. Анджапаридзе, А. Вулис, С. Ван Дайн и Р. Нокс) исследовали загадку ее успеха. Большое количество зарубежных и отечественных критиков и литературоведов изучают лингвистическое и стилистическое своеобразие детективных произведений знаменитой писательницы, среди которых можно назвать И. Дудина, Я. Маркулан, М. Саммерса, Б. Райнова, Т. Кестгеи. Н. Берковского и М. Волькенштейн. Загалом вчені аналізували детектив як літературний жанр та визначали вклад та місце А. Крісті у загальному літературному процесі. Праці С. С. Ван Дайна, О. Вуліс, П.Денієлсона, Р. Капферера, Р. Нокса, Н. Вольського, М Кожина, А. Федорова, Н. Михальської та інших присвячені розгляду та аналізу лінгвостилістичних, тематичних та композиційних особливостей творів А. Крісті. Ця стаття має на меті дати загальний огляд ідіостилю А. Крісті та окреслити різні особливості створення образності, лінгво -стилістичних прийомів притаманних видатній письменниці. Незважаючи на великий теоретичний доробок, наше дослідження виявило, що для А. Крісті характерний свій неповторний стиль, що поєднує не лише мовні, але й надмовні елементи. Стильовою константою творчості письменниці є відповідна образна система, ґрунтовно портретизована і описана відповідно до жанру (детектив, котрий розслідує злочин, і злочинець (причому кожен із героїв може ним бути)). Загалом письменниця використовує багатий арсенал лінгво-стилістичних засобів (іронія, епітети, метафори, порівняння, гіперболізацію), які стають маркерами її ідіостилю.

Ключові слова: ідіостиль, детективний жанр, іронія, епітети, метафори, порівняння.

Introduction

Agatha Christie (1890-1976) is a world-renowned English writer, the secret of whose popularity remains a mystery, as well as the intrigue in the pages of her detective stories. Agatha Christie is second only to William Shakespeare and the Bible in the popularity and circulation of her books (2 billion books were translated into 130 languages). She is a well-deserved owner of the title "Queen of Detectives", as her literary career lasted for almost sixty years, during which she wrote 68 novels, seventeen plays, and more than a hundred short stories. She also headed the British Detective Club for many years and was a member of the Royal Literary Society. The Mystery Writers of America (American Association of Detective Writers) awarded her the honorary title of Grand Master, which is awarded for significant contributions to literature.

The mystery of her success aroused interest not only among fellow writers, but also among foreign and domestic critics and literary scholars who studied the originality of detective works of the famous writer (A. Adamov, G. Andjaparidze, A. Vulis), discussed the theory of detective genre (I. Dudin, J. Marculan) and researched the history of the detective genre itself (S. Van Dyne and R. Knox). It is also worth mentioning the research of M. Summers, B. Raynov, T. Kestgei on the linguistic and cultural component of the detective genre. N. Berkovsky and M. Volkenstein analyzed detective “body” as a literary genre and determined the contribution and place of A. Christie in the general literary process.

The works of S. Van Dyne, O. Vulis, P. Danielson, R. Kapferer, R. Knox, N. Volsky, M. Kozhin, A. Fedorov, N. Mikhalskaya and others are devoted to the consideration and analysis of linguistic and stylistic, thematic and compositional features of the works of A. Christie.

The statement of the main research material

The purpose of this article is a general overview of the uniqueness of A. Christie's individual style, which unites thematic, plot-compositional, figurative and linguistic features. Analysis of the thematic diversity of Christie's works shows a clear correspondence to the peculiarities of the genre of classical detective story. As a rule, the central theme of many of Christie's works is the death of one, or even several characters, as, for example, in the novel " And Then There Were None" The time in the writer's novels is not clearly defined: it can be one day ("The A.B.C. Murders"), several hours or a stretch for months. In some works, the concept of time is lost, so it is difficult to delineate the time limits of reproducible events. christie linguistic writer

The spatial factor in Agatha Christie's works is not localized: it varies and can be both closed (an estate, a villa or the Soldier's Island) and open (a village), and the crime scene itself can be concentrated in both open and closed space.

Usually the artistic space in Agatha Christie's novels is limited to certain a topos: "Murder in Mesopotamia", "Sad Cupress", "Death on the Nile", " Death Comes as the End ”,“ Five Little Pigs ”, etc. The main motives of her works are mystery and uncertainty, which is the embodiment of the romantic tradition. A. Christie is defined as a well-known mystifier who can create the true illusion that the reader is in complete control of the situation, but in the course of events the reader gets lost and draws wrong conclusions. An example of this is the detective move, which is often used by A. Christie, when the killer is the one who was previously acquitted. The original stylistic decision of the author is the assumption that the motives for the murder were in all, or in most of the characters, which leads the reader to wonder who the killer is.

The dominant feature in the works of A. Christie is a deep psychologism, when attention is paid to the psychology of the killer, but not to the evidence base; because of this the author rarely portrays children's images. However, the stylistic feature of the author's work is the use of children's poems or counters. Quite often they are used to inflate and create an appropriate psychological climate in the works.

A stylistic feature of Agatha Christie's creative work is eidology, which is characterized by diversity and versatility. Endowed with dual features, her images differ from other characters, as Agatha Christie gives them unique characteristics, external and psychological, which makes it easy to distinguish them from others.

Along with Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple, the writer has a special place in the writer's work: atypical heroes: tired colonels and retired majors, provincial aristocrats living in a family environment, ordinary citizens whose lives aroused special interest in Agatha Christie's imagination. A stylistic feature of A. Christie's work is also the presence of a love line in the plot of the work, which adds a lyrical flow to the genre of the work.

Researchers point out that Agatha Christie's vocabulary is quite limited. According to P. Danielson from the University of Birmingham, this means that the reader is not distracted but able to pay more attention to the keys, to the ways to solutions, as well as to the plot [2].

Scholars from the University of London, Birmingham and Warwick have found that there are plenty of trigger phrases in Christie's works that increase the level of serotonin and endorphin in readers' metabolism.

"Christie's language patterns promote higher brain activity than usual," explains Dr. Roland Kapferer, the Project “Agatha” research coordinator. "Stimulation of these neurological opiates the production makes it impossible to stop reading.

In addition, according to researchers, in her works, A. Christie often uses dashes, thus creating a "story of an accelerated pace". Each phrase followed by a dash encourages readers to continue reading.

Also, another stylistic device that A. Christie successfully uses to create mystery is the effect of silence: "I don't know. I ... I fancied that we shouldn't meet again - that's all ... Good-bye »[1, p. 35]; "Mary ... can you hear me, Mary? It is Patrick speaking ... I am coming for you soon. You will be ready, won't you, Mary?" [1, p. 74].

With the help of periphrasis in A. Christie's detectives the dominant motives of mystery and secret are reproduced. “Some forty feet below was a dark heap of something that looked like old clothes” [1, p. 52]. Here the paraphrase "something like a pile of old clothes" is used to enhance the emotional effect. According to the plot, we learn that first the protagonist hears a faint cry, then sees a "pile of clothes" and, going down, realizes that there was a man, no longer alive. Thus, Agatha Christie describes the situation from the perspective of the character, she gives her point of view on the events, because the “man” is standing on top of a hill and cannot understand the situation.

Despite the gloomy plots of Christie's detectives, she uses words that are pleasing to readers; she often repeats the same words or expressions, thus "hypnotizing" the reader. Among such words are "she", "yes", "girl", "cute", "smiled", and "suddenly". Common phrases include "don't follow this", "more or less", "a day or two", "something like that".

Terminology is quite often to be found in the texts of the stories: “Well, there's curare” [1, p. 60], "And Superintendent Battle you doubtless know", said Mr Shaitana [1, p. 75]. Agatha Christie often uses the names of drugs (mostly poisons).

The artistic space of A. Christie's works is characterized by the presence of archaisms, which add certain "classicism", "Englishness". "Whatever else she was, she was a lady!" [1, p. 80]. This language tool is used to clarify the portrayal: the she-character positions herself as a "lady". Along with archaisms in A. Christie's novels there is a foreign vocabulary: “You may expect me on the eighteenth. Mille remerciments! ” [1, p. 64]. “Sorry, Madame”, he said, wiping his eyes ”[1, p. 33]. "It simply came to our notice then. Mon ami, we must get after the Meredith girl - and quickly! ” [1, p. 12].

Portraying the hero, the writer considers it in many ways: physiological, sociological and psychological, giving the character a description at all levels. However, A. Christie does not overwhelm readers with excessive details. R. Kapferer notes that her stories are a suspension of ideas that envelops the reader until the plot comes to an end [3].

To detail the portrayal, the author uses certain stylistic means, which sometimes become a driver of emotional tension. In such cases, the author uses metaphors: "I was in a fever of impatience to get all the facts" [1, p. 3].

Often the writer uses an antithesis that allows you to describe the event or character in many ways, from different angles. “In one sense nothing” in another sense everything ”[1, p. 33].

The author often uses similies: “... He walked like a tiger ...” [1, p. 5].

In this case, a human is compared to a tiger, as the main features of the animal are added to the portrait. The hero has a "tiger move" (“springy”, “light”), which conveys the character of the killer, a careful, cautious man, who is ready to take risks if necessary. “Linda was an awkward as a young colt and as prickly as a hedgehog” [1, p. 22].

Using a simile with a clumsy foal and a prickly hedgehog, A. Christie accurately describes a teenager - an "ugly duckling" who is insecure about herself and her abilities. “She was dressed in glittering green and looked a little like a mermaid” [1, p. 44]. Comparing a girl in a green dress with a mermaid is a hint that she is as insidious as a fairy-tale heroine, and can seduce a hero in love with her from the world.

In this example, the Germans are compared to dancing monkeys: “Odd business, wasn't it? Of course, off hand, I should say the Huns had been celebrating and had monkeyed round with their own explosives ”[1, p. 66].

Christie most often uses synonyms when describing the object, animal, appearance of the characters: "Jack Trent himself, a somewhat heavy florid man, with a good-humored smile, and a pleasant lazy laugh, took up the thread" [1, p. 123], or the transmission of emotions, such as: “His voice was low and soothing, clearly designed to encourage and not to disturb her train of thought” [1, p. 78], or “He was a clean-shaven man with a quizzical face and hair just turning gray on the temples. His profession was so clearly the law that no one could have mistaken him for anything else for a moment. Sir George Durand was, indeed, a very famous lawyer» [1, p. 63].

Sometimes the author resorts to hyperbole: "A man of a world!" [1, p.12]. In in this case, with the help of hyperbole, the narrator in a comic form states the professionalism of the character.

A stylistic feature of A. Christie's prose is its irony: "The next five minutes were spent in a struggle that did credit to Bobby's dentist" [1, p. 58]. "It's most exciting to have a romantically poisoned friend." "All that morphia - enough to kill five of six people - and I am alive and kicking!" [1, p. 20].

Irony is sometimes combined with linguistic repetitions, which are used to accentuate the situation or detail the behavior of the characters. “Frankie felt still more ashamed. It was a mean thing she was doing - mean mean - mean ”[1, p. 66].

To enhance the emotional effect in the artistic space, epithets are used: "She was also a hot-headed feminist ..." [1, p. 77]. “A big, square, wooden-faced man moved forward” [1, p. 86]. “Beatrice King was a short rather sly-looking girl with adenoids” [1, p. 38].

Epithets are used in the portrayal of characters, for a more vivid visualization. “It seems one of the nuns had got something of a reputation - a budding saint - went into trances and saw visions. And according to them she worked the stunt. She called down the lightning to blast the impious Hun - and it blasted him, all right - and everything else within range. A pretty efficient miracle, that!”

These epithets enhance the expressiveness, imagery of the language of the story, give it artistic, poetic brightness. Epithets evoke in the reader a certain emotional attitude to the characters, their actions, and in general - help to see the author's understanding of the world around him. With the help of epithets it is much easier for us to correlate the phenomenon of nature and human life, his inner world.

Conclusion

The work of the English writer of the late XIX-XX centuries is surprisingly bright and colorful. Agatha Christie is characterized by her unique style, which combines not only linguistic but also linguistic elements. The stylistic constant of the writer's work is the appropriate image system, thoroughly portrayed and described according to the genre (detective who investigates a crime, and a criminal (and each of the characters can be one)). The author uses a rich arsenal of language tools (irony, epithets, metaphors, comparisons, hyperbole), which become markers of her individual style.

References

1. Christie, Agatha. The Hound of Death and other stories at new Agatha Christie. Retrieved from https://www.agathachristie.com/stories/thehound-of-death

2. Danielson, Penelope (2016). Retrieved from https://www.calameo.com/books

3. Kapferer, Roland (2006). Crime writer's secret remains a mystery. The Gardians, 2006, #1, Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/science

4. Perederyi S. N. (2004). Osobennosty evoliutsyy detektyvnoho zhanra v anhloiazychnoi lyterature 20 veka [The peculiarities of the detective genre in English literature]// Zahalni pytannia filolohii - General philology issues: Proceedings of the I international scientific and practical conference. Dniprodzerzhynsk, 18-19 March 2004. Dnipropetrovsk, 2004. T. 2. P. 18-20.

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