Meeting Agatha

nef

If you met the great lady, what one question would you ask her?

nef

I would ask if she used a map of the U.K. to get inspiration for names. I have thought it with names like Marple, Kettering, Palgrave etc

Griselda

I would ask her if she understands the mind of a murderer. To write like she does, I believe that she must be like Shakespeare, capable of great good, but also capable of planning what is wicked were she to choose to do so. I think that, like Shakespeare, she has a rare extra sensory perception which allow her to understand the totality of human nature.

Tommy_A_Jones

Tommy_A_Jones

I don't know what I would ask, Why she didn't base a book in Scotland even though a few Characters pretended to go there? Did she have a Map to help her with places which were actually settings for places in the books after all St Mary Mead must have been modeled on somewhere and like Nef's brilliant question did she have a book on Kings and Queens for Naming Characters like Victoria Jones and Edward Armstrong or Why is Eileen Eileen and Frankie Frankie or Albert called Albert?

nef

Great questions Tommy and griselda. We do visit Scotland to see Belle Goedler. Love the idea that she was able to understand the totality of human nature. Is this why her appeal is global and for all ages?

Griselda

Yes, I think her appeal is universal because of her understanding of humanity. I think this even contributes to that sense of being there that readers get when they find the can utterly immerse themselves in the world of her characters.

Tommy_A_Jones

Oh Yes, I clean forgot we visit Scotland to see Belle Goedler, I wonder why as Murder Is Announced is one of my 3 favourite Miss Marple's Novels., I agree about why her Appeal is Global and for all ages too.

Luke

if u were to write a new book, where would u set it?

nef

What would you like the answer to be Luke???

Tommy_A_Jones

I would set it in Australia or Scotland, What type of Establishment or Transport would set a Story? Hotel, Ghost Town? The Sidney to London Coach perhaps?

taliavishay-arbel

Griselda, just an anecdote: about understanding the mind of a murderer. I've just finished re-reading "The secret of Father Brown" by G.K.Chesterton. the whole book (a series of short stories with a frame-work story) is based on that idea. The book begins with someone asking Father Brown how he solves the mysteries, and nearly ends with his answer - he commited the murders - in his mind. He got into the mind of the kind of person who would commit that kind of murder, and then he knew who it was. I wonder if AC read it - it was published in 1927.

Griselda

I bet she did read it Tali. I think she is influenced by other writers. I feel Dr Sheppard's in TMORA was started as a Hastings type, and she was already tiring of the genius and his side kick idea, so on an unconscious level chose to make the SPOILER the murderer.

SiddharthaS

"How come there is no mention about the presence or otherwise of fingerprints on the murder weapon in Cards on the Table?" is a question that I always wanted to ask Agatha Christie, wrote  a letter, addressed it to her care of the publishers, before losing the nerve to mail it.  I was something like 14 or 15 then.  

taliavishay-arbel

I'd like to ask her how she put her story together, so that all the details (usually) fit in, and made sense in the end. 

nef

SiddharthaS what a shame you did not send the message. I wonder what the reply would have been!

Griselda

Hi Tali, that is an interesting anecdote about Father Brown. I think AC was influenced by other writers, but with this situation, I think she would instinctively have put herself in the criminal's mind, because I think to superimpose your own experience on a situation, at the same time as engaging the imagination to be like that person, is an aspect of high intelligence. It is why I wonder how the method approach to acting can work ( is this the one where you observe and mimic the behaviours of a person, or am I wrong?) I find Father Brow dated and unbelievable. My dad liked the books, but I do not. There seems to be no grasp of human nature behind them, and a failure to convey social situations and their ambience, which Jane Austen and AC do so well. As a yard stick, I like Thomas Hardy the best, and his way of understanding people and their emotions and of conveying their feelings about life is tops for me. The Father Brown story about the priest who threw a knife from a tower and killed someone is rubbish to me - it leaves me with no sense of engagement. Who does Chesterton think his reader is to understand the minds of these characters?

Tommy_A_Jones

I am not a Fan of Father Brown, I find them difficult to grasp but your Anecdote makes me want to Read that Book Tali so thankyou.

SiddharthaS

@nef - thanks! Unfortunately the 13-19 age-group along with its fuzzy neighborhood tends to justify the soubriquet "difficult age". From the subject's perspective, life is full of self-doubts, and one fears exposure outside the zone of comfort.   For someone growing up far away in India, eve thinking of writing to a celebrated author was adventure enough.  But the topic asks what would we ask the late author were we to run into her today. That would put me in a older age-group and I would have too much to talk about, ask, and seek responses to - that would not be in the spirit of the topic, and I would probably avoid the encounter today.   Perhaps my ego comes in the way of getting into brief conversations with celebrities who would not be able to spare enough time with me beyond answering one single question with no room even for related counter-questions. 

And while the question I raised at a young age about a mistake of omission may be reasonable enough,  I am not really curious enough to want an answer today.  There are too many other takeaways from that novel that I am grateful for.    Thank you for this opportunity to retrospect. 

PeterJKH

My one question would be "Would you like to join me for tea?", thus giving me the opportunity to chat (and ask) some more.

nef

A quality question PeterJKH!

nef

With regard to the mind of the murderer idea being discussed - Miss Marple states that she just imagined what the murderer would do in 4.50 From Paddington when trying to locate the corpse. Does this not highlight the fact that Christie thought like a murderer?

Tommy_A_Jones

What a lovely Question Peter JKH