There are tons of artists/authors/etc I would put in this category of “like their art but has a seriously troubling thing going on,” btw. I just don’t know how much weight to give that aspect of her. When people say it was normal for the time, I generally think that while racism being more openly widespread was normal, that doesn’t make Agatha not-racist. Was Agatha Christie racist Queen of Crime: Agatha Christie was a British mystery author who wrote at least 66 books and at least 14 short story collections. But Agatha writes her as irrational and paranoid, which, in my opinion, ultimately is gratuitous to the plot. Like the woman survived the Holocaust - of course she as afraid of cops randomly showing up at the house. She makes an opening joke about how everyone was over being mad at Germany (a couple of years after liberation) and then had a Jewish refugee character that she makes into a stereotype and a joke. One example I can think of off the top of my head is (although this is more anti-Jewish) from A Murder is Announced. Let me start by saying I love Agatha and struggle with this issue a lot.
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If we are talking about the original title of. I haven’t read all of her books, maybe about 20, but from that I don’t think there’s a genuine distaste or dislike for foreigners or POC, it’s just she was living in and writing about England in the first half of the 20th century, and it was just kind of like that. When she uses grammar or vocabulary, it must be understood when she was writing the vocabulary was not racist. I think it’s important to acknowledge that while use of language like that isn’t in any way acceptable now, it was allowed then.Īs a whole, no I don’t think she’s racist. Publishers wouldn’t exactly let you be outrageous. The fact that the book was originally published to the world under 10 little n* shows how normal it was. Her books are a leisured-class fantasy, replete with abundant servants, stately. For one thing there are the pleasures of Christie’s settingsthose tranquil villages, exciting archeological sites, and luxurious trains. It’s common to read Christie for its ability to serve as an escape. It is racist, but it was considered to be normal back then. In Christie’s case, a major aspect is classism. Regarding some of the language, like use of the n word, that was just accepted. I think it’s more of a recurring theme of the time than a particular distaste for foreigners from her.
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When the UK joined the EU there was a lot of European migration there, and people didn’t trust it. But also, people didn’t trust foreigners then. In terms of the frequently occurring distrust of foreigners, I think that’s often meant to be in contrast to Poirot being a foreigner himself.