Four times Agatha Christie turned to Egypt for inspiration, or five if we include an unpublished novel Snow upon the Desert. This we learned from a most informative talk given by member Helen Fryer.
Though she spent more time in Syria and Iraq with her archaeologist husband Max Mallowan, helping him with his finds, Christie found the Nile and the monuments of the pharaohs a suitable setting for her tales. No doubt the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb around this time had something to do with it as well as the occasions she had enjoyed dancing and picnicking as a young woman there. Even that most rational of thinkers Hercule Poirot admitted to being seduced by the landscape and the statues.
And not all her works were whodunits. Her play Akhnaton is a romance between Tutankhamun’s parents during a time of religious uncertainty. Even so, death and poison are involved.
Of particular interest was a consideration of how steeped in Egypt her writings actually are. Akhnaton is an obvious example but in the novels set in contemporary times the locals hardly feature and Islam is never mentioned. Christie stuck to the sort of people she knew, and it can be argued that she was bound in her work by her own experiences. Coming across an ancient cup discovered by Mallowan she compared it to the tea mug from Woolworths she had used that morning, perhaps showing an insensitivity to the rich history of the ancients.
Thank you, Helen, for such a comprehensive and enlightening presentation. Anyone who would like to hear a recording of it should contact our chairman – Chairman.HapySociety@gmail.com