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Landscapes of Murder: Exploring Geographies of Crime in the Novels of Agatha Christie

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Landscapes of Murder: Exploring Geographies of Crime in the Novels of Agatha Christie Dottorato di ricerca in Studi Letterari, Linguistici e Storici XXXI ciclo Tesi di Dottorato in Letteratura Inglese Landscapes of Murder: Exploring Geographies of Crime in the Novels of Agatha Christie Coordinatore del Dottorato: Candidata Prof. Carmine Pinto Debora A. Sarnelli Matricola: 8801300008 Tutor: Prof.ssa Eleonora Rao Anno Accademico 2017/2018 Abstract Mystery novels and literary geography have not often intersected. Crime fiction, for instance, has frequently been examined in terms of temporality, rather than in terms of spatiality. Todorov, in this respect, argues that crime narratives, in particular the clue-puzzle forms, are constructed on a temporal duality: the story of the crime – tells what really happened, and the story of the detective’s investigation – the way the detective/narrator presents it to the reader. The two stories eventually converge when the sleuth unmasks the murderer (Todorov 1977). The aim of this research is to read Agatha Christie’s whodunit mysteries as centrally concerned with space, considering that, to quote Geoffrey Hartman, “to solve a crime in detective stories means to give it an exact location” (Hartman 2004). The study focuses on the spatial dimension of Agatha Christie’s detective fiction, shedding a light on her domesticated milieus, both real and fictive. The first to be analysed is rural England, presenting both the narrations where the English country house – a Victorian or a Georgian mansion – functions as the only setting prevailing over the local geography, and her fictional villages, apparent idyllic paradises which in actual fact offer no refuge from the cruelties of the world. Similarly, the study takes into consideration the urban settings with a special attention devoted to the city of London which becomes the epitome of a privileged lifestyle. The city space appears as dangerous as the country side village. Subsequently the research moves outside British borders, but within the confines of the enormous British Empire, with narratives set in foreign and exotic countries. The study analyses Christie’s ‘colonial’ novels, where the Middle East is portrayed as a space of otherness. Lastly, the research investigates the train as a non-place, examining those narratives set in transit. All of these settings present an element in common, what has come to be called the closed circle of suspects. Whether in England or in the Middle East, the accent falls on the domestic sphere of the setting, which conveys the uncanny feeling that the murderer is ‘one of us’. ii Al mio papà Non esiste nulla al mondo che possa valere quanto tu vali per me iii Acknowledgments - Ringraziamenti Scelgo l’italiano, la lingua del cuore, la lingua degli affetti. Il mio primo grazie va alla mia tutor, la Prof.ssa Eleonora Rao, che negli anni mi ha insegnato molto di più di quanto si trovi nei libri: la passione, la dedizione e l’amore per il proprio lavoro. Al suo essere dura e premurosa. Grazie per aver creduto in me. A David Cooper, il mio tutor presso la Manchester Metropolitan University: thank you David for your support during my months in the UK. What you have done for me is really appreciated. Alla Prof.ssa Miriam Voghera, per avermi accolta nel sul laboratorio – una buona parte di questo lavoro è stata scritta proprio lì – e per avermi fatto sentire a casa, sempre. Alle Prof.sse Barone, Cordisco e Guzzo che in questi anni di dottorato non mi hanno mai fatto mancare il loro sostegno, chiarendomi spesso dubbi e incertezze. Un ringraziamento a chi mi ha trasmesso l’immenso amore per la letteratura inglese: a te Rossella Sanseverino, grazie per aver visto in me orizzonti dove io vedevo solo insicurezza. Ai miei genitori, il mio più grande sostegno. Nulla è impossibile quando si affronta la vita insieme. Grazie per avermi spronato a fare sempre meglio, insegnandomi che gli unici limiti sono quelli che spesso noi stessi ci creiamo. A voi, che sapete starmi accanto con discrezione e fiducia. Questo traguardo non è solo mio, ma nostro. Al mio compagno Mauro, per aver mitigato le mie insicurezze. Per aver avuto la pazienza di ascoltare i miei discorsi sulla Christie e per aver saputo montare qualche libreria in più per i miei tanti libri. L’unico modo che conosco per volermi bene è attraverso te. Alla piccola Mariarita e al suo affetto sincero. Il tuo sorriso per me è evasione e conforto. Alla mia numerosa e rumorosa famiglia, presenza costante nella mia vita, per il supporto, l’affetto e la vicinanza che mi ha sempre manifestato. Ad Alessia, amica sincera e leale, per i suoi preziosi consigli, non solo culinari. iv A chi ha saputo capire le mie assenze in questi anni di dottorato, senza mai chiedere spiegazioni. Ringrazio le amiche e amici dottorandi e le colleghe del Lab PAROLE che hanno contribuito a rendere ancora più piacevole e costruttivo questo percorso, confortandomi quando ne avevo bisogno. La felicità è vera solo se condivisa. v Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................ ii Acknowledgments - Ringraziamenti................................................................... iv List of Abbreviations ....................................................................................... viii List of Figures ................................................................................................... ix Introduction ......................................................................................................1 Chapter 1 Space, Place and Popular Narrative: Defining Place in Crime Fiction ....................5 Introduction ................................................................................................................ 6 1.1 The Spatial Turn .................................................................................................... 6 1.2 The Role of Place in Literature: The Case of the Detective Genre ......................... 16 Chapter 2 Domesticity and Spatiality: Mapping the Country House Murders ..................... 27 Introduction .............................................................................................................. 27 2.1 Agatha Christie’s Gendered Detective Fiction: Towards a New Geography of Crime ......................................................................... 28 2.2 Englishness and the Country House: Agatha Christie’s Contribution .................... 37 2.3 Dangerous Rooms vs. Safe Rooms: From Maps to Stories .................................... 51 2.4 The Crooked Child of the Little Crooked House: The House as an Unhomely Place .............................................................................. 62 Chapter 3 From Periphery to Centre: the English Village and the City of London ................ 71 Introduction .............................................................................................................. 72 3.1 Mapping the Pastoral English Village ................................................................... 73 3.1.1 The Geographical Mystery of St Mary Mead ................................................. 79 3.1.2 Maps & Plans in The Murder at the Vicarage ................................................ 87 3.1.3 The Effects of Time on the Community Space of St Mary Mead ..................... 92 3.2 The City of London .............................................................................................. 98 3.2.1 London as a Privileged Lifestyle: Lord Edgware Dies and Cards on the Table101 3.2.2 Nostalgia and Edwardian London: At Bertram’s Hotel ................................ 106 Chapter 4 “How Much I Loved that Part of the World”: Agatha Christie and the Middle East ............................................................... 113 Introduction ............................................................................................................ 114 4.1 The Itinerant Christie ......................................................................................... 115 4.2 Death Comes as the End and the Impossibility of Home..................................... 119 4.3 Death on the Nile: Egypt as Space of Otherness ................................................. 125 4.4 Murder in Mesopotamia and the Western Construction of the Oriental Space .. 134 4.5 Appointment with Death and the Desert as Terra Nullius .................................. 140 vi Chapter 5 “Trains Have Always Been One of My Favourite Things”: Murders on the Rails ..................................................................................... 147 Introduction ............................................................................................................ 148 5.1 Trains and Detective Fiction: A Narrative Device for Closed Settings .................. 149 5.2 Murder on the Orient Express: From Non-Place to Place .................................... 152 5.3 4.50 from Paddington: From the Train to the Country House ............................. 160 Conclusions ................................................................................................... 169 Bibliography .................................................................................................. 176 Primary Sources ...................................................................................................... 176 Secondary Sources .................................................................................................. 177 vii List of Abbreviations AB – An Autobiography ABCM – The ABC Murders ABH – At Bertram’s
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