Poirot investigates

Lately I've started reading the novels of Agatha Christie. Before this year, I'd read only a couple of them and wasn't really a fan. But after reading The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, a masterpiece of its type, I was hooked. Since then, I've been working my way through her books, concentrating on her earlier efforts.

I know almost nothing about Agatha Christie's personal life, but from her writings I suspect she had a genuine interest in spiritualism. I say this because the subject often crops up in her books, and because she seems familiar with spiritualist language and concepts, and even with some famous cases in the field. I'm not saying she was a convinced spiritualist, only that she seems to have more than a passing interest in the subject. And unlike Arthur Conan Doyle, who – despite his passionate commitment to spiritualism – never allowed his most famous fictional creation to opine on séances and skeptics, Christie did allow her famed Hercule Poirot to sound off on the topic. Here's an excerpt from the 1937 novel Poirot Loses a Client, also published as Dumb Witness. 

 

Agatha Christie

Poirot and his sidekick, Hastings, have just concluded an interview with the eccentric Tripp sisters, who hold regular séances. The discussion centered on the deceased Emily Arundell, who sometimes attended the sittings. Hastings, a stolid but unimaginative fellow along the lines of Holmes’ Watson, remarks to Poirot: 

“And it certainly looks as though Emily Arundell was much too sensible to believe in any tomfoolery like spiritualism.”

“What makes you say that spiritualism is tomfoolery, Hastings?”

I stared at him in astonishment.

“My dear Poirot – those appalling women –”

He smiled.

“I quite agree with your estimate of the Misses Tripp. But the mere fact that the Misses Tripp have adopted with enthusiasm Christian Science, vegetarianism, theosophy and spiritualism does not really constitute a damning indictment of those subjects! Because a foolish woman will tell you a lot of nonsense about a fake scarab which she has bought from a rascally dealer, that does not necessarily bring discredit on the general subject of Egyptology!”

“Do you mean you believe in spiritualism, Poirot?”

“I have an open mind on the subject. I have never studied any of its manifestations myself, but it must be accepted that many men of science and learning have pronounced themselves satisfied that there are phenomena which cannot be accounted for by – shall we say the credulity of a Miss Tripp.”

“Then you believe in this rigmarole of an aureole of light surrounding Miss Arundell’s head?”

Poirot waved a hand.

“I was speaking generally – rebuking your attitude of quite unreasoning skepticism. I may say that, having formed a certain opinion of Miss Tripp and her sister, I should examine very carefully any fact they presented for my notice. Foolish women, mon ami, are foolish women, whether they are talking about spiritualism or politics or the relation of the sexes or the tenets of the Buddhist faith."

In his rejection of “quite unreasoning skepticism,” his “open mind,” and his acknowledgment of the opinions of “many men of science and learning" who’d investigated the phenomena at first hand, Poirot appears to be on our side! This only makes me like Dame Agatha that much more.

Comments

[Amos Oliver Doyle]

I like her too for "rigmarole of an aureole". - AOD :^)

[Roger Knights]

One of her top-10 favorites was Endless Night. It's one of her late works. It has a dark, conservative undertone. I was impressed. $8 for the Kindle version.
http://www.amazon.com/Endless-Night-Mystery-Agatha-Christie-ebook/dp/B005CL8DPQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1437973859&sr=1-1&keywords=agatha+christie%2C+endless+night

[Michael Prescott]

I've read Endless Night - a very good book with a great ending.

Another fairly late effort is The Pale Horse, which deals with three women who practice occultism, including seances.

[Renzo]

Many years ago I read "The hound of death and other stories" that has strong supernatural overtones. I remember the introduction stated that A.Christie was very interest in psychic phenomena and in my edition all stories were followed by a brief exposition of the phenomenon they were based upon: premonition, electronic voice, mediumship, etc... in fact they were my first introduction to these topics.
www.amazon.com/The-Hound-Death-Agatha-Christie/dp/1444802909

[Kathleen]

An open mind is always the best course. When you were five years old, did you know about and understand gravity, atoms, DNA strands, photosynthesis, cells, etc.? Even the most brilliant minds among us still don't understand the nature of the universe and consciousness. So Poirot is just being the thoughtful and insightful guy he always is, recognizing that most of what is around is invisible and not ordinarily apparent- we can't for instance, see cells or even the stride of a very fast animal like a horse (we need aids such as microscope or a camera with a fast shutter speed).

BTW, I loved the BBC adaption of Poirot starring David Suchet, who stars as Poirot, the fussy but brilliant little Belgium.

[Bruce Siegel]

What a great photograph of her!

[Michael Prescott]

Thanks, Renzo. I was unaware of that book. It seems to confirm that she had a genuine interest in these subjects.

[Art]

From the picture above it looks like Agatha Christie was quite beautiful when she was young. I had never seen a picture of her as a young woman before.

[Bruce Siegel]

Michael, I just got an email from AcornTV about some new Agatha Christie adaptations, and it made me think of you:

http://www2.acorn.tv/partnersincrime/?src=TE150030

Do you know Acorn? For $5 a month, you get access to the sort of British TV that I, for one, am seriously addicted to. And the first month is free.

I recently binge-watched this Australian series on Acorn:
https://acorn.tv/franchise/placetocallhome

Don't know if that last one will appeal to anyone else here, but I've rarely seen anything as good -- better than Mad Men or Downtown Abbey by a wide margin.

[Michael Prescott]

Thanks, Bruce. I hadn't heard of Acorn. I'll check it out.

[Lawrence B]

Not to reawaken an old thread but..

On one of the cable channels here in the UK (Drama channel) they're rebroadcasting a 1982 series of adaptations of Christie short stories, called The Agatha Christie Hour. It's all "terribly terribly" clipped accents and a slightly dead play for the day atmosphere to them, but the thing of interest to your blog posting is that the second episode "In A Glass Darkly" is very much of a paranormal theme.

On the eve of the first world war a young man attends a party at a grand country hall, and while getting ready for dinner in his room sees reflected in his mirror an open doorway behind him - in place of the wardrobe which is actually there - and through it a young woman being strangled by a man with a long scar on his neck. Each time he turns around he sees only the wardrobe, but the mirror continues to show this murder taking place.

When he goes down to dinner he's introduced to the very woman he saw in the mirror...and her scar-necked fiance.

I shan't spoil it but beyond the supernatural means of the premonition - the mirror - the rest of the tale accords with the real life difficulties in interpreting and thwarting precognized images, such as in dreams.

[Lawrence B]

Here's an article on the social history represented by the frequent appearance of the occult in Christie's stories.

http://forteana-blog.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/agatha-christies-seances.html