“推理女王”筆下的故事

She was known to millions as the “Queen of Crime” or the “Duchess of Death”. But surprisingly, she hated violence and blood, and didn’t know much about the weapons most often used in murder. “I don’t think I’d dare look at a really horrible and damaged body,” Agatha Christie once said.

她被譽(yù)為“推理女王”或者“死亡女爵”。但令人意外的是，她厭惡暴力與鮮血，對(duì)謀殺案中常出現(xiàn)的兇器也不甚了解。“我覺(jué)得自己根本不敢看一具恐怖的殘缺尸體，”阿加莎·克里斯蒂曾如此說(shuō)道。

But the pen of the British writer dared to travel where her eyes wouldn’t. During her 50-year writing career, Christie’s murder stories made her the world’s best-known mystery writer.

但這位英國(guó)作家的筆尖卻敢于觸碰她眼睛不敢看的事物。在她長(zhǎng)達(dá)50年的寫(xiě)作生涯中，克里斯蒂的謀殺故事令她成為全球最著名的懸疑小說(shuō)家。

Her novels have been turned into films and TV series. And a new film adaptation of Murder on the Orient Express, Christie’s 1934 detective novel, will be released on the big screen on Nov 10. This is already the fourth adaptation of this novel.

她的小說(shuō)被改編成了電影和電視劇。一部改編自克里斯蒂1934年的偵探小說(shuō)《東方快車謀殺案》的新電影也即將于11月10日登上大銀幕。這已經(jīng)是這部小說(shuō)的第四部改編作品了。

Born in 1890 in England, Christie was educated at home and began her writing career while working as a nurse during World War I. She went on to produce 79 novels and several short stories, before dying at the age of 86. With her knowledge of murder, Christie could easily have taught would-be detectives a few things.

克里斯蒂1890年生于英格蘭，自幼在家中接受教育。她在一戰(zhàn)期間做了護(hù)士，同時(shí)也開(kāi)始了自己的寫(xiě)作生涯。在86年的人生中，她一共寫(xiě)出了79部小說(shuō)和多個(gè)短篇故事。就有關(guān)謀殺案方面的知識(shí)而言，克里斯蒂為想當(dāng)偵探的人們指點(diǎn)一二簡(jiǎn)直是小菜一碟。

But instead, she chose to give her skills to her favorite character – Hercule Poirot, a retired Belgian police officer who she introduced in her first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles. Poirot then starred in 30 of her works, including Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile. The character has become so famous that someone has even written his biography, The Life and Times of Hercule Poirot.

但她卻選擇將自己的技能知識(shí)悉數(shù)給予自己最喜歡的角色 —— 赫爾克里·波洛。這位退休的比利時(shí)警官在克里斯蒂的首部小說(shuō)《斯泰爾斯莊園奇案》中登場(chǎng)，后來(lái)又在《東方快車謀殺案》、《尼羅河上的慘案》等30部克里斯蒂的作品中擔(dān)任主角。由于太有名氣，有人甚至還為這一角色寫(xiě)了本傳記《赫爾克里·波洛的生平和時(shí)代》。

Christie also featured interesting aspects of human nature in her work, usually by putting a large group of characters in an isolated environment. An example is And Then There Were None, in which 10 people with different personalities and from different social backgrounds were trapped on an island and soon started to mysteriously die one after the other. Each character’s story is portrayed with depth, and put together, they make for a fascinating read.

克里斯汀通常都會(huì)將一大群角色設(shè)置在一個(gè)孤立無(wú)援的環(huán)境中，從而展現(xiàn)人性令人關(guān)注的方面，這也是其作品的一大特點(diǎn)。小說(shuō)《無(wú)人生還》就是個(gè)例子，在這本書(shū)中，10位來(lái)自不同社會(huì)背景、性格各異的人被困在了一座小島上，并一個(gè)接一個(gè)地離奇死亡。每個(gè)角色的故事都帶有深度，這些故事交織成了一本引人入勝的讀物。

“From the British country house to the exotic mysteries of the East, her vivid construction of character and place combined with dramatic moral complexities engages readers,” wrote mystery author TP Fielden in the Express.

“從英國(guó)的鄉(xiāng)村小屋到東方的異國(guó)懸疑，她在生動(dòng)地構(gòu)建角色和地點(diǎn)的同時(shí)，也加入了戲劇化的道德的復(fù)雜性，令讀者們深深著迷，”懸疑作家TP Fielden 在《每日快報(bào)》上如此寫(xiě)道。