Amazing Stories from the Web
continued from No. 20
Part 5
The Mystery of Mary Westmacott
Pre-Reading: Discussion Questions.
1. What is your favourite genre in literature?
2. Is it always easy to communicate with another generation?
In the year 1930, “Giant’s Bread”, a romance, was published in the UK.
Mary Westmacott, author, was totally unknown to the reading public. The book was quite
well-received; in the following fifteen years, several more romances penned by the same
writer were published, to modest but steady sales, and benevolent reviews by critics.
Nobody seemed to have paid much attention to the fact that Mary appeared out of the blue,
nor to the fact that there were no usual “About the Author” blurbs on the
cover. Ms. Westmacott, whoever she was, wrote about the problems which were easily
recognizable by her mostly female readers. For example, “A Daughter is a Daughter”
unfolds as a familiar tale of the relationship between a mother who wants to remarry, and
her nineteen-year-old daughter who is dead set against it. Finally, after many an
unpleasant scene, the mother sends away the man who could have made her happy, and the
daughter is astonished at the subsequent change both in her mother, and in their
relationship. Nobody is happy, though at the end, the younger woman goes away to find her
happiness. The moral is subtly presented, but it is obviously there.
In “The Burden”, an older sister progresses from intense childish jealousy to an even more intense protectiveness towards her younger sister. The effect on the younger woman is disastrous, yet at the end, there is again a ray of sunshine, in the shape of an understanding and compassionate man who is going to protect the heroine from herself.
While quite fascinating, the six novels published by Mary Westmacott left the main mystery unexplained. Why were they published, and then re-printed many times, and why are they still in print? After all, the number of romances is huge, with the new authors appearing almost daily. Ms. Westmacott’s oeuvres had no pretense of being chef-d’oeuvres.
It took the press fifteen years to uncover the big secret: Mary Westmacott was a pen-name of Agatha Christie. Hence her publishers willingness to print the romances. Ditto their still being in print. In her “Autobiography”, Agatha Christie wrote about her desire to take an occasional break from writing murder mysteries, and to explore the secrets of the human soul. “So, with a rather guilty feeling, I enjoyed myself writing a straight novel called Giant’s Bread. I used the name of Mary Westmacott, and nobody knew it was me. I kept it a secret for 15 years.”
The main subject of research: Who am I? Indeed, in her romances, the
celebrated Queen of Crime delved into the depths of human psychology, and explored
the motives for human conduct at great length.
Agatha Mary Clarissa, Lady Mallowan, DBE (nee Miller; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976), commonly known as Agatha Christie, was an English crime writer of novels, short stories and plays. She also wrote romances under the name Mary Westmacott, but is best remembered for her 80 detective novels and her successful West End theatre plays. Her works, particularly featuring detectives Hercule Poirot or Miss Jane Marple, have given her the title the ‘Queen of Crime’ and made her one of the most important and innovative writers in the development of the genre. Christie has been called – by the Guinness Book of World Records, among others – the best-selling writer of books of all time and the best-selling writer of any kind, along with William Shakespeare. Only the Bible is known to have outsold her collected sales of roughly four billion copies of novels. UNESCO states that she is currently the most translated individual author in the world with only the collective corporate works of Walt Disney Productions surpassing her. Christie’s books have been translated into (at least) 56 languages.
blurb (n.) a short description of a book, information about the author, etc.
oeuvre (n.) all the work of a writer, artist
chef-d’oeuvre (n.) masterpiece, the best work of a writer or artist
ditto (adv.) the same as something else
delve (v.) search, dig
Two more mysteries which deserve mention are, in the order of their happening, Agatha Christie’s disappearance in 1926, and her play “Mousetrap”.
In 1926, the celebrated writer disappeared from public view. For eleven days, nobody knew what had happened to her. The press published many reports about her sightings, and speculations as to whether she were still alive, or whether she had met with foul play, same as her characters. When she was found at an obscure hotel, registered under a strange name, Christie claimed amnesia – and never explained the mystery.
When “The Mousetrap” opened, many critics predicted the play would not run for more than a week. Agatha Christie gave all the possible future profits from the play to her only grandson Matthew as a gift. She also good-naturedly agreed to sell the film rights, with the usual condition that the film could not be made until after six months of the play’s closing. “The Mousetrap” holds the record for the longest initial run in the world, opening at the Ambassadors Theatre in London on 25 November 1952, and as of 2008 is still running after more than 23,000 performances. It is said that the studio is still waiting for the opportunity to film the story.
Mary Wetsmacott Novels:
Absent in the Spring; The Burden; A Daughter Is a Daughter; Giant’s Bread; The Rose and the Yew Tree; Unfinished Portrait.
If you are interested in this story, you can simply enter “Agatha Christie” into the address line, or use a search engine <yahoo.com>, <google.com>. You can also use “wikipedia.org> for more information about the writer. And you can read some of her works at <Guttenberg books online>. The following link will bring you directly to Agatha Christie’s site: http://uk.agathachristie.com/site/home/