The Last Séance: Tales of the Supernatural
by Agatha Christie
A review
Dame Agatha Christie is often referred to as the "Queen
of Crime". Rarely has an nickname been
better chosen. In a long and prolific
career she published 66 mystery novels and 14 short story collections, creating
in the process two of the most idiosyncratic sleuths in English literature –
the misleadingly understated Miss Marple and the eccentric and foppish Belgian detective
Hercule Poirot. She was also a multi-record-breaker
– being, allegedly, the world’s best selling writer as well as the author of
the longest-running play, the murder mystery The Mousetrap. But, perhaps what is even more notable is that
in her case quantity never led to the sacrifice of quality. Her work is consistently well-crafted and
satisfying.
A lesser-known fact about Christie is her
interest in the paranormal. This inspired
several short stories, especially in the early part of her career. Most of her pieces of speculative fiction
were published in The Hounds of Death and Other Stories, first published
in the UK in 1933. These short stories
(except for Witness for the Prosecution) together with other works
dealing with the otherworldly, have now been issued as part of the Collins
Chillers series, under the title The Last Séance: Tales of the Supernatural. This is the most comprehensive collection
to date of Agatha Christie’s supernatural oeuvre. They show an aspect of the Dame’s writings
which is worth exploring and unexpectedly reveal her to be a worthy figure at
the fringe (if not exactly the mainstream) of the English Gothic and horror
tradition.
Perhaps my last statement deserves some
clarification. In my view, the quintessential English form of supernatural
fiction is the ghost story.
Interestingly, though, only one of the stories (The Lamp) comes
close to the typical haunted house tale.
Christie seems more concerned with what might be termed “parapsychological”
phenomena – mysteries which lie at the fluid boundaries between the scientific,
the psychological and the (as yet?) unexplained. Premonitions, prophetic dreams, split personalities,
strange coincidences … these are more likely to appear as subjects in Christie
stories than your usual unrequited ghost.
Some stories also nod towards Eastern/Egyptian Gothic – most notably The
Adventure of the Egyptian Tomb (featuring Poirot sweating it out at an
archeological dig in Egypt), The Idol House of Astarte (which sees
Christie venturing in almost folk horror territory) and The Strange Case of
Sir Arthur Carmichael (a tale of dark Oriental witchcraft).
It’s worth pointing out that in several of the stories,
the supernatural element is merely a front for very human, criminal behaviour. Of course, this fits into another long-standing
strand of Gothic fiction – the so-called “rational Gothic” which runs from Ann Radcliffe
to Scooby-Doo via The Hound of the Baskervilles. I must admit I found these tales of “smoke
and mirrors” somewhat disappointing as horror fiction, albeit perfectly satisfying
from a purely narrative perspective.
What is notable in Christie’s brand of
supernatural fiction is that she eschews the atmospheric scene-setting which
are the stock-in-trade of the genre and she achieves most of her effect through
tight plotting, unexpected twists and judicious control of the narrative. These
are, of course, skills which served Christie well in her long career as crime
writer. However, to me, the more unsettling stories in
this collection are those which are clear examples of weird fiction. The opening (title) piece – The Last Séance
– is a case in point, its gory denouement hitting the reader like a punch
in the gut. Other notably dark stories
include the apocalyptic, “cosmic horror” tale The Hound of Death and,
perhaps, the most nightmarish of all, The Dressmaker’s Doll. Who knows – perhaps if Christie’s career
had panned out otherwise, she would now be known as the Queen of Horror.
Paperback, 368 pages
Published October 3rd 2019 by HarperCollins
No comments:
Post a Comment