1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910624310403321

Autore

Pamboukian Sylvia A.

Titolo

Agatha Christie and the Guilty Pleasure of Poison / / by Sylvia A. Pamboukian

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Cham : , : Springer International Publishing : , : Imprint : Palgrave Macmillan, , 2022

ISBN

9783031160004

9783031159992

Edizione

[1st ed. 2022.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (230 pages)

Collana

Crime Files, , 2947-8359

Disciplina

823.912

Soggetti

Literature, Modern - 20th century

Fiction

Literature - Philosophy

Feminism and literature

Ethnology - Great Britain

Culture

Twentieth-Century Literature

Fiction Literature

Feminist Literary Theory

British Culture

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

1. Agatha Christie, Poison, and Crime -- 2. Agatha Christie and Pharmacy -- 3. Dying Game: Unrepentant Outlaws in Christie and Doyle -- 4. Cheering Bystanders in Christie and Sayers -- 5. The Revenger’s Comeuppance in Christie and Jackson -- 6. The Poisoner’s Afterlives -- 7. Readers and the Poison Garden.

Sommario/riassunto

Agatha Christie and the Guilty Pleasure of Poison examines Christie’s female poisoners in the context of Christie’s own experience in pharmacy and of detective fiction. In doing so, it uncovers an overlooked dynamic in which female poisoners deliver well-deserved comeuppance for gendered and classed wrongdoing ordinarily accepted in everyday life. While critics have long recognized male



outlaws, like Robin Hood, who use crime to oppose a corrupt system, this book contends that female outlaws – witches and poisoners – offer a similar heritage of empowered femininity. Far from cozy and formulaic, Agatha Christie’s outlaw poisoners offer readers the surprising pleasures of comeuppance, and they set the stage for contemporary detective fiction writers, more recent films depicting poisoning as empowering, and even poison gardens, which are tourist destinations that offer visitors the guilty pleasure of poison.