FAMOUS GIFTED PERSON: AGATHA CHRISTIE

Famous Gifted Person: Agatha Christie Amy L. Turasky University of Illinois at Springfield EDL 568 Dr. Jennifer Herring February 2005

Agatha Christie 2 Agatha Christie is one of the most popular mystery writers of all time. To her credit, she has sold over two billion books, printed in both English and foreign languages. The only other books to outsell hers are the Bible and the works of Shakespeare. Truly, she is an admirable and remarkable writer who produced over 100 novels and short stories and 21 plays. Ms. Christie also penned six romantic novels under the name of Mary Westmacott. Agatha's autobiography was published after her death (Martin, 2000). Agatha Christie was born in 1890 in England. Agatha never had formal schooling although she was an avid reader. She spent her time concocting stories, reading, and writing poems. She dreamed of becoming a great piano player or perhaps a singer. After a failed marriage and work in the nursing field, Agatha's sister spurred her into writing a detective story. Although she was well versed in many of Sherlock Holmes mysteries, she had read few other mystery novels. Even so, Agatha tried her hand at producing a story in which it would be hard to guess the ending. It was finished in two to three weeks and was entitled The Mysterious Affair at Styles. After publishing her second book, Agatha began to write and publish about one book per year, propelling her into being famous. She was on the bestseller list for her entire life (Edwards, 2002). By all accounts, Agatha had found her callingher gift or talent was mystery writing. Agatha's gift of writing was rooted in the fact that she had a linguistic intelligence level. Gardner's linguistic intelligence is defined as having the ability to use language to describe events, to build trust and rapport, to develop logical arguments and use rhetoric, or to be expressive and metaphoric (Teaching, 2001). Clearly, Agatha was skilled in all of these areas in order to create such intricate mystery stories. She took many of her life experiences and recreated them in her detective novels. For example, her first novel was based on her nursing experiences in Torquay, England. In addition, she also had an interpersonal learning style because she had the

Agatha Christie 3 ability to communicate, use empathy, and to influence or inspire others (Teaching, 2001). Her linguistic and interpersonal styles allowed her to take her life's experiences and incorporate them into fascinating stories. Her stories brought a familiarity to her readers by allowing them to recognize places and remember characters, while at the same time her stories kept them in suspense. These qualities were the most influential in shaping the way she lived and in affecting those of her time. Although Agatha was clearly gifted in her craft, she too had problems. Numerous web sites refer to Ms. Christie as dyslexic, which is a learning disability that hinders one's reading abilities. Often, dyslexic folks have trouble with spelling and read at lower levels than expected although they have normal intelligence (CBSNews.com). In addition, the Council for Exceptional Children web site also lists Agatha Christie as dyslexic (ERIC, 1999). While some speculation does exist as to whether she really was dyslexic, Agatha herself is quoted as saying, "Writing and spelling were always terribly difficult for me. I was an extraordinarily bad speller and have remained so until this day (XYZ Networks, 2005)." Yet, Agatha Christie went on to become a renowned mystery writer. Although Agatha's troubles with spelling were difficult, she had a knack for creating intriguing stories that withstand the test of time. According to Ms. Christie's only grandchild, Matthew Prichard (2004), "My grandmother, Agatha Christie, was always keen on using new ways to reach people who wanted to enjoy her work. She was very successful during the latter part of her life in coming to grips with different media into which to translate her stories: theatre, radio, films and television." Not only did she have a successful writing career, but she also had an extraordinary quality that helped her bring her books to the stage and film. In fact, The

Agatha Christie 4 Mousetrap is the longest continuously running play in history. It opened in 1952 and can still be seen today in London (Prichard, 2004). By many accounts, Agatha's life seemed to have been written in the stars, but she too was just a human being. After learning of her first husband's affair, the death of her mother, and the stressfulness of her writing career, Agatha disappeared for ten days. It is believed that Agatha planned her disappearance to just get away from everything that was happening in her life. When she was found, Ms. Christie was at a hotel claiming to be suffering from amnesia (Edwards, 2002). Because of Agatha's notoriety, the press gave much coverage to her disappearance. Speculation as to what really happened ensued although Agatha herself was intensely private and did not speak publicly of the event. In hindsight, it is doubtful that Agatha could have avoided the gossip since she was so famous. It's almost as if famous people do not have the right to privacy in their lives; someone is always trying to take pictures or delve into their personal business. In reality, even though someone may be gifted or talented, it does not mean that his or her life is all roses. Relationships with friends, family, and coworkers, financial issues, health, and day-to-day living and responsibilities must still be dealt with whether one is gifted and talented or not. In an interview published by the BBC (1955), Agatha admits that no big philosophy or personal belief guided her to reading. Most specifically it was boredom. She did not have formal schooling until the age of 16, therefore, she had a lot of time on her hands. That time was filled with writing stories, poems, and plays and then acting them out. When asked about her methods of writing in the interview (1955), Agatha claims to have had no method. She said that most of her work came in thinking about how to develop the story and then worrying about it. Once that

Agatha Christie 5 was complete, she had to find time to actually write out the story that she had developed in her mind. Agatha purportedly had no method to her writing, but she did have a mentor, Eden Phillpotts. Mr. Phillpotts was a novelist who lived close to Agatha in England. Since Agatha was not going to school, he coached and helped keep up her interest in reading (Edwards, 2002). No doubt that this mentor helped guide and encourage Agatha in her story writing and helped set her on the path to becoming the world's best-known mystery writer. Although Agatha Christie died in 1976, her work will live on forever (Martin, 2000).

Agatha Christie 6 References BBC Interviews. (1955). Agatha Christie Close Up. Retrieved on February 4, 2005, from http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/audiointerviews/profilepages/christiea1.shtml CBSNews.com Who's Who Person. (n.d.). Retrieved February 1, 2005, from http://www.cbsnews.com/elements/2003/10/21/health/whoswho579303_0_6_person.sht ml Edwards, A. (2002). Agatha Christie biography of an author. PageWise. Retrieved February 2, 2005, from http://flfl.essortment.com/agathachristie_rlxk.htm ERIC Clearinghouse on Disabilities and Gifted Education. (1999). Famous People with Disabilities. Retrieved February 3, 2005, from http://ericec.org/fact/famous.html Martin, J. L. (2000). Teacher Guide: And Then There Were None. San Antonio, TX: Novel Units, Inc. Prichard, M. (2004). The Official Online Home of Agatha Christie. Retrieved February 3, 2005, from http://www.agathachristie.com/essentials/intro.shtml Teaching to the Seven Multiple Intelligences. (2001). Retrieved February 8, 2005, from http://www.mitest.com/omultint.htm XYZ Networks. (2005). The LifeStyle Channel of Australia. Retrieved February 3, 2005, from http://www.lifestylechannel.com.au/lifestyle/site/show.asp?showID=8.