Compromising Genre in Agatha Christie’s South African Detective Novel, The Man in the Brown Suit

Abstract

Agatha Christie is so closely associated with the genre of the “whodunit” detective novel that her work is often invoked when the genre is defined. According to Tzvetan Todorov’s influential essay, “The Typology of Fiction” (1966), the generic innovation which often characterises great literature is not appropriate in detective fiction where rigidity of form is intrinsic to the satisfaction the work provides. This is related to the moral function of detective fiction; the identification of the villain and the execution of justice are crucial. It amounts to the expression of an ideology, which according to Michael Green celebrates the individualism of the middle classes and their ability to maintain an ordered society in which they can be psychologically and culturally at home. Christie’s only novel set in South Africa, The Man in the Brown Suit (1924) uncharacteristically transgresses these hallowed conventions of the genre. It is my contention that this is the result of autobiographical and personal elements in the work as well as the intrusion of other genres provoked by the novel’s (South) African setting. While these elements jeopardise the success of the work as a whodunit, they have also prompted a narrative innovation which has largely been ignored by critics. When successfully subjected to the jealous demands of the genre in a later work by the same author, this innovation produced what has been acclaimed by some as the greatest detective novel of all, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926).

Opsomming

 Daar is so ʼn noue verbintenis tussen Agatha Christie en die genre van die speurverhaal, dat haar werk dikwels ter sprake kom wanneer hierdie genre gedefinieer word. Volgens Tzvetan Todorov, in sy invloedryke essay, “The Typology of Fiction” (1966), is die generiese vernuwing wat dikwels die kenmerk van groot literatuur is, nie gepas vir  speurfiksie nie.  Hier is ʼn vaste patroon inherent tot die bevrediging wat die werk bied. Dit hou verband met die morele funksie van speurfiksie: die identifisering van die skurk en die gelding van geregtigheid is deurslaggewend. Dit vorm die uitdrukking van ʼn ideologie wat volgens Michael Green ʼn viering is van die individualisme van die middelklas en van hul vermoë om ʼn geordende samelewing waarin hulle sielkundig en kultureel tuis is, te handhaaf. The Man in the Brown Suit (1924) is Christie se enigste roman wat in Suid-Afrika afspeel en, vreemd aan hierdie genre, oortree dit die gewyde konvensies van die genre. Na my mening is hierdie afwyking die gevolg van outo-biografiese en persoonlike elemente in die werk asook van die indringing van ander genres wat deur die roman se (Suid-)Afrika-milieu gesuggereer is. Hoewel hierdie elemente die sukses van hierdie literêre werk as ʼn speurverhaal kompromiteer, het dit ook gelei tot ʼn narratiewe vernuwing wat tot dusver grootliks deur kritici geïgnoreer is. Toe hiedie vernuwing in The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926), ʼn latere werk deur dieselfde skrywer, suksesvol aan die jaloerse eise van die genre onderwerp is, het dit ʼn werk wat deur sommige kritici as die heel beste speurroman ooit beskou word, opgelewer.