Shanghai International Studies University
A PRAGMASTYLISTIC STUDY OF MYSTERY DRAMA
AND THEN THERE WERE NONE
A Thesis
Submitted to the Graduate School and College of English
In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for
Degree of Master of Arts
By
Gao Chang
Under Supervision of Professor Yu Dongming
October 2014
Acknowledgements
I would like to take this opportunity to express my heartfelt gratitude to all those
who have inspired, guided and encouraged me in the creation of this thesis. My
sincere thanks should first go to my respectable supervisor, Professor Yu Dongming,
whose thought-provoking courses on pragmatics, discourse analysis and stylistics
provided me with valuable insight into these fields. During the writing process, he not
only gave me patient guidance, valuable suggestions and generous encouragement,
but also introduced several books for my reference. After I finished the draft of this
thesis, he spared no effort in revising it and gave practical advice for improvement.
What’s more, his meticulous attitude and profound knowledge serve as a role model
for me throughout my graduate study.
Thanks and appreciation should also be extended to all the other professors who
have taught me in Shanghai International Studies University. They are Prof. Feng
Qinghua, Prof. Jeroen van de Weijer, Prof. Li Ji’an and Associate Prof. Ma Jingxiu,
from whose enlightening lectures I’ve acquired systematic knowledge in phonetics
and phonology, morphology, psycholinguistics, sociolinguistics, discourse analysis as
well as translation, which inspires me not only in my academic study but also in my
values and ideals.
Last but not least, I’m deeply indebted to my immediate families and dear friends,
who have continuously supported me in overcoming difficulties and encouraged me
to pursue my dream all through the years.
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摘要
阿加莎·克里斯蒂是英国著名的侦探作家，素有“推理小说女王”之美誉。
同时，她也是一名出色的剧作家，一生中共创作了 20 多个剧本，至今仍在许多
国家的舞台上热演。本文选取阿加莎的经典悬疑剧《无人生还》作为研究对象，
以语用文体学作为理论基础，采用定性和定量相结合的方法对剧中的人物对白进
行剖析，旨在揭示对话在人物塑造、情节发展、制造悬念和增强戏剧效果等方面
的作用，从而更好地诠释这部剧作的内容和主旨，同时也为悬疑剧的赏析提供一
种新的视角。
作者首先对语用文体学的相关概念、理论和研究成果进行了梳理，并简要介
绍了阿加莎·克里斯蒂本人以及《无人生还》的故事梗概和相关研究。根据文献
综述来看，以往的研究主要以文学评论为主，较少涉及语言层面的分析和探讨。
随后，作者借助语用学和文体学的相关理论与研究范畴，按照词汇、句式和语篇
三个层次，构建了本文的分析框架，具体包括语域、言语行为理论、话轮转换和
会话含义。第四章和第五章是全文的主体部分，在已有框架的基础上，选取《无
人生还》中最具代表性的矛盾和冲突场景进行解读。文本分析采用描写与解释、
定性和定量分析相结合的方法，以确保分析结果建立在相对客观、全面的基础之
上。经过分析发现，作家借助一系列的会话策略，成功地塑造了十个鲜活的人物
形象，推动案情向前发展，制造悬念以吸引观众，并且在紧张的情节中注入了些
许幽默元素，从而造就了该剧独特的艺术魅力。
本文的研究意义如下：首先，通过对悬疑剧《无人生还》中人物对话的深入
挖掘，证实了会话分析在揭示人物、情节、悬念等方面的作用，为悬疑剧的赏析
提供了新的视角。定量分析则弥补了文学评论缺乏客观性等不足，达到更好地解
读、欣赏戏剧作品的目的。其次，本文将语用文体学的框架成功地运用到悬疑剧
的分析之中，进一步证实了该框架的可行性，拓展了语用学的研究范畴，同时也
为戏剧文体学的研究提供了更加丰富的素材。
关键词：语用文体学；戏剧对白；悬疑推理剧；《无人生还》；艺术魅力
ii
Abstract
Agatha Christie, known as the “Queen of Murder”, is one of the most celebrated
novelists and playwrights in the world. This thesis, based on the analytical framework
of pragmastylistics and with a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods,
probes into dialogues in Christie’s mystery play And Then There Were None, with the
aim of revealing how the playwright’s linguistic choices contribute to the
characterization, plot development, suspense creation as well as comic effect, and
ultimately appreciating the play from a new perspective.
The study proceeds from a literature review of pragmastylistics, including related
notions, theories and previous researches, followed by an introduction to Agatha
Christie and the mystery play And Then There Were None. It is found that previous
studies on this work are mostly done by literary critics, while little has been achieved
from linguistic perspective. After that, a pragmastylistic framework is proposed for
the current study, which is constructed at four levels, namely, register, speech act,
turn-taking and conversational implicature. Chapter Four and Chapter Five are the
main body of this thesis. Based on the above-mentioned framework, we conduct a
detailed analysis of dialogues in this drama and further discuss their functions in
revealing characterization, plot development, suspense and comic effects. A
combination of descriptive and explanatory method, qualitative and quantitative
analysis are adopted so that the analysis result is well-rounded and objective.
The significance of this study is as follows: First, as a tentative linguistic and
stylistic analysis of And Then There Were None, it provides a new perspective towards
appreciating the drama by demonstrating the function of dialogues in achieving
aesthetic effects. Besides, the quantitative analysis could make up for the weakness of
literary criticism. Second, by choosing mystery drama as research object, it broadens
the application scope of pragmatic theories and enriches the study of drama stylistics.
Keywords: pragmastylistics; dramatic dialogue; mystery drama; And Then There
Were None; aesthetic effects
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Contents
Acknowledgements
Abstract (Chinese)........................................................................................................ii
Abstract (English)....................................................................................................... iii
Chapter One Introduction..........................................................................................1
1.1 Background of the Study................................................................................1
1.2 Objectives of the Study.................................................................................. 2
1.3 Methodology of the Study..............................................................................3
1.4 Organization of This Thesis........................................................................... 3
Chapter Two Literature review..................................................................................4
2.1 Pragmastylistics..............................................................................................4
2.1.1 Pragmastylistics As an Interdisciplinary Field........................................ 4
2.1.2 Pragmastylistics at Home and Abroad.....................................................6
2.1.3 Pragmastylistic Study of Drama..............................................................7
2.2 Agatha Christie and And Then There Were None........................................... 9
2.2.1 A Brief Introduction of Agatha Christie.................................................. 9
2.2.2 Studies on Agatha Christie at Home and Abroad.................................. 11
2.2.3 Studies on And Then There Were None................................................. 13
Chapter Three Analytical Framework..................................................................... 16
3.1 Register Analysis..........................................................................................16
3.2 Turn-taking Analysis.................................................................................... 17
3.3 Speech Act Theory....................................................................................... 19
3.4 Cooperative Principle and Conversational Implicature................................20
Chapter Four Pragmastylistic Analysis of Dialogues in And Then There Were None
.................................................................................................................................... 23
4.1 Analysis of Register......................................................................................23
4.2 Analysis of Illocutionary Acts...................................................................... 31
4.3 Analysis of Turn-taking................................................................................ 35
4.4 Analysis of Conversational Implicature....................................................... 42
Chapter Five Functions of Dialogues in And Then There Were None.....................52
5.1 Characterization............................................................................................52
5.2 Plot Development......................................................................................... 54
5.3 Suspense Creation........................................................................................ 55
5.4 Comic Effects............................................................................................... 55
Chapter Six Conclusion...........................................................................................57
6.1 Summary of Major Findings........................................................................ 57
6.2 Significance of the Study............................................................................. 58
6.3 Limitations and Suggestions for Further Exploration.................................. 59
References.................................................................................................................. 60
List of Tables and Figures
Table 3.1 The Framework for Turn-taking Analysis by Li and Yu (2001)................. 18
Table 3.2 Searle’s Taxonomy of Illocutionary Speech Acts.......................................19
Table 4.1 Courtroom Language in the Drama............................................................ 24
Table 4.2 Vocatives in Rogers’ Language...................................................................27
Table 4.3 Biblical Expressions in Emily’s Language.................................................28
Table 4.4 Vulgar Expressions in Marston’s Language............................................... 30
Table 4.5 Turn-taking in Topic One, Episode One..................................................... 37
Table 4.6 Turn-taking in Topic Two, Episode One.....................................................38
Table 4.7 Turn-taking in Episode Two....................................................................... 40
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Chapter One
Introduction
1.1 Background of the Study
As a subcategory of popular literature, detective fiction is one of the most widely
read literary genre. Originated in 1840s, it flourishes during a period called “Golden
Age”, from 1918 till 1930. One of the most representative figures is Agatha Christie,
whose work has been translated into over a hundred languages, second to Bible and
Shakespeare in terms of sales volume. Apart from being a world-renowned novelist,
Christie’s achievement on the stage is no less significant. Many of her novels has been
adapted into drama scripts and put on the stage, which, over their half-century long
performance, maintain an enduring appeal among audience. Popular as they are,
however, Christie’s mystery dramas have drawn far less attention than they deserve,
for they are always considered to be a residual category with little academic value.
Therefore, how to account for its unfailing charm and popularity becomes the main
concern of our present study.
Different from novels and other literary genres, drama relies heavily on the use of
conversation in depicting characters, promoting the development of plot, etc.
Dialogue, so to speak, is the single most important constituent in dramatic texts. The
complexity of mystery drama poses even higher demand upon the construction and
interpretation of dialogues. On one hand, the author relies on dialogues to provide
enough background knowledge while concealing certain key information. And the
audiences, on the other hand, play the role of detective in the process of identifying
important clues and solving the mystery. In mystery drama, a seemingly ordinary
conversation could contain a number of important clues, while a deceptively
meaningful utterance might actually be a trap. The manipulation of dialogue renders
mystery drama a riddle between the playwright and audience. A close examination of
dialogues is definitely a key step towards understanding and appreciating this literary
genre.
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Pragmastylistics is an interdisciplinary area of study that applies pragmatic
theories and principles into the stylistic study of literature texts. As Leo Hickey says,
pragmastylistics or “stylistics with a pragmatic component, can be described as a
study of language-in-use which pays special attention to the choices made from the
various grammatically or truth-conditionally equivalent.”(1989) Incorporating
pragmatic theories and stylistic methods, pragmastylistics offers a new perspective
towards analyzing dialogues in literature, especially those in drama. A number of
previous studies have already demonstrated the effectiveness of pragmastylistics in
literature analysis, which lays sufficient theoretical basis for our present research.
1.2 Objectives of the Study
This thesis, based on the framework of pragmastylistics, intends to discuss the
dialogues in And Then There Were None at four levels, with the aim of disclosing how
the author achieves writing goals through careful and ingenious construction of
dialogues. It is expected that this research, carried out from linguistic perspective,
could serve as a supplement to literary criticism. The ultimate purpose of this study,
however, is not to verify the applicability of existing framework, but to better
understand the function of dialogues and better appreciate the aesthetic value of this
work.
Specifically, the following research questions will guide our study:
1）What are the functions of dialogues in drama text?
2）Are there any linguistic features that distinguish And Then There Were None as an
outstanding mystery drama?
3）How dose the author depict various characters through the use of language?
4）What functions do dialogues have in driving the development of plot?
5）How does the author disclose certain clues to the audience while concealing the
most important information concerning the murder?
6）How is suspense created in this mystery drama?
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1.3 Methodology of the Study
The present study adopts pragmastlistics as its analytical framework and chooses
dramatic dialogue in And Then There Were None as the research objective. This thesis
proceeds with theoretical introduction to lay out the basis of the study and to construct
the analytical framework, followed by a detailed text analysis, which is the major part
of the thesis. In analyzing text, a combination of descriptive and explanatory methods
will be adopted. Through describing language choices in register, turn-taking, speech
act and conversational implicature, the function of dialogues in this drama can be well
explained. The quantitative and qualitative methods will also be combined to ensure
objectivity; the former applies to register and turn-taking analysis, while the latter to
speech act and conversational implicature. At each level, we’ll extracts some episodes
from this drama to support our analysis, and the criteria for selection are their position
in the whole plot and relevance to our research questions.
1.4 Organization of This Thesis
This thesis is composed of six chapters. The first chapter is an introduction which
provides an outline of this study. Chapter Two is divided into two parts; the first part
reviews relevant notions and previous researches of pragmastylistics, and the second
part briefly introduces Agatha Christie and the drama to be discussed. In Chapter
Three, an analytical framework is constructed on the basis of previous studies.
Chapter Four constitutes the main part of this thesis, with a detailed analysis of And
Then There Were None based on the framework being proposed. Chapter Five
summarizes the analysis in Chapter Four, and further elaborates the functions of
dialogues in creating aesthetic value of the drama. The last chapter is a conclusion of
major findings, pointing out the significance of this study, followed by a discussion on
its limitations and suggestions for further research.
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Chapter Two
Literature Review
This chapter begins with the theoretical basis of this thesis, namely, the notion of
pragmastylistics and its application in the study of drama texts. In the second part of
this chapter, an introduction of Agatha Christie and her mystery drama And Then
There Were None will be provided, followed by previous researches of this work.
2.1 Pragmastylistics
2.1.1 Pragmastylistics As an Interdisciplinary Field
Stylistics is concerned with the study of style in language (Verdonk, 2002 ： 3).
Leech and Short (2001: 13) defines stylistics as the study that literary texts are
interpreted with modern linguistic concepts and theories, that is, “why does the author
here choose to express himself in this particular way?” and “how is such-and-such an
aesthetic effect achieved through language”. In other words, the main function of
stylistics is to explain how the meaning of a text is created through the writer’s
linguistic choices. Originates from Greek and Roman rhetoric, stylistics has quite a
long history in the West. However, it was not until the 20th century that stylistics
became known as a dynamic and systematic discipline. In 1958, the Stylistic
Symposium held in American Indiana University marked the beginning of modern
stylistics. The following two decades have witnessed the sprout of various stylistic
schools, under the influence of modern linguistics, such as cognitive stylistics, critical
stylistics,
functional
stylistics,
discourse
stylistics,
pedagogical
stylistics,
computational stylistics, etc.(Shen Dan, 2000), and Pragmastylistics is one of them.
Different from stylistics, pragmatics is a relatively young branch of linguistics
and semiotics. Levison (1983: 9-27) describes pragmatics as “the study of relations
between language and context that are grammaticalised, or encoded in the structure of
language”, and “the study of all those aspects of meaning not captured in a semantic
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theory”. According to Leech (1983: x), pragmatics is the study of meaning in relation
to speech situations, which includes “elements of addresser and addressee, context,
goals, illocutionary act, utterance”. Later, J. Thomas (1995) proposes a simpler
definition of pragmatics, that is, the study of “meaning in interaction”. The most
representative pragmatic theories include but not restricted to: Speech Act Theory,
Indirect Speech Act, Cooperative Principle, Politeness Principle, and Relevance
Theory.
From the above introduction, it can be found that pragmatics coincides with
stylistics in that both are concerned with the writer/speakers’ choices from a range of
grammatically acceptable linguistic forms, and the effects being produced on the
reader/hearer. Achievements in pragmatics bring new insight into stylistics. It seems
that only a stylistic study which includes pragmatic elements can be deemed complete.
When we apply pragmatic theories and principles to literary text analysis,
pragmastylistics comes into being.
The term “pragmastylistics” is a blend of “pragmatics” and “stylistics”, arising
from a suggestion by Van Dijk (1972: 172), as “pragmatics” offers more complete
explanations for many hitherto unexplained phenomena than stylistics or pragmatics
can do alone. Leo Hickey adopts this term in The Pragmatics of Style, a book that
contributes to the prosperity of this discipline. Hickey describes pragmastylistics as
stylistics with a pragmatic component, and said: “Pragmatics can be described as a
study of language-in-use which pays special attention to the choices made from
among the various grammatically correct way of expressing one and the same thing,
which is semantically or truth-conditionally equivalent. It also describes how such
choices relate to the overall situation in which the language is used, including what
the interlocutors already know or do not know, and what the speaker or writer wished
to achieve through his language-use. Pragmastylistics will always attempt to show
how the different possible ways of saying ‘the same’ things (style) depend on the
factors which compose the situation (pragmatic factors). In other words, the linguistic
surface will be seen as determined by some kind of ‘fit’ or relationship between
stylistic choice and non-linguistic situation. That is to say, utterance with the same or
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virtually the same meaning (in the sense of correspondence to truth conditions,
semiotic content or semantic value) may differ in their linguistic form and situational
appropriateness, and these differences may have pragmatic explanations.” (1989: 8)
2.1.2 Pragmastylistics at Home and Abroad
As a new interdisciplinary area of study, pragmastylistics has drawn wide
attention from pragmatist, stylists and literary critics. There are many different terms
to this subject, such as the pragmatics of style, literary pragmatics, and pragmatic
stylistics. In the West, Van Dijk (1976) and Pratt first applies pragmatic theories to the
study of literary texts. Pratt (1977) expounds the term “literary pragmatics” in the
book Linguistics for students of Literature. Wales (1989) considers literary pragmatics
as following the development of pragmatics. In The Pragmatics of Style (1989), Leo
Hickey discusses “pragmastylistics” by expounding the relevance between pragmatics
and stylistics, contributing to the prosperity of this subject. From 1990s,
pragmastylistics as an independent discipline has achieved a lot of advances, with
monographs emerging one after another. They are When Voices Clash: A Study in
Literary Pragmatics (Mey, J, 1999), Negation, Text Worlds and Discourse: The
Pragmatics of Fiction (Laura Hidalgo Downing, 1989), Literary Pragmatics (Roger D.
Sell, 1991). A more recent one is Pragmatic Stylistics (2006) by Elizabeth Black,
which claims to be “the first pragmatically oriented study of the language of fictional
texts”, discussing narrative voice, metaphor, parody, symbolism in literary texts
within the framework of linguistic theories.
Under the influence of Western research, more and more Chinese scholars
became interested in this field since 1990s. In his thesis, Zhao Chaozhu (2001)
explores the implicature produced in Englsh novels from pragmatic perspective. Feng
Zongxin (2002) is the only Chinese scholar who mentions the term “pragmastylistics”
in his book Pragmastylistics of Dramatic Text: The Play Off the Stage, which deals
with problems concerning linguistic study and literary criticism by analyzing Eugene
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Ionesco’s absurd drama. Tu Jing (2005) reviews the current development of literary
pragmatics in China, holding that this subject overcomes the shortcoming of
traditional literary studies by treating text, author, and audience as a whole. Apart
from works of literature, filmic text as a new genre also becomes the object of study
in some M.A. thesis (Ai Yi, 2005; Zhang Meiling, 2006; Lu Wenjun, 2010; Wang Min,
2012).
2.1.3 Pragmastylistic Study of Drama
After presenting a rough picture of what pragmastylistics is, let’s now turn to a
specific literary genre—— drama. It should be noted that “drama” here refers to the
written copy of the play, rather than a live performance. When pragmatic theories are
applied to the stylistic study of drama, it belongs to the scope of pragmastylistics.
Before discussing drama stylistics, it is necessary to look at some features of dramatic
texts, and the reason why they should be interpreted by pragmatic principles.
Drama is one of the most complicated forms of art. As a literary genre, drama
differs from poetry and fiction in that it is meant to be performed on the stage, which
poses great difficulty to its creation and interpretation. Unlike other forms of literature,
drama largely consists of verbal interaction between characters. While poets and
fiction writers make heavy use of narration and description in their writing,
playwrights, however, rely exclusively on one means——dialogue. Therefore, the key
to understand a drama lies in the interpretation of its conversation, and whether an
approach or theory should be applied to drama study depends on its power in
interpreting dramatic dialogue.
Among all literary genres, drama bears the greatest resemblance to ordinary
conversation, as manifested in its turn-taking mechanism, interruption, pause, etc.
These similarities provide rationale for dramatic dialogues to be analyzed as ordinary
conversation. According to Burton (1980: 96), when dramatic dialogue is analyzed as
if they were real conversation, it provides an “extremely powerful heuristic device for
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the discourse analyst trapped into a way of seeing by other styles of data”. Some
might argue that drama, as a form of art, can never be identical to real life situation.
Indeed, most dramatic dialogues are elaborately written and specifically arranged to
achieve clarity and fluency, but it is the rules underlying everyday conversation that
guide dramatists in their process of creation.
Compared with poetry and fiction, however, drama as a literary genre has
received far less attention from stylisticians. Early in 1960s, some researches have
been done on dramatic texts, but they were treated as a sort of poetry or fiction, just as
Burton points out, we only have “prose stylistics” and “style in poetry” (1980: 3).
This, of course, does not really account for aspects that set drama apart as a unique
genre. Only after the application of pragmatics has drama stylistics made real
advances. According to Yu (1996), a pragmatic and discourse-oriented approach can
succeed in uncovering precisely the implied meaning of dialogues, thus reveal how
the author of a particular play achieves success in characterization and plot design.
Drama stylistics flourishes since 1980s, as stylisticians found the dialogue of
drama being a great source of stylistic analysis. Many researches have been done with
various pragmatic theories and principles being applied to the analysis of dramatic
texts. Burton (1980) studies Ionesco’s The Bald Prima Donna and Pinter’s The Dumb
Waiter, making use of recent advances in conversation analysis. In Style in Fiction: A
Linguistic Introduction to English Fictional Prose (1981), Leech and Short establish
the basic framework and standard for pragmastylistic analysis. Later, Leech (1992)
applies pragmatic theories to analyzing Shaw’s You Never Can Tell, and Short (1989,
1996) studies the characterization and absurdity in drama texts. Roger D. Sell (1985)
publishes an article Tellability and Politeness in “The Miller’s Tale”. Tan (1995)
discusses the distinct dramatic language from pragmatic perspective. He also sets an
example by making a detailed analysis of Alan Ayckbourn’s The Revengers. Short and
Verdonk (1998) contribute to drama stylistics by expanding the scope of research to
modern drama.
Chinese researchers have also contributed a lot to this field. Yang (1989, 1991)
and Yu (1993, 1996, 1999, 2001, 2004) are among the earliest scholars who promote
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the development of drama stylistics in China. They carry out the stylistic study of
dramatic texts from the perspective of pragmatics and discourse analysis. In Drama
Style and Drama Stylistics (1996), Yu differentiates between dramatic texts and other
literary language, and stresses the necessity of a pragmatic and discourse-oriented
approach. In his doctoral dissertation, Yu (1999) establishes a systematic analytical
framework for the study of dramatic dialogue, and demonstrate the effectiveness
through detailed analysis of both English and Chinese drama. Feng Zongxin (2002) is
the only Chinese scholar who adopts the term “pragmastylistics” in his book
Pragmatics of Dramatic Text: The Play off the Stage. Meanwhile, a number of articles
concerning pragmastylistics have been published (Gao Jianwu & Shen Dan, 2006; Si
Jianguo, 2006; Li Huadong, 2001; Zuo Jin, 2013), expanding the research scope and
enriching the methods of drama stylistics.
These studies, on the whole, have verified the feasibility and effectiveness of
pragmastylistic approach in dramatic text analysis. It should be noticed, however, that
current studies focus primarily on classic works, while neglecting such popular genres
as mystery drama. By critically examining previous researches and achievements on
pragmastylistics, we’ve gained a solid theoretical and methodological background for
the present study.
2.2 Agatha Christie and And Then There Were None
2.2.1 A Brief Introduction of Agatha Christie
Agatha Christie (1890-1976), also known as Agatha Christie Mallowan and under
the pseudonym of Mary Westmacott, was an English novelist, dramatist, short story
writer and autobiographer. Born in an upper-middle class family in England, Agatha
was taught at home by a governess and tutors during childhood, and the idea of
writing a mystery work first came upon her at the age of 24, when she was working as
a nurse in a hospital during World War I. The late 1920s and 1930s witnessed the
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Golden Age of detective fiction in England, as well as the climax of Christie’s writing
career, during which she published more than twenty novels and two original plays. In
1967 Agatha became president of the British Detection Club. And in 1971, she was
awarded the high honor as a Dame by the British Queen.
Throughout her prolific literary career, Christie creates 80 novels and short story
collections, 19 plays, and 5 non-fiction books including her autobiography. Her work
has been translated into about 130 languages, sold to more than one hundred countries
all over the world. Only Shakespeare and Bible can compete with her for total sales or,
more significantly, for variety of foreign-language translation. According to UNESCO,
Christie is currently the most translated individual author with only the collective
corporate works of Walt Disney productions surpassing her. Her work, particularly
featuring the Belgium detective Hercule Poirot and Miss Jane Marple, command vast
audiences with various cultural background. Her genius for mystery fiction remains
unparalleled and she was honored the “Queen of Murder”. In a word, Agatha Christie
is the most widely read and the most popular mystery writer of all time.
Besides her marvelous achievements in detective fiction, Christie is also regarded
as a great playwright. Christie turned to playwriting in the midst of her writing career.
After watching some of her novels adapted by other playwrights to the stage, she felt
that they all made a mistake by following the book too closely, and decided to try the
job herself. With that, she wrote and adapted some of her own fictions into plays.
Most of them are well received, among which And Then There Were None, Witness for
the Prosecution, and The Mousetrap are the top three popular plays. The Mousetrap
was based on a BBC radio sketch titled Three Blind Mice in commemoration of the
eightieth birthday of Queen Mary. First performed in London in 1952 as a stage play,
it has got an extraordinarily long run and still keeps running after more than ten
thousandth performances. The year 2002 marked its fiftieth anniversary. It is
acknowledged as the longest-running play in history, another miracle created by
Christie.
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2.2.2 Studies on Agatha Christie at Home and Abroad
Despite her immense popularity, Christie has drawn comparatively less attention
from academic field. Most Christie’s mystery fiction has been translated and
introduced to China, but the exclusive study on her work is by no means to say
abundant. An essay collection written by Wang Anyi (2006), a famous Chinese writer,
is probably the only monograph in this respect. Recent years have witnessed a
growing interest in Agatha’s work, which can be roughly divided into several
categories.
Agatha Christie is an expert in narration, characterization and plot design.
Therefore, writing techniques become the prime objective of many researches. Du
Wenjuan (2003)’s postgraduate thesis provides an overview of the art of Agatha
Christie’s detective fiction, which consists of narrative games, art of suspense, great
detectives and puzzle of language. Song Jiayang (2003) gives a detailed analysis of
plot design in Agatha Christie’s detective work. Chi Haiping (2009) discusses her
writing techniques through plot strategies, characterization devices, suspension
construction and art of language. Liu Shuang (2011) studies the narrative art of
Christie’s detective novels. Other researches have been made by Wang Lan (2007)
and Xu Jing (2009).
Instead of focusing exclusively on writing techniques, some scholars choose a
specific work of Agatha Christie and probes into its unique charm and aesthetic value,
with the purpose of gaining better understanding and appreciation. The most
discussed novels include The ABC Murderers (Liu, 2008:12), Death on the Nile
(Zhang, 2010:8), And Then There Were None (Song, 2012:4).
Besides, a few researches have been conducted from linguistic perspective, such
as conversation analysis, contextual frame theory and corpus-based analysis, etc. Li
Jinyan (2004) focuses on Grice’s Theory of Conversational Implicature and its
application in detective stories. Zhu Shuhui (2008) explores Evil Under the Sun from
the perspective of contextual frame theory. Xin Chunxiao (2010) carries out a
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