Agatha Christie’s The Mysterious Affair at Styles in German and Dutch Translation

Book excerpt: Agatha Christie is one of the most popular and most translated authors of all time. Yet there is little academic work on her writing. This book sets out to rectify this. No matter where in the world you are, Hercule Poirot is a name that conjures up certain associations. The detailed analysis of the original text, three German and two Dutch translations of The Mysterious Affair at Styles however shows that his depiction differs immensely between the individual texts. In the course of this book, reasons for these differences are found via the analysis of the shifts of status of Agatha Christie as an author of detective fiction and of translations from English in Germany and the Netherlands. During this exploration the discovery will be made that, when translated, escapist literature such as Christie’s detective fiction actually becomes a highly political affair.