![]() Dust-jacket illustration of the first UK edition | |
Author | Agatha Christie |
---|---|
Language | English |
Subject | Archaeology, Travel |
Genre | Autobiography Travel literature |
Publisher | William Collins |
Publication date | November 1946 |
Publication place | United Kingdom |
Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
Pages | 192 pp (first edition, hardcover) |
Preceded by | The Hollow |
Followed by | The Labours of Hercules |
Come, Tell Me How You Live is a short book of autobiography and travel literature by crime writer Agatha Christie. It is one of only two books she wrote and had published under both of her married names of "Christie" and "Mallowan" (the other being Star Over Bethlehem and other stories ) and was first published in the UK in November 1946 by William Collins and Sons and in the same year in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company. The UK edition retailed for ten shillings and sixpence (10/6) and the US edition at $3.00.
The book's title, a quote from verse three of the White Knight's poem, Haddocks' Eyes from chapter eight of Through the Looking-Glass (1871) by Lewis Carroll, is also word play on the word "Tell", used to describe an archaeological mound or site.
Christie first thought of writing the book in 1938 and wrote to her literary agent, Edmund Cork, in July of that year, suggesting the project and telling him that it would be "not at all serious or archaeological". [1] In the event, she wrote the book during the Second World War [2] after her husband, Max Mallowan, had been posted to Egypt with the British Council in February 1942 [3] and she was living alone in London. She occupied her hours by working in a hospital dispensary, using the knowledge she had gained doing the same job in the First World War working two full days, three half-days and alternate Saturday mornings and, "The rest of the time, I wrote." [4]
She added, "It is only now that I fully realise, looking back over my wartime output, that I produced an incredible amount of stuff over those years." [5] One of those books was Come, Tell Me How You Live. She wrote this book "out of nostalgia" feeling badly the separation from Max and wanting to recapture the "poignant remembrance of our days in Arpachiyah and Syria." She admitted herself that it was "light-hearted and frivolous" but that it was an accurate reflection of the time and events that the book portrays. [6] Christie finished the book in June 1945, one month after a delighted reunion with her husband and passed it round for comment and opinion about the suitability for publication. Supportive of the work was Stephen Glanville (who had previously assisted with the play Akhnaton and pushed Christie into writing Death Comes as the End ), Edmund Cork and Max himself to who it was given as a homecoming present. Less enthusiastic was Sidney Smith, Keeper of the Department of Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities at the British Museum. He was a family friend and cautioned her that, "while the whole thing is thoroughly enjoyable reading, I am not quite sure that you would be wise to print it at all." [7]
Another party who was unenthusiastic about the book was her publisher, William Collins and Sons, who were "suspicious and disapproving" but "the book was a success, and I think they then regretted that paper was so short." [8]
Christie's chronology is concatenated and somewhat confused in the book from the actual events of the 1930s although she never specifies any year. In the last two months of 1934, Christie joined Max and a young architect Robin Macartney (called Mac in the book) on a surveying expedition in Syria. [9] Mallowan's previous expedition and the first he commanded had been in Arpachiyah, north-east of Ninevah in Iraq in 1933 but that country had become too dangerous, hence the move. In describing the departure from Victoria Station, Christie names her daughter Rosalind as being fourteen when she was in fact one year older. Robin Macartney was a talented though shy draughtsman who later drew the dustjackets for four of Christie's 1930's UK editions ( Murder in Mesopotamia , Murder in the Mews , Death on the Nile and Appointment with Death ). She also wrote how she unsuccessfully tried to make herself like cigarettes by smoking two a day for six months. Max also tried to introduce her to various wines, but acknowledged defeat, so had the battle of obtaining water for her in restaurants.
The book then gives the impression that only one season was exclusively conducted at Chagar Bazar whereas the Mallowans were there for two years (1935–36). The narrative then further complicates matters by stating that other members joined these first expeditions such as Colonel Burn (referred to as "the Colonel" in the book) and Louis Osman (called "Bumps" after his own description of the Tells). In reality these two members and others joined the expedition in the spring of 1937 when the team extended their efforts to excavating not just at Chagar Bazar but also Tell Brak. [10] The chronology then reverts to being correct when the Mallowans finish at these sites and move for a short period of time to the Balikh Valley in 1938. In 1939 the international situation was deemed to be too dangerous to continue and the Mallowans did not recommence their archaeological work until 1947 with another surveying expedition, this time returning to Iraq. [11]
Christie described the book in her own foreword as, "small beer – a very little book, full of everyday doings and happenings". There is little effort made to educate the reader in the ancient history of the places that are being excavated or in the methods of archaeology itself. Instead she paints a vivid picture of the human side of their expeditions and the personalities, both European and Asiatic, involved. The latter, in particular, are presented in a very sympathetic manner. Christie's infectious enthusiasm for the region, its peoples and the life they led while working there comes through in the work in a way which led Jacquetta Hawkes (who worked with the Mallowans in Nimrud in the 1950s) to describe the book in a foreword to the 1983 Bodley Head edition as "a pure pleasure to read". In her 2007 biography of Christie, Laura Thompson writes that the book, "is written to please one person, at least: her husband. It has a slightly manic style, as different as can be from that of her fiction, although in its way the book is equally artful". [12]
Professor Rushbrook Williams in The Times Literary Supplement of 28 December 1946 was less impressed: "The enthusiasts of detective fiction who regard the publication of a new "Agatha Christie" as a landmark will experience something of a shock when they turn over these pages. Here is no ingenious plot, no artfully contrived love-interest, no unmasking after satisfying suspense, of the horrid criminal. While those who know something of archaeological work in the Near East, and recognise in Mrs Mallowan's minor misfortunes and victimisations an echo of their own experiences, will sometimes chuckle as they read, the ordinary person will find the whole thing too long drawn out. The book, indeed, is reminiscent of the 'letters from dear Uncle William' types of literature – excellent for reading aloud by those, and to those, who know Uncle William, but a shade tedious to persons outside the family circle." [13]
Elizabeth Monroe in the 24 November 1946 issue of The Observer opined that, "For all its flippancy the book is a contribution to literature on the Middle East. For it contains nostalgic descriptions of the profusion of mounds that mark bygone lives, and of the silence that surrounds them now, and of the flowers that cover them if you arrive on the right morning in the spring." [14]
A review by "H.J.F." in The Guardian's issue of 22 November 1946 stated that the idea of writing the book was, "characteristically bright" and concluded, "The reader need not expect to find anything here about the famous Mallowan excavations which have done so much to fill out the heretofore thin web of the story of the origins of cultivation. That is to be sought in learned journals, and Agatha Christie's part therein is no small one. We wonder how many of the people who enjoy her books think of their being written, as often as not, in the desert amid mounds of forgotten cities in a region that was once full of life." [15]
John Lanchester described the book as "a serious contender for the least revealing autobiographical book ever written, strongly rivalled by her Autobiography, which does at least contain some factual details from her childhood." [16]
As well as a foreword and a short epilogue (dated spring 1944), Christie provides a poem A-sitting on a Tell which mimics the White Knight's poem, Haddocks' Eyes (See Explanation of the book's title above). Christie references this allusion by way of a printed apology to Carroll. The line "Come, tell me how you live!" is also quoted by the character of Jane Harding in Book III, Chapter I(i) of Giant's Bread , her 1930 novel published under the pseudonym of Mary Westmacott.
The photographs contained in later editions are different from those in the 1946 first edition. The latter contains only photographs of the sites of the digs, the workers and the local population. Later editions included photographs of Christie, Mallowan and some other individuals named in the book.
Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fictional detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. She also wrote the world's longest-running play, the murder mystery The Mousetrap, which has been performed in the West End of London since 1952. A writer during the "Golden Age of Detective Fiction", Christie has been called the "Queen of Crime"—a moniker which is now trademarked by her estate—or the "Queen of Mystery". She also wrote six novels under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott. In 1971, she was made a Dame (DBE) by Queen Elizabeth II for her contributions to literature. Guinness World Records lists Christie as the best-selling fiction writer of all time, her novels having sold more than two billion copies.
Murder on the Orient Express is a work of detective fiction by English writer Agatha Christie featuring the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. It was first published in the United Kingdom by the Collins Crime Club on 1 January 1934. In the United States, it was published on 28 February 1934, under the title of Murder in the Calais Coach, by Dodd, Mead and Company. The UK edition retailed at seven shillings and sixpence (7/6) and the US edition at $2.
Death in the Clouds is a work of detective fiction by British writer Agatha Christie, published in 1935. It features the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot and Chief Inspector Japp. It is a "closed circle" murder mystery: the victim is a passenger on a cross-Channel aircraft flight, and the perpetrator can only be one of eleven fellow-passengers and crew.
Lord Edgware Dies is a work of detective fiction by British writer Agatha Christie, published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club in September 1933 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company later in the same year under the title of Thirteen at Dinner. Before its book publication, the novel was serialised in six issues of The American Magazine as 13 For Dinner.
The Mystery of the Blue Train is a work of detective fiction by British writer Agatha Christie, first published in the United Kingdom by William Collins & Sons on 29 March 1928 and in the United States by Dodd, Mead and Company later in the same year. The UK edition retailed at seven shillings and sixpence (7/6) and the US edition at $2.00. The book features her detective Hercule Poirot.
The Sittaford Mystery is a work of detective fiction by British writer Agatha Christie, first published in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in 1931 under the title of The Murder at Hazelmoor and in UK by the Collins Crime Club on 7 September of the same year under Christie's original title. It is the first Christie novel to be given a different title for the US market. The US edition retailed at $2.00 and the UK edition at seven shillings and sixpence (7/6).
Murder in Mesopotamia is a work of detective fiction by British writer Agatha Christie, first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on 6 July 1936 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company later in the same year. The UK edition retailed at seven shillings and sixpence (7/6) and the US edition at $2.00. The cover was designed by Robin McCartney.
Death Comes as the End is a historical mystery novel by Agatha Christie, first published in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in October 1944 and in the UK by the Collins Crime Club in March of the following year. The US Edition retailed at $2.00 and the UK edition at seven shillings and sixpence (7/6).
They Came to Baghdad is an adventure novel by Agatha Christie, first published in the United Kingdom by the Collins Crime Club on 5 March 1951 and in the United States by Dodd, Mead and Company later in the same year. The UK edition retailed at eight shillings and sixpence (8/6) and the US edition at $2.50.
A Caribbean Mystery is a work of detective fiction by British writer Agatha Christie, first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on 16 November 1964 and in the United States by Dodd, Mead and Company the following year. The UK edition retailed at sixteen shillings (16/-) and the US edition at $4.50. It features the detective Miss Marple.
Chagar Bazar is a tell, or settlement mound, in northern Al-Hasakah Governorate, Syria. It is a short distance from the major ancient city of Nagar. The site was occupied from the Halaf period until the middle of the 2nd millennium BC.
Sir Max Edgar Lucien Mallowan, was a prominent British archaeologist and academic, specialising in the Ancient Near East. Having studied classics at Oxford University, he trained in archaeology under Leonard Woolley at Ur and under Reginald Campbell Thompson at Nineveh. He then led a number of archaeological expeditions sponsored by the British Museum and the British School of Archaeology in Iraq. He was the second husband of Dame Agatha Christie, having met during the excavation at Ur in 1930. He served in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve during the Second World War, and then entered academia. He was Professor of Western Asiatic Archaeology at the University of London (1947–1962) and a fellow of All Souls College, Oxford (1962–1971).
Star Over Bethlehem is an illustrated book of poetry and short stories on a religious theme by crime writer Agatha Christie. It was published under the name "Agatha Christie Mallowan". It was published in the UK by Collins on 1 November 1965 in an edition priced at thirteen shillings and sixpence (13/6) and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in an edition retailing at $4.95.
Poems is the second of two collections of poetry by crime writer Agatha Christie, the first being The Road of Dreams in January 1925. It was published in October 1973 at the same time as the novel Postern of Fate, the final work she ever wrote.
An Autobiography is the title of the recollections of crime writer Agatha Christie published posthumously by Collins in the UK and by Dodd, Mead & Company in the US in November 1977, almost two years after the writer's death in January 1976. The UK edition retailed at £7.95 and the US edition at $15.00. It is by some considerable margin the longest of her works, the UK first edition running to 544 pages. It was translated and published in Greek, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Hungarian and Spanish.
Tell Arpachiyah is a prehistoric archaeological site in Nineveh Province (Iraq). It takes its name from a more recent village located about 4 miles (6.4 km) from Nineveh. The local name of the mound on which the site is located is Tepe Reshwa.
Agatha Christie (1890–1976) was an English crime novelist, short-story writer and playwright. Her reputation rests on 66 detective novels and 15 short-story collections that have sold over two billion copies, an amount surpassed only by the Bible and the works of William Shakespeare. She is also the most translated individual author in the world with her books having been translated into more than 100 languages. Her works contain several regular characters with whom the public became familiar, including Hercule Poirot, Miss Marple, Tommy and Tuppence Beresford, Parker Pyne and Harley Quin. Christie wrote more Poirot stories than any of the others, even though she thought the character to be "rather insufferable". Following the publication of the 1975 novel Curtain, Poirot's obituary appeared on the front page of The New York Times.
Katharine Elizabeth, Lady Woolley was a British military nurse and archaeologist who worked principally at the Mesopotamian site of Ur. She was married to archaeologist Leonard Woolley.
Hammoudi ibn Ibrahim, was an Arab archaeological foreman who managed workers at major excavations in the Middle East during the first three decades of the twentieth century. Sheikh Hammoudi, as he was known, came from the northern Syrian town of Jarabulus, located on the western bank of the Euphrates River, just south of the present-day Syrian-Turkish border. He worked closely with noted British archaeologists T.E. Lawrence, Leonard Woolley, Katharine Woolley, and Max Mallowan. Mallowan's wife, Agatha Christie, also participated in excavations and wrote about Hammoudi in her memoirs. Among the sites he managed, coordinating workforces of dozens or even hundreds of local workers, are Carchemish, on the border of Turkey and Syria; Ur, in southern Iraq; Tell Atchana, the site of a Bronze Age city state called Alalakh, in the Hatay province of Turkey; and Chagar Bazar and Tell Brak in Syria. In the 1940s, Sheikh Hammoudi became an elected member of the Syrian Parliament. For his service to British interests during World War II, Hammoudi in 1949 won the King's Medal for Service in the Cause of Freedom (KMS).
Robin Halliday Macartney FRIBA was a British architect, painter and illustrator. Today he is mainly remembered as the designer of four book covers for Agatha Christie, who immortalized him as "Mac" in her archaeological memoir Come, Tell Me How You Live. Macartney began his working life as excavation architect in the Near East and then entered the service of the Public Works Department. He was active in Cyprus, Sierra Leone and Nyasaland before retiring to Portugal. Two of his buildings have since become presidential residences.