Sing A Song of Sixpence by Agatha Christie
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- Опубліковано 21 вер 2024
- Agatha Christie (1890-1976) was an English crime novelist, short story writer, and playwright. She is best known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those featuring her famous characters Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. Christie is the best-selling novelist of all time, with her works having sold over two billion copies worldwide. Her innovative plots, clever misdirection, and surprising twists have earned her the title of the Queen of Crime.
"Sing a Song of Sixpence" is a short story by Agatha Christie, first published in the December 1929 issue of the Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News in the U.K. The story was later collected in the anthology "The Listerdale Mystery" (1934) and published in the U.S. in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine in February 1947 and the collection "The Witness for the Prosecution and Other Stories" (1948).
Within Christie's extensive body of work, "Sing a Song of Sixpence" stands as an early example of her mastery of the short story format. Published in 1929, the story falls within the Golden Age of Detective Fiction in Britain, a period characterized by puzzle-like mysteries, amateur sleuths, and complex plots. While the story deviates from some of Christie's more famous works by featuring a one-off protagonist instead of her iconic detectives, it still showcases her ability to craft intricate and engaging mysteries.
One criticism of "Sing a Song of Sixpence" is the unexpected resolution that may leave readers feeling that they were not given a fair chance to solve the mystery themselves.
The story also reflects the class stereotypes and prejudices prevalent in British society during the early 20th Century . These class dynamics in the story provide insight into the social attitudes of the era, even as they may not align with contemporary values.
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Please don't misinterpret this sentence! -
"He had made love to her, in a discreet, elderly, man-of-the-world fashion."
In 1929, "made love to" simply meant "flirted with", usually light-heartedly and in a public place.
To 'make' love meant to 'pretend' love, to flirt without any real feelings involved.
Yes, it's still uncomfortable to us, a man approaching 60 flirting with a girl he knew was 17, but it's not nearly as creepy as it sounds!
And Christie doesn't express approval; I think she is experimenting with an unattractive lead, and she opens with his inappropriate flirting because she doesn’t want us to find this character sympathetic.
I wouldn't call him a sleuth... more a man with access to documents and a rational former profession. She makes it clear he won't be venturing out of his cul-de-sac again!
Thanks again, Tony. 😊
you are very welcome
This is how I interpreted the phrase ‘making love’ also. It was just an opportunistic and innocent ‘drink at the fountain of youth’ to be in the company of youth and beauty. It was not physical. He was a gentleman.
@sandyfoot Yes indeed. 👍
I have been reading Christie since the early sixties, if not the late fifties, and I agree and understood. I can even say that I, as a young woman, experienced that nuance from one or two of that type of man - and it is exactly as the three of you have explained. There was nothing sordid, just as you say, and neither pressed on it. After faithfully reading, and rereading her paperbacks all these years, I have come to know what a very keen observer of humanity she was, and I appreciate her recording those glimpses into real life. And I always loved that her descriptions easily allowed me to feel as if I were right there watching and looking at everything. My mind’s eye was filled with rooms, cities and the conversations going on. Thank you for this treasure ! I’m still not willing to give up the feel of the pages in my paperbacks! 🙏❤🫠🇨🇦
P.S. My father loved The Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine and encouraged me in reading more than any teachers could. It also provided a very special relationship with my father, as I was the oldest of eight children. Both my son and daughter, and I, became published writers, in various subjects.
I don't think she withholds information from the reader. There are no sudden strangers who appear at the end.
She puts in all the clues, but does not give the proper interpretation, often allowing a character like Hastings to express an incorrect meaning,
Even in Roger Ackroyd, she has the doctor say, "I did what needed
to be done...." without spelling out the specifics.
I love the way she fools me, sometimes even on re-reading.
But when l do remember the murderer, it's fun to re-read and see how skillfully she constructs the plot.
She was an amazing writer!
The Queen of crime, read by the best narrator in the business.
Brilliant!
😅😅😅
Who is the narrator ?
I think it was the comedy movie, "Murder by Death" in which many authors of detective fiction were roasted, where the Agatha Christie character was accused of "withholding clues from her readers." I had to laugh when I heard that, because who hasn't read Christie and at the end said,"well, if I had only known THAT . . ."?
Great movie. It is free on UA-cam right now. I luv it. I remember seeing it as a kid.
Such a funny film with so many brilliant actors.
Me
I had forgotten: it's Saturday and time for Classic Detective! What a pleasant surprise. 😊
I am genuinely shocked by the quality of this podcast. The dialog after the story really captivated me.
It is so vastly different than 90% of the podcasts I have listened to over the years.
i’ve had a few negatives about my commentary so yo hear this really cheered me up a lot
You can please some of the people all of the time, you can please all of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time”.
John Lydgate
Excellent, Tony! Wonderful hearing you read Agatha Christie in your indomitable style; all the different voices. Thank you! Enjoyed the end waffle and all the information about the story; history of the era; and all the bits and bobs thrown in for our consideration.
One of her ones where you have no idea where it's going!
Thanks Tony!
Agatha Christie is one of my all-time favorite authors. Her stories were always so much fun to read. You did a great job, as always, with the narration.
I LOVE your reading and commentary, 10/10!!!!!!!
Just so lovely to continue to enjoy having a content generator who is HUMAN & has several hats that he wears so well- an educationally creative vaudeville of STORYTELLING.
I love Agatha’s writing. Such genuine contributions to writing from what might be called a “singular narrative voice”; however, the creativity of logical imagination is supremely elegant & eloquent.
And Tony…just a world communities’ “cup of tea”- Thank you! ☕️🫖🪭 of 🗝️🚪🪄🪅,🪆,🖼️ of ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️📝📚📖❣️
Interesting how well Gates Of Imagination channel is doing . i’m not sure people realise it’s all
AI. that’s why they can generate so many audiobooks so quickly . truth is that most people don’t mind the AI. We humans will become like an artisan etsy product !
Excellent Tony. I had read this many years ago but had forgotten it almost totally! Loved your reading of it and loved the after-chat. Thanks so much.
As a former language arts teacher who read aloud to my students in a similar way…the voices, style, and explanations. I have stumbled upon this channel. What a happy thing! Agatha Christie is my favorite novelist of all time…and years later when I reread a tale, I am often fooled again!
I think this presentation is one of my favorite!! Love stories like this!! Great job ❤
Oh, this is a feeling similar to when the cake is just cool enough to cut! Yum!
Lol; I loved that, Sir Edward would have been a fine Character to use in further stories!
Thank-You!!
Hi, dear Tony! Wonderful selection, one of my favorite Agathas. Thank you!❤
Very enjoyable, Tony! Masterful storytelling, entertaining, interesting, informative commentary. Thank you!
I agree. I enjoyed this story very much. Nice audio besides .
Very enjoyable reading and conversation. I have not heard this story before and i honestly thought i had heard them all.
you’re very welcome
Praise for your excellent narration Tony Walker, and especially for your post-narration discussion & history of both story and Dame Agatha Christi. Yes, much appreciated.
Thank you
I think that Mrs Christie nailed the great aunt character. The sort of woman who does "good", in order to control others. By being generous she holds the moral high ground, and expects the recipient to be beholden to her.
Not a nice lady at all, so we don't need to reproach ourselves for enjoying her demise.
Nor need we pity the murderer because he was legitimately illegitimate.
A guilt free indulgence, better than chocolate.
love listening, good story, thank you
Oh to have the writing brilliance of Lady Agatha!
Question: if I didn't know a woman wrote this, I would have most certainly thought a man penned this by the way the older gent sees Magdalen mostly as an object. It seems her youth and beauty made her more interesting. Does it seem lightly misogynistic? I don't mean the age difference or them coupling up. Somehow it seems a little discomforting. I think it is important to take into account the culture in which the story is birthed. I find it interesting. Sorry if my comment offended anyone.☮️
Perhaps, Christie wanted you to bristle at every mention of Magdalen's 'loss' of her girlhood 'charm'. 🙄 Christie's divorce from her husband, Archie, occurred in 1928 prior to this story's 1929 release. The divorce deeply pained Christie but not Archie-boy. A week after its finalisation, he married 24-year-old Nancy Neele (10 years Christie's junior). Perhaps, this story upholds contemporary culture. Or, betrays a bit of self-loathing. Or, maybe it serves as social critique.
@@soundsilence2604 Interesting! I did not know that. Thank you for enlighting me!
And maybe pedophilic. She was in late teens?
That was amazing. What a voice, bro! Great voice acting. I thoroughly enjoyed this.
Thanks a lot. Means a lot.
I believe she was 17 when she met Sir Palliser, so she'd be 27 now. He is sixty now, so he would have been about 50 on the cruise.
Speaking of class dynamics, the British couldn’t do it better. The British BBC did a beautiful series on “The Plantagenets” that I’m pretty sure is free to watch today. It was filmed as a series in the seventies I think. Although Canadian, I lived in England for two years and I enjoyed all of their shows and mini-series they did - wonderful actors ! 🙏❤🫠
I enjoyed your commentary!
Glad you enjoyed!
Agatha gives a breakdown of all the characters. She gives clues to the kinks in the all the major suspects personalities. In this case the guilty one is not a fully fleshed out character. He is only spoken of by his mother. She covered for him until she could no longer keep up the silence.
We were distracted by all the clues and the original idea of only four suspects.
This Agatha Christie, is, in my experience, atypical in that the killer does not come from the middle-classes. Normally, servants, labourers or a person from the working class may be a suspect, but the killer is almost always someone from the victim's own social class.
There is one other exception, but I am not going to tell which one it is.
Is the other one a Miss Marple story?
@@sophiajohnson8608 No. Guess again.
@@paulbeesley8283 In that case, there's a third story like this. A Miss Marple story I know of.
@@sophiajohnson8608 Which one would that be?
@@paulbeesley8283 Are you sure you want me to give the ending away?
It's "The Companion."
Very enjoyable, thank you 👍🥂
Oh how delicious!
Sunday morning in bed with Agatha and a cat and a coffee!
(It's bitcoin halving time, so I'm currently not in demand. Yay)
What a treat!
Thanks SO much Tony for a cosy Christie. ( love the thumbnail),
It's vtmuch appreciated.
🤗👏
This book was written in 1929 not 2024, back then when a man made love to a women in a story book, it meant flirting NOT sex. A more innocent time.
That’s true
Just an FYI: In the AI-generated picture of a detective, he has only 3 fingers.
Love your channel! You’re my favorite narrator.
😂
So well spoken
Excellent read. New subscriber+ notifications. Thanks!
Glad to have you here
WHO IS THE BRILLIANT READER WITH THE MOST PURE BRITISH ACCENT??? ❤❤❤
Please why don’t they indicate the NARRATOR?
Tony Walker
Lovely narration as usual. Many tks
Many thanks!
Thanks!
thank you very much:)
Haha, Tonys gone bolshie on us!! And youre accent changed dramatically, I've always wondered what the real Tony sounded like.
Thanks
ta v much
👏👏👏
I will respectfully disagree with you, Mr. Walker. 😉 Perhaps, Christie made a comment with the remarkable age gap (even for the era) and her emphasis on diminished youth. She and her husband divorced the year before this story's release. Are you familiar with the disappearance of Agatha Christie? I recalled Christie's use of Neele's name as I listened. Christie can be subtlety unsubtle when she wants to be. 😅
I remember watching a drama made about her disappearance. I don’t mind being disagreed with. My ideas are only lightly grasped :)
Enjoyable, thanks!
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
There is a strong current of “not one of US!”
I actually think Christie was trying to make a comment about older men pursuing younger women for sex by painting his inner thoughts about her as rather absurd. He mourned the loss of her 17 year old beauty in a way that gives Lolita vibes. Agatha Christie was nearly 40 when she wrote this, I rather doubt that she agreed with the protagonist's pov.
No offense, but I am sure " Sir what's his name " had also lost ALL his charm too in his Olden Ages, I mean Golden ages ❤
Who is the narrator, please?
Me, Tony Walker
Thank you
Who is the reader?
Tony Walker
I’m not going to pretend this was a good story just because it’s Christie. It’s not a good story. Thin plot, thinner characters with contradictory traits, no delight in language, the realizations are weak, the detective isn’t likable or even delightfully dislikable, and the twist is not telegraphed and simply functions to serve the author of the story rather than the audience. It’s a bad story, through and through.
I wouldn't call it a "bad" story, but, I did feel a little uncomfortable with the way the main female character, in fact all the female characters are drawn.
I agree. Not only was it terribly structured, the main detective was annoying and unlikable.
Honestly the only good thing was the narration. Please pick better stories to narrate because your voice is lovely but the story was grating af.
You make some good analytical points.
I've read worse from her... usually later works, when she was churning them out as if quality was no longer of any importance.
She certainly had a great range, from the top of her particular niche a lot of the time, down to some pretty dire stuff, often the short stories, which sometimes feel like storylines for novels that she abandoned as simply not good enough.
Mmmm,not one of her best
First time I've tried your channel; I stumbled straight into the spoiler in your fourth paragraph.
What was also unnecessary was the boilerplate lesson in social dynamics. Next stop: trigger warnings I suppose.
Isn’t it lovely to have a whole World Wide Web to find things that you might find fits your particular enjoyment? Ta. 🪭
i’m guessing you won’t be back
@@classicdetective Neither will I. Giving away the ending in your intro is beyond lame.
Git ye gone. I don’t remember inviting you
I didn't find that a spoiler at all, as it's such a general comment. Guess this channel just isn't for you. There's loads of us who love it. To each their own.
get a bitcoin wallet
I think it’s sickening of Agatha Christie to pretend that this man who solved the mystery was a good guy. He was clearly an evil predator to “make love” to a 17 year old girl being a 50-year-old man. It would never have happened that he would rise and be Nobel in order to help this now 30-year-old woman. He had taken advantage of her. He’s evil. A pathetic story.