The Western Perception of the East as the Orient in Agatha Christie's Detective Novels

HOVOROVÁ, Adéla

The aim of this thesis is to analyse the motives of Orientalism, which undoubtedly contributed to the creation of the phenomenon called Orient, in selected novels written by Agatha Christie, as the author of the Western world in the early 20th century, built on European colonialism. The thesis focuses on the complexity of the concept of Orientalism, which is the way the East was understood and treated for the benefit of the Western society, in this case the British, who, at the time of the analysed novels, were the most significant world empire. Furthermore, this thesis briefly deals with Agatha Christie, her career of a writer, and of course travelling, as it is an inherent part of the analysis. The events she experienced both in the West and in the East have undeniably influenced her work in many aspects, nonetheless, the depiction of the Orient is the most obvious one. This influence is particularly evident in her detective novels Appointment with Death and Murder in Mesopotamia, which will be analysed in the last chapter. Last but not least, this thesis focuses on the way Agatha Christie projects the period discourse of the West into her novels, influencing and subsequently creating stereotypical ideas about the East.

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