Popular classic Agatha Christie novels are said to have been rewritten to battle modern sensitivities, according to The Telegraph.
Christie’s Poirot and Miss Marple mysteries serious are being released in new editions by publisher HarperCollins that will see passages reworked or removed.
As The Telegraph shared that parts were removed including references made to people smiling and comments on physiques.
Christie’s books are not the first to face modern edits, as books by Roald Dahl and Ian Fleming were both edited by publishers.
The updated versions of Christie’s work are set to be released or have been released over time since 2020 by the publisher, HarperCollins.
According to The Telegraph, the publisher has created a new edition of the entire series of Miss Marple and a select few Poirot novels.
It’s said that Christie’s own narration through the inner monologues of the title characters has also been altered.
Whilst parts of dialogue from unsympathetic characters have been cut as well as descriptions, insults or references to ethnicity.
One part from the 1937 Poirot novel Death on the Nile sees the character Mrs Allerton say: “they come back and stare, and stare, and their eyes are simply disgusting, and so are their noses, and I don’t believe I really like children” after a group of children pester her.
In the new edition, Mrs Allerton’s complaints have been altered to: “They come back and stare, and stare. And I don’t believe I really like children.”
The updated version of the 1964 Miss Marple A Caribbean Mystery sees the description of a West Indian hotel worker’s smile changed, with the lines “such lovely white teeth” and “beautiful teeth” removed.
This is not the first time Christie’s work has been changed, with her 1939 novel And Then There Were None once under a different title but changed due to the use of a racist phase.
Agatha Christie novels to be rewritten to battle modern sensitivities (yahoo.com)