Reader Reaction to Christie's the Murder of Roger Ackroyd
Pleasure or Bliss: Reader Reaction to Christie 's The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
In The Pleasure of the Text printed in 1975, Roland Barthes defines two kinds of text. According to Barthes, the "text of pleasure" is "text that contents . . . that comes from culture and does not break with it, is linked to a comfortable practice of reading" (14). The "text of bliss" is text "that discomforts . . . unsettles the reader 's historical, cultural, psychological assumptions, the consistency of his tastes . . . ." (14). These distinctions are useful in discussing Agatha Christie 's The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, for at the time of its publication, many fans, who had settled into the "comfortable practice of reading" the sterile, formulaic detective stories popular up to 1926, found themselves "unsettled" by Christie 's latest work.
Considering common perceptions of bliss and the fact that, in 1926, Barthes had not yet presented his theories on these types of texts, the earliest readers of Christie 's novel may have objected to the term being used in connection with their experience of The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. In her biography of Agatha Christie, Mary S. Wagoner writes that "the tricky surprise" of the narrative even incited "public furor" (Wagoner 41). Why were some people upset? Douglas R. McManis explains, "Writers of mystery fiction were expected to use a format of prescribed traditions . . ." (319). Christie, however, "broke with many of the early format restrictions" (320). Consequently, some readers at the time objected to the story and accused her of having "violated one of the cardinal rules of fair play" by "deceiving the reader with respect to the identity of the murderer" (Gerald 234 n1).
Their reaction indicates a distinction in types of readers that correlates with Barthes types of texts. These "pleasure readers" preferred "a comfortable practice of reading" that entertained and conformed to their previously held beliefs. Christie 's
In The Pleasure of the Text printed in 1975, Roland Barthes defines two kinds of text. According to Barthes, the "text of pleasure" is "text that contents . . . that comes from culture and does not break with it, is linked to a comfortable practice of reading" (14). The "text of bliss" is text "that discomforts . . . unsettles the reader 's historical, cultural, psychological assumptions, the consistency of his tastes . . . ." (14). These distinctions are useful in discussing Agatha Christie 's The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, for at the time of its publication, many fans, who had settled into the "comfortable practice of reading" the sterile, formulaic detective stories popular up to 1926, found themselves "unsettled" by Christie 's latest work.
Considering common perceptions of bliss and the fact that, in 1926, Barthes had not yet presented his theories on these types of texts, the earliest readers of Christie 's novel may have objected to the term being used in connection with their experience of The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. In her biography of Agatha Christie, Mary S. Wagoner writes that "the tricky surprise" of the narrative even incited "public furor" (Wagoner 41). Why were some people upset? Douglas R. McManis explains, "Writers of mystery fiction were expected to use a format of prescribed traditions . . ." (319). Christie, however, "broke with many of the early format restrictions" (320). Consequently, some readers at the time objected to the story and accused her of having "violated one of the cardinal rules of fair play" by "deceiving the reader with respect to the identity of the murderer" (Gerald 234 n1).
Their reaction indicates a distinction in types of readers that correlates with Barthes types of texts. These "pleasure readers" preferred "a comfortable practice of reading" that entertained and conformed to their previously held beliefs. Christie 's
Bibliography: Barnard, Robert. A Talent to Deceive: An Appreciation of Agatha Christie. New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1980. Barthes, Roland. The Pleasure of the Text. New York: Hill and Wang, 1975. Christie, Agatha. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. 1926. New York: Berkley Books, 2000. Fitzgibbon, Russell. The Agatha Christie Companion. Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1980. Gerald, Michael C. The Poisonous Pen of Agatha Christie. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 1993. McManis, Douglas R. Places for Mysteries. Geographical Review. Vol. 68, No.3, pp. 319 -334, Jul., 1978 Wagoner, Mary S. Agatha Christie. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1986.