Great Works of English Literature: And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

Welche Bücher haben die englischsprachige Literatur geprägt? Die Rubrik „Great Works of English Literature“ stellt einige der bekanntesten Werke vor. In diesem Monat geht es um eines der bekanntesten Werke der Grande Dame der Kriminalliteratur. Mehr über „Und dann gab’s keines mehr“ von Agatha Christie lesen Sie in der aktuellen Ausgabe der Read On und als Auszug hier.

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

The best-selling crime novel of all time set a standard for a genre.

By Siobhan Bruns

1                 After receiving an invitation from a Mr and Mrs UN Owen for different reasons, eight people arrive at a remote island – a boat goes there only twice a week – off the coast of England. There, they are met by a couple, a housekeeper and a butler, who tell them that their hosts will arrive the next day.

2                 In each of their rooms, there is a copy of the nursery rhyme “Ten Little Soldier Boys” (the title of the rhyme has changed over the years for reasons of cultural sensitivity) – a macabre poem which counts down how each boy disappears. There are also ten figurines of the little soldier boys on the dining room table.

3                 After they’ve all had dinner, the butler, following directions that were left for him, plays a recording for everyone to hear. It is of a mysterious voice that accuses each person in the room of committing murder in one form or another, from causing a car crash to purposely letting a child drown. Shocked, all ten people then realise that none of them know the Owens, not even the housekeeper and butler, who had only arrived two days before the other guests.

4                 Everyone decides to leave the island as soon as possible, except for one guest who is fascinated by the mystery and says they should stay to solve it. However, after he takes a sip of his drink, he chokes to death. The others discover that there was poison in his whiskey, but think it must have been suicide. Later that night, the butler notices one of the ten soldier figurines is missing from the dining room table.

5                 The next morning, the remaining guests learn that the butler’s wife has died in her sleep. Now that two people have died in 24 hours, some start to believe the deaths were murder.

…

Den vollständigen Artikel lesen Sie in der aktuellen Ausgabe der Read On.

Vocabulary

0–1             And Then There Were None dt. Titel: Und dann gab’s keines mehr — crime novel Kriminalroman — to set a standard einen Maßstab setzen — remote abgelegen — off vor — housekeeper Haushälter(in) — host Gastgeber(in)

2                 copy Abdruck; s.w.u. Exemplar — nursery rhyme Kinderreim; h.: Abzählreim — cultural sensitivity Bewusstsein für sensible Themen und diskriminierende Ausdrücke — figurine (kleine) Figur

3                 direction Anweisung — recording Aufnahme — mysterious geheimnisvoll — to accuse s.o. of doing s.th. jdn. beschuldigen, etw. zu tun — to commit murder einen Mord begehen — to cause s.th. etw. verursachen — purposely vorsätzlich — to drown ertrinken

4–5             to be fascinated by s.th. von etw. fasziniert sein — mystery Rätsel — sip Schluck — to choke to death ersticken — poison Gift

Foto: Pixabay/ELG21