Rachida Dati claims to be “shocked” by the rewriting of Agatha Christie’s works

2024-03-19 19:20:24

Agatha Christie’s French publisher announced last year that the translations would be subject to “revisions”, for example the removal of terms deemed offensive on the origins of the characters.

Culture Minister Rachida Dati said on Tuesday March 19 that she was “shocked” that the French translations of Agatha Christie’s novels had been rewritten to remove certain passages deemed racist or anti-Semitic by her rights holders. The tenant of rue de Valois answered questions from deputies during her hearing by the cultural affairs and education committee.

In recent years, three very popular British writers of the 20th century have had some of their books rewritten in this way, in English: the children’s author Roald Dahl, the creator of James Bond, Ian Fleming, and the most widely read author in world, Agatha Christie.

The company which manages the latter’s work, Agatha Christie Limited, has notably had descriptions of certain characters modified or removed which are based on stereotypes, racism or anti-Semitism.

Dati “against all forms of censorship”

In French, only Agatha Christie’s publisher, Editions du Masque, has aligned itself. “French translations of Agatha Christie’s work are subject to usual revisions and over the years incorporate the corrections requested by Agatha Christie Limited,” the publishing house defended last April.

Gallimard firmly refused to rewrite the works of Roald Dahl and the James Bond films have not recently been retranslated.

The publisher of Agatha Christie’s books notably modified or removed descriptions of certain foreign characters. Like in Death on the Nile (1937), where the character of Mrs. Allerton complained about a group of children and made fun of their noses, or in The Mysterious Affair of Styles (1920), in which Hercule Poirot pointed out that another character was “a Jew, of course.”

“I was shocked (…) by Agatha Christie’s book which was rewritten,” said Rachda Dati at the National Assembly. “I’m shocked,” she repeated. “There are certain practices that amount to censorship” and “I am against all forms of censorship,” she insisted.