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A PORTRAIT OF HERCULE POIROT |
Hercule Poirot was created in 1916 as the detective star of Agatha Christie's first novel "The Mysterious Affair at Styles. But this book was published only in 1920. Later he appeared in thirty - three novels and sixty - five detective stories.
Together with Poirot was created also his friend Arthur Hasting and later also George, Ariadne Oliver (the mystery writer) and Detective Inspector Japp and many others.
He also appeared on TV & film screen and on a stamp.Agatha Christie wrote a paragraph in her Autobiography which is related to the time when she was thinking what her detective should be like: "Why not make my detective a Belgian? I thought. There were all types of refugees. How about a refugee police officer. Not too young a one. What a mistake I have made there. The result is that my fictional detective must really be over a hundred by now.
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Hercule Poirot |
Anyway, I settled on a Belgian detective. I allowed him slowly to grow into his part. He should have been an inspector, so that he would have a certain knowledge of crime. He would be meticulous, very tidy, I thought myself as I cleared away a good many untidy odds and ends in my bedroom. A tidy little man, always arranging things, liking things square instead of round. And he should be very brainy - he should have little gray cells of the mind - that was a good phrase: I must remember that - yes, he would have little grey cells. He would have rather a grand name - one of those names that Sherlock Holmes and his family had. Who was it his brother had been? Mycroft Holmes.
How about calling my little man Hercules? He would be a small man - Hercules: a good name. His last name was more difficult. I don't know why I settled on the name Poirot, whether it just came into my head or whether I saw it in some newspaper or written on something - anyway it came. I t went well not with Hercules but Hercule - Hercule Poirot. That was all right - settled, thank goodness."
Here is how Hastings first described Poirot in The
Mysterious Affair at Styles: "He was hardly more than five feet four inches but carried himself with
great dignity. His head was exactly the shape of an egg, and he always perched it a little
on one side. His moustache was very stiff and military. The neatness of his attire was
almost incredible; I believe a speck of dust would have caused him more pain than a bullet
wound."
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