No One May Remain: Agatha Christie, Come, I’ll Tell You How I Live

The writings of the late British novelist Agatha Christie (1890–1976) continue to inspire the passion of intellectuals and the interest of readers worldwide. However, this interest takes on renewed forms and styles depending on the different cultural environments and reception angles. One of the most prominent images we find is the soliloquy style used by the Syrian novelist Haitham Hussein (b. 1978), evoking the influence of Christie, who had previously visited the city of Amuda, his hometown, located in northeastern Syria. Hussein begins the book by intersecting with Christie. Hussein, in addressing the British novelist Agatha Christie, seeks to highlight the profound differences in concepts and cultures between the East and the West. This cultural contrast is vividly reflected in Christie’s descriptions of “Amuda,” the hometown of the novelist Hussein. It seems no coincidence that Hussein establishes this theme at the very outset of his autobiographical narrative, where, in the opening line, he declares: “I find myself differing with the English novelist Agatha Christie.” By doing so, he frames his soliloquy with Christie as a point of exploring the cultural distance that separates their worlds. Even more striking is when this phrase is used in the title of his book: “Agatha Christie… Come, I Will Tell You How I Live.” The phrase works on multiple levels: it is at once an invitation, a declaration, and a subtle challenge. Through this literary encounter, Hussien transforms Christie from a distant foreign figure into a conversational partner, a mirror against which to project, and reimagine the relationship between East and West.