Arts Diary: Christie mystery solved.SCIENTISTS yesterday claimed to have cracked the secret behind the success of legendary novelist Agatha Christie. They say they are a step closer to working out a mathematical formula for what makes a book "unputdownable un·put·down·a·ble adj. Informal So well written and entertaining as to be difficult to put down. unputdownable Adjective ". According to the study, Christie used literary techniques mirroring those employed by hypnotherapists and psychologists, which have a mesmeric mes·mer·ism n. 1. A strong or spellbinding appeal; fascination. 2. Hypnotic induction believed to involve animal magnetism. 3. Hypnotism. [After Franz Mesmer. effect on readers. Researchers say it could mean the structure of her novels creates physiochemical physiochemical /phys·io·chem·i·cal/ (fiz?e-o-kem´ik-il) pertaining to both physiology and chemistry. physiochemical pertaining to both physiology and chemistry. responses which cause people to seek them out again and again. This is what they say makes Christie's writing "literally unputdownable". It may explain why she ranks as the best-selling novelist of all time, with an estimated two billion copies of her books in print. The study was undertaken by linguistics experts and the results are to be revealed in a documentary on ITV1 on December 27 |
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