Agatha Christie, Tintin and the French.(French and British reactions to Agatha Christie)

SOMETHING ODD is going on. In her home country, the writer who, death, J.K. Rowling and Dan Brown notwithstanding, is still the world's most popular author, is disregarded by the literary establishment, if not by ordinary readers. Agatha Christie's classic status is surely no longer in doubt, with two billion copies of her books sold, but in Britain it's not enough to save her from being patronised--even by her literary-world fans--as a mere creator of "cosy", ingenious puzzles, whose work "lacks art". Sometimes it seems that if you are a self-respecting member of the British literary world, you should hide a predilection for Christie, or at the very least, apologise for ...