Distortion of names and parallelism of characters in crime fiction

Abstract

The paper uses the examples of three narrative pieces, two crime stories and a novel, to demonstrate the role of the distortion of names in forming characters and orienting interpretation. The point of departure is Agatha Christie’s popular character, Hercule Poirot, and the comparative investigation targets pieces involving characters that resemble him in one way or another. In these pieces, full or partial identity of names opens the way to intertextual interpretation: the character’s name takes up the function of intertextual allusion. Katalin Baráth’s short story The Belgian is an example of full identity both in name and in character. The protagonist of José Carlos Somoza’s novel, the plot of which takes place in ancient times, corresponds to Poirot in a number of respects, despite the significant spatial, temporal, and cultural differences. Finally, in Josef Škvorecký’s short story Women behind the Steering Wheel, it is only partial or apparent correspondence that can be found between the two characters.