Rhetorical structure and reader manipulation in Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express

Alexander, M. (2009) Rhetorical structure and reader manipulation in Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express. Miscelanea: A Journal of English and American Philology, 39, pp. 13-27.

Abstract

This paper describes Agatha Christie’s use of rhetoric to convince readers of the ‘truth’ of her detective’s solution in The Murder on the Orient Express, and uses an adaptation of Rhetorical Structure Theory (RST) designed for analyses of long extracts of a narrative text. The paper aims to demonstrate firstly the rhetorical practice of Christie, and secondly to demonstrate a tabular, non-diagrammatic exposition of RST, with some suggestions for future alterations to this method.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Alexander, Professor Marc
• Authors: Alexander, M.
• Subjects: P Language and Literature > PE English; P Language and Literature > PR English literature; P Language and Literature > P Philology. Linguistics
• College/School: College of Arts & Humanities > School of Critical Studies > English Language and Linguistics
• Journal Name: Miscelanea: A Journal of English and American Philology
• Publisher: University of Zaragoza
• ISSN: 1137-6368
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2009 The University of Zaragoza
• First Published: First published in Miscelanea: A Journal of English and American Philology 39:13-27
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced with the permission of the publisher