One of the best-selling books in the world, Agatha Christie's famous detective story Ten Little Negroes , with over 100 million copies sold, has just been renamed. From now on, he will have to ask his bookseller to find "They were ten", his new title. This change completes a long process of naming this work, since the book was released in the United Kingdom in the 20th century, in 1939 more precisely.
Translation has changed in many countries
At that time, the title was Ten little niggers , hence the title Dix petits nègres in French. But very quickly, it was changed, including in English, in the United States in particular, where the racist term "nigger" ( nigger ) is more than rejected. There, the novel was never called like in the UK, its title being T in little Indians .
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Since this period the translation has changed in many countries to avoid the use of the offensive word. In this respect, France was an exception.
A request from the descendants of Agatha Christie
The descendants of Agatha Christie therefore demanded that France align with the other translations. This does not imply only a change of title, because the story of the novel takes place on the island of the Negro. It becomes Soldier's Island, as in the American version.
The plot of the novel is also based on a nursery rhyme from the XIXth century, called Dix petits nègres , which is even its outline, the murders following the verses. But this English rhyme was itself an adaptation of an American rhyme entitled ... D ix little Indians .