Turning Tides, Changing Times: Sea in Evil Under the Sun and Journey to the South
Turning Tides, Changing Times: Sea in Evil Under the Sun and Journey to the South

Summary/Abstract: The paper aims to compare two murder mysteries in which the sea plays a key role—the Golden Age mystery Evil Under the Sun (1941) by Agatha Christie and the postmodern novel Journey to the South (2004, in English 2023) by Michal Ajvaz. It is argued that both novels present the sea/water as an element that incites transgression, yet simultaneously facilitates the solving of the crime, thus tying the image of the sea to the notion of unpredictability and chaos. The paper further shows how, in Evil Under the Sun, the twentieth century cultural transformation of the sea is depicted in its early stages, with the penetration of the social type of tourists into a space archaically connected to danger. Meanwhile, Ajvaz already regards this as the default attitude—seeing the sea as a domesticated place of leisure, with evil, dangerous, or even supernatural elements in tense moments of conflict. While Evil Under the Sun works with a more traditional struggle between order and chaos, Ajvaz’s novel appeals to postmodern thinking by treating the ambiguity, the diverse interpretations of the world, and the chaotic nature of the sea as stimulating. (JJ&JJ)

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