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Is Hercule Poirot autistic?

Martyn
1 month ago

Hello everyone!

I'm self-diagnosed, currently on the waiting list for NHS assessment and based in Cornwall.

I'm about to begin (September 2024) a PhD project called "Little Grey Cells: Detecting Autism in the Cosy Crime Genre" exploring the role of autistic characterisation in the cosy crime subgenre from 1920 - 2020. Alongside my research, I'm developing a Cornish crime novel featuring an autistic amateur detective. 

My research begins with Hercule Poirot, who many autistic and non-autistic readers "headcanon" as being autistic:

Is Hercule Poirot autistic? Here are seven clues that he might be (theconversation.com) 

There are a number of characters in Agatha Christie's books who are sometimes read as autistic, and there is even speculation about Christie herself. 

Does anyone have any suggestions of characters within crime fiction (specifically cosy or Golden Age, but not exclusively) who could be read as autistic? Explicitly autistic detectives are now quite commonplace in crime fiction, and my research will explore the context within which that has developed. I'm not just looking for autistic detectives it can supporting characters as well.

Any thoughts anyone has would be really welcome! 

Parents
  • 1 month ago

    I don't think that a fictional character can be autistic/anything unless they are written/created as such, especially those created long before a diagnosis for 'high functioning'/Level 1/previously Aspergers' was a thing.

    So, I am really struggling with this.

  • 1 month ago in reply to Debbie
    Debbie said:
    especially those created long before a diagnosis for 'high functioning'/Level 1/previously Aspergers' was a thing.

    You were autistic before you were diagnosed right? And people who were autistic before autism was recognized are still autistic. So I don’t think the time when a story was written would be important to that.

    Debbie said:
    I don't think that a fictional character can be autistic/anything unless they are written/created as such

    Some creators don’t like to put a label on their ‘coded’ characters because that puts a responsibility on making sure their representation isn’t problematic/inaccurate. A character could have been written as autistic but nobody knows.

    Im not agreeing or disagreeing, just offering thoughts..

Reply
  • 1 month ago in reply to Debbie
    Debbie said:
    especially those created long before a diagnosis for 'high functioning'/Level 1/previously Aspergers' was a thing.

    You were autistic before you were diagnosed right? And people who were autistic before autism was recognized are still autistic. So I don’t think the time when a story was written would be important to that.

    Debbie said:
    I don't think that a fictional character can be autistic/anything unless they are written/created as such

    Some creators don’t like to put a label on their ‘coded’ characters because that puts a responsibility on making sure their representation isn’t problematic/inaccurate. A character could have been written as autistic but nobody knows.

    Im not agreeing or disagreeing, just offering thoughts..

Children
  • 1 month ago in reply to Debbie

    I also felt, now you bring it up, that dragging Dumbledore out of the closet was the same sort of move. It does tend to overly define a character that had been more nuanced. There author may do what ever they like, of course but it felt a bit forced, gimmicky.

    Plus - many people, when they read or watch, fill in details from their own imaginations as they go along and being too explicit takes away from that.

  • 1 month ago in reply to FH
    FH said:
    Some creators don’t like to put a label on their ‘coded’ characters because that puts a responsibility on making sure their representation isn’t problematic/inaccurate. A character could have been written as autistic but nobody knows.

    These days, yes, then, no....

  • 1 month ago in reply to FH
    FH said:
    So I don’t think the time when a story was written would be important to that.
    FH said:
    A character could have been written as autistic but nobody knows.

    Not during the time I refer to, hence the relevance of whether or not a diagnosis was available for the Agatha Christie era of writing (Golden Age as referred to by the OP).