Cognitive-linguistic decline in the works of Agatha Christie, some other guys, and CJ Cherryh

[cimorene]

I often remember reading about the studies that used computational linguistic analysis of the bodies of work of several prolific authors and identified several markers, including a decrease in "lexical diversity" (active vocabulary), in Agatha Christie's later works. One study suggested Christie might have suffered Alzheimer's, and the one discussed here posits a different type of cognitive decline.

Long-time readers may well remember my strong interest in Poirot (ie my Agatha Christie's Poirot screencap blog maisouipoirot, which hasn't been active much the last couple of years due to computer trouble getting in the way of dvd screencapping). I have read various Christie novels since childhood and my mom had a few of them, but the leading edge of my interest is the tv show, which has since led me to read most of her works. (Long-time readers likely remember my interest in the Golden Age of detective fiction of which she is a primary, but not my favorite, example.) I've also reread a lot of her stories over time because of this interest of mine, and the fact that I find rereading detective novels easier/more rewarding, and ever since learning of these studies, I've been interested to note (or imagine that I note, lol) what I think is a definite decline in quality of her later works.

I don't really have any knowledge of neuroscience. I know some writers' bodies of work remain largely unchanged, at least to the perceptions of the computational analyses here, and that some people are thought to get quite old without experiencing very much cognitive change. I also know that people are often thought to be likelier and likelier to have SOME sorts of cognitive decline as they age, ie. jokes about forgetfulness and so, which to the untutored mind seems to go along with the sorts of physical decline that people undergo as they age. Also just... my sister and I dealing with our parents gradually aging. They're both 65 this month and my dad has newly retired (although he's still working in his professional field on various papers he was already collaborating on with his frequent collaborators, now on a volunteer basis but still with remote access to his state agency). My mom retired a few years ago. She's definitely severely ADHD and untreated her whole life, though, and so organization and executive function in their household as a whole really went through its big transformation in 2003 when my dad became quadriplegic - since then he's simply been largely unable to shoulder the main burden of organization etc for the whole household, but he still does to a certain extent, and this fluctuates based on how sick he is (quadriplegic, so in and out of the hospital for various reasons all that time) and how much he's able to remember and organize for himself. It's a lot more difficult for him to maintain lists and write himself notes since he can't write them by hand or put them in the places he would have before, and using a computer is more time-consuming with an accessible roller-ball mouse. All those caveats in place, though... it does seem to me and my sister like my parents are gradually declining a bit, and our increasing sense of the urgency of this is a big part of why they have recently moved into one big house with my sister and her husband that they bought together. (They're still trying to sell both their old houses.)

And that brings me to - at long last - the moment you've been waiting for if you haven't stopped reading yet -

The Actual Train of Thought that Prompted This Post

I recently finished reading all the published Foreigner books by CJ Cherryh (the series does end on a cliffhanger right now and she clearly intends to keep going). The last book was published the year she turned 80, though, and I do feel the latter few books might be less good? But of course, sometimes people's tastes change and they just write better and worse things without that necessarily indicating any cognitive decline. Book 14 Protector was one of my favorites (Cajeiri's birthday party at Tirnamardi, with the three Reunion station children, is interrupted by the discovery of a Kadagidi-Shadow Guild assassination plot against Tatiseigi), and 16 Tracker still felt like peak Foreigner (mission to the space station in anticipation of a Kyo ship arriving soon is forced to seize control of the space station from a corrupt isolationist party human administrator and solve a standoff with Braddock from Reunion station). 17 Visitor (meetings with the Kyo) was still quite enjoyable but felt just a little bit underbaked or unfinished, and 18-21 seem even less so (to Mospheira and the Senjin Marid). They're still enjoyable but they seem even less focused, less edited, less tigtly plotted, the story tension less deftly managed, the pacing looser and the peaks of conflict less dramatic. Overall this adds up to less interesting and more skimming.

I wonder how common this is. Maybe some sort of measurable linguistic decline is present in almost all people (who produce a large body of writing as they age)? Maybe cognitive decline, but in small amounts, is for everybody, but that's not what people mean when they say 'cognitive decline' in a medical and neuroscience context? IDK. But I admit my speculation is more focused on the reading and writing aspect.

Comments

[princessofgeeks]

It would make sense that if people are having cognitive decline, it would show up in their writing.

But one thing about the Foreigner series may be that it just isn't being edited like it was in the beginning. That would make a big difference.

I really need to try again to read it. I bogged down in book 4 and I did do a lot of skimming because it seemed to me to be much much more ruminative than some of her other books. Lots of time spent recounting the thoughts the protagonist had while lying in bed.

But I loved the aliens and the worldbuilding.

[cimorene]

I was reading reviews of the series pretty early in this reread and someone pointed out that she actually forgot the name she originally gave the province in which Malguri is located in book 1 or 2. Later (I think after book 4 or 6) she completely forgets that she gave Bren an apartment in the Bujavid and has a whole plotpoint revolving around him needing to stay with someone else or go to the country for a whole book after he got it. She also consistently spells Kadagidi/Kadigidi both of these ways starting like... from the second trilogy I think, which is over 20 years now. So my point is... her editor always had a bit of a continuity/proofreading blindspot.

You're probably right that they were edited more aggressively for plot and flow and pacing etc before. Although that might have been her own self-editing, or beta-reading services from a friend or someone else who reads in progress and not from her editor at Daw.

[cimorene]

Oh, and I forgot, at least 3 times in different books she mixes up Bren's valet Jeladi and Cajeiri's bodyguard Jegari.

[princessofgeeks]

These are major oopsies that a copy editor should have caught. Maybe she is not being edited much for this series because she is so famous now and obviously a good writer.

I have read that book editing doesn't happen the way it did in the 60s and 70s but I am not an insider.

[cimorene]

I have read that book editing doesn't happen the way it did in the 60s and 70s but I am not an insider.

Same. I assume it's upsetting to copyeditors and editors too and there's simply nothing in their power to do about it, and yet on the other hand part of me finds it simply unforgivable. And I can't help thinking that if it were my book I'd probably get it proofread myself before handing it over to the publisher, if they couldn't be trusted to do it!

[princessofgeeks]

Forgot to add that I am so happy your sister and your parents are now living together. So happy they all get along well enough to make that possible. What state are they in the US?

[cimorene]

Louisiana. 😐 It's terrible, but all of my and my sister's attempts to convince my parents to retire with her to a solidly Democratic-controlled state have failed, because Daddy thinks they're not warm enough for him to stand living there.

[cimorene]

Sister's last house flooded to like knee-high in a recent hurricane (Baton Rouge urban area). Their new one isn't in one of those insurance-wise rated flood zones, but still... def. in the evacuation zones.

[princessofgeeks]

Oh my. But at least they are together.

[brownbetty]

There's another thing, I think, separate from linguistic decline, which is when authors stop caring about the work they are writing but are contractually obliged, although I don't think that's the case here, but I think that also really shows up.

(And then there's Anne McCaffrey)

[cimorene]

Hahahahhahaha... yeah, you're right, it definitely does.

And Anne McCaffrey... or Anne Rice, as I understand it... or JK Rowling, for that matter, whose latter HP books weren't really edited much at all, though in her case it might be that they were in such a rush to publish as fast as possible, and knew sales wouldn't be negatively impacted?

[princessofgeeks]

Yeah, the last three HP books could have used closer editing.

[twistedchick]

I agree that she's not getting enough editing for her books -- for continuity, at least, which I would think would be necessary in a series that has gone on this long. But what I have noticed is that the stories have become increasingly internal, not external. Bren was always thinky, and so was Cajeiri in other ways, but now they are thinking a lot, and not doing that much. Earlier books had a great deal more action -- Bren going riding with Ilisidi, or trying (against all Atevi expectation) to protect his bodyguards instead of the other way around, or Cajeiri and his friends exploring the inner structure of the space station.

[cimorene]

Very true. I noticed you saying that in a post recently. I think there was always a huge amount of internal monologue even in the earliest books, it's just it was like... on top of things happening? Some of it was in between, of course, but the circuitous nature of his train of thought was always there, and although it got exasperating at times, I was exasperated with the character, not the writer - I think it's a good evocation of that overthinky kind of anxiety that many people can relate to, and I was laughing at the same time, many of those times.

But like you said, there's so much less external... occurrence in the later books! Not exactly like nothing happens, but it seems like there are fewer smaller things that happen in between the larger things, and more thinknig in circles in between everything. A bit like an overthinky anxious person spiraling into a bad period, really, although going by what happens to him and what he does, I guess Bren is functioning pretty successfully by controlling his overthinky-anxiety tendencies and he has some successful self-talk strategies in there.

And the last four books are really two books, in terms of their plot structure, I think. Each book DOES have a sort of discrete plot structure in it, but they still feel like divisions of one larger book - one on Mospheira and one dealing with Hasjuran and the Senjin Marid.

[viggorlijah]

Steven King is notorious for not having enough of an editor as books went on. A good editor relationship helps hugely, but famous authors can refuse.

Pratchett's later novels are - there's a point where his books are deep and complex, and then the complexity starts to fade - it's still his books but you can see a noticable decline. He essentially co-wrote his last books with his aide, I forget his name, and they feel like very good Pratchett copies.

I read all of Christie's books in a month a few years ago, and when you inhale that much that fast, the literary tics and styling becomes very evident. She has distinctive turns of phrase, certain structures and stylings she prefers and a pace to her novels that slowed down as she got more skilled. Her later books are less fun but more thoughtful and grim. I didn't notice a decline in quality at all, more of a craftsperson experimenting a little with different styles. At the beginning her books and stories feel much more of a kind than later when she lets herself experiment.