INTRODUCTION
- Introduction
This is a page devoted to the writing of one of the better writers of the 20th century, one who on merit both of her popular and scholarly writing often rose above the confines of mere 'mystery fiction.' Those of you possessed of keen powers of detection will have realised that this figure is none other than Dorothy L. Sayers.
Sayers was a writer of many qualities. In turn pious, mischievous, clever and erudite, Sayers was part of a generation of mystery writers who excelled at depicting a time and place, in England and around the world, which was to change drastically in a few very short years. This period, called the 'long week-end' by Robert Graves and Alan Hodge, is unique in the history of the twentieth century, standing as it did between the terror and horror of the First World War, of which the character of Lord Peter Wimsey is a fictional survivor, and the Second, which was to radically change the course of English history, as it did for the history of the world. It is perhaps somewhat telling then that, following the end of the Second World War, Sayers never went back to her favourite character, and that the final novel, 'Thrones, Dominations', although planned in enough detail to be undertaken by another writer some fifty years later, would never be completed by her hand.
Sayers also created one of the most enduring (and occasionally belittled and caricatured) characters in English literature, the already-mentioned Peter Wimsey. This disarmingly charming and formidable character, attended by loyal Bunter and challenged by his friend (and later brother-in-law) Detective Inspector Charles Parker, is the epitome of a type: the amateur detective enthusiast and sleuth. Wimsey's tastes are undoubted, his intellect powerful, and his devotion to the pursuit of justice unshakeable. His behaviour leads one to believe that he is a fool of the Bertie Wooster school (and in fact Ian Carmichael, who portrayed Wimsey in the first series of television adaptations, had previously starred in the BBCs 'The World of Wooster' as Wodehouse's prince among fops in the 1960s), yet the façade is just that: he relies upon his misleading appearance and manner to give him an advantage. He is in many way the quintessential anti-diapositive of that most archetypal of all fictional detectives, Sherlock Holmes, with the obvious exception of intelligence, in which the two were quite often equal.- The addition of a romantic element is always a danger to an established fictional character. Yet in the case of Sayers, the four-book courtship and romance between Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane must count as one of the most successful in literature. From the first encounter between the two in prison while Harriet is being tried for murder through the fateful last words spoken in Oxford, there is a sustained tension and gradual warming between the two characters that compels the reader to proceed, even were the tale itself not so compelling. But of course, it is. 'Placet.'
On a personal score, Sayers is one of the few authors that I am inclined to re-read, despite the backlog of unread books piling up in odd corners around my home. For me, Sayer's writing, particularly the late 'romances with detective interludes', make for some of the most highly entertaining and worthwhile books about. Kindly don't take me at my word, though. Pick something from the list of titles and see for yourself.- --William Nedblake
