Dorothy L.

Sayers
Dorothy Leigh Sayers (usually pronounced /se.rz/,
although Sayers herself preferred /srz/ and encouraged the use of her middle initial to facilitate this
pronunciation;[1] 13 June 1893 17 December 1957)
was a renowned English crime writer, poet, playwright,
essayist, translator and Christian humanist. She was also
a student of classical and modern languages.
She is best known for her mysteries, a series of novels and
short stories set between the First and Second World Wars
that feature English aristocrat and amateur sleuth Lord
Peter Wimsey, that remain popular to this day. However, Sayers herself considered her translation of Dante's
Divine Comedy to be her best work. She is also known
for her plays, literary criticism and essays.

1
1.1

Biography
Childhood, youth and education

Sayers, an only child, was born on 13 June 1893 at the

Head Masters House, Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford,
her father, the Rev. Henry Sayers, M.A., being a chaplain
of Christ Church and headmaster of the Choir School.
When she was six he started teaching her Latin.[2] She
grew up in the tiny village of Bluntisham-cum-Earith in
Huntingdonshire, after her father was given the living
there as rector. The Regency rectory is an elegant building, while the church graveyard features the surnames
of several characters from her mystery The Nine Tailors.
The proximity of the River Great Ouse and the Fens invites comparison with the books vivid description of a
massive ood around the village.[3]

Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, where Sayerss father was

headmaster of the Choir School

ond name) was born at The Chestnuts, Millbrook,

Hampshire to Frederick Leigh, a solicitor, whose family roots were in the Isle of Wight. Sayerss aunt Amy,
her mothers sister, married Henry Richard Shrimpton.

From 1909 she was educated at the Godolphin School,[4]

a boarding school in Salisbury.
Her father later
moved to the less luxurious living of Christchurch, in
Cambridgeshire.

2 Career

In 1912, she won a scholarship to Somerville College,

Oxford,[5] and studied modern languages and medieval
literature. She nished with rst-class honours in 1915.[6]
Although women could not be awarded degrees at that
time, Sayers was among the rst to receive a degree when
the position changed a few years later, and in 1920 she
graduated as an MA. Her experience of Oxford academic
life eventually inspired her penultimate Peter Wimsey
novel, Gaudy Night.

2.1 Poetry, teaching, and advertisements

Sayers rst book, of poetry, was published in 1916 as
OP. I [7] by Blackwell Publishing in Oxford. Later Sayers
worked for Blackwells and then as a teacher in several
locations including Normandy, France.

Sayers longest employment was from 1922 to 1931

as a copywriter at S.H. Benson's advertising agency in
Her father was from Littlehampton, West Sussex, and London. This was located at International Buildings,
her mother (Helen Mary Leighwhence Sayers sec- Kingsway, London. Sayers was quite successful as an
1

CAREER

advertiser. Her collaboration with artist John Gilroy resulted in The Mustard Club for Colmans Mustard and
the Guinness Zoo advertisements, variations of which
still appear today. One famous example was the Toucan,
his bill arching under a glass of Guinness, with Sayerss
jingle:
If he can say as you can
Guinness is good for you
How grand to be a Toucan
Just think what Toucan do
Sayers is also credited with coining the slogan It pays to
advertise!"[8][9] She used the advertising industry as the
setting of Murder Must Advertise, where she describes the
role of truth in advertising:
... the rm of Pyms Publicity, Ltd., Advertising Agents ...
Now, Mr. Pym is a man of rigid
moralityexcept, of course, as regards his
profession, whose essence is to tell plausible
lies for money"
How about truth in advertising?"
Of course, there is some truth in advertising. Theres yeast in bread, but you can't make
bread with yeast alone. Truth in advertising ...
is like leaven, which a woman hid in three measures of meal. It provides a suitable quantity of
gas, with which to blow out a mass of crude
misrepresentation into a form that the public
can swallow.[8]

1st edition cover of the Lord Peter Wimsey novel Murder Must
Advertise

she had developed the husky voiced, dark-eyed Harriet

to put an end to Lord Peter via matrimony. But in the
2.2 Detective ction
course of writing Gaudy Night, Sayers imbued Lord Peter
and Harriet with so much life that she was never able,
Sayers began working out the plot of her rst novel some
as
she
put it, to see Lord Peter exit the stage.
time in 192021. The seeds of the plot for Whose Body?
can be seen in a letter Sayers wrote on 22 January 1921: Sayers did not content herself with writing pure detective
stories; she explored the diculties of First World War
veterans in The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club, disMy detective story begins brightly, with a
cussed the ethics of advertising in Murder Must Advertise,
fat lady found dead in her bath with nothing
and advocated womens education (then a controversial
on but her pince-nez. Now why did she wear
subject) and role in society in Gaudy Night. In Gaudy
pince-nez in her bath? If you can guess, you
Night, Miss Barton writes a book attacking the Nazi docwill be in a position to lay hands upon the murtrine of Kinder, Kirche, Kche, which restricted womens
derer, but hes a very cool and cunning fellow
roles to family activities, and in many ways the whole of
... (p. 101, Reynolds)
Gaudy Night can be read as an attack on Nazi social doctrine.
The book has been described as the rst feminist
Lord Peter Wimsey burst upon the world of detective cmystery
novel.[10]
tion with an explosive Oh, damn!" and continued to engage readers in eleven novels and two sets of short stories;
the nal novel ended with a very dierent Oh, damn!".
Sayers once commented that Lord Peter was a mixture of
Fred Astaire and Bertie Wooster, which is most evident in
the rst ve novels. However, it is evident through Lord
Peters development as a rounded character that he existed in Sayerss mind as a living, breathing, fully human
being. Sayers introduced detective novelist Harriet Vane
in Strong Poison. Sayers remarked more than once that

Sayerss Christian and academic interests are also apparent in her detective series. In The Nine Tailors, one of her
most well-known detective novels, the plot unfolds largely
in and around an old church dating back to the Middle
Ages. Change ringing of bells also forms an important
part of the novel. In Have His Carcase, the Playfair cipher and the principles of cryptanalysis are explained.
Her short story Absolutely Elsewhere refers to the fact that
(in the language of modern physics) the only perfect al-

2.4

Other Christian and academic work

ibi for a crime is to be outside its light cone, while The

Fascinating Problem of Uncle Meleagers Will contains a
literary crossword puzzle.

3
hendecasyllables and the rhyme.[11]

Sayerss translation of the Divine Comedy is also notable

for extensive notes at the end of each canto, explaining
Sayers also wrote a number of short stories about the theological meaning of what she calls a great ChrisMontague Egg, a wine salesman who solves mysteries.
tian allegory.[12] Her translation has remained popular:
in spite of publishing new translations by Mark Musa and
Robin Kirkpatrick, as of 2009 Penguin Books was still
2.3 Translations
publishing the Sayers edition.[13]
In the introduction to her translation of The Song of
Roland, Sayers expressed an outspoken feeling of attraction and love for:
"... That new-washed world of clear sun
and glittering colour which we call the Middle
Age (as though it were middle-aged) but which
has perhaps a better right than the blown rose
of the Renaissance to be called the Age of Rebirth.
She praised Roland for being a purely Christian myth,
in contrast to such epics as Beowulf in which she found a
strong pagan content.
Dante shown holding a copy of the Divine Comedy, next to the
entrance to Hell, the seven terraces of Mount Purgatory and the
city of Florence, with the spheres of Heaven above

2.4 Other Christian and academic work

Sayers herself considered her translation of Dante's

Divine Comedy to be her best work. The boldly titled
Hell appeared in 1949, as one of the recently introduced
series of Penguin Classics. Purgatory followed in 1955.
Unnished at her death, the third volume (Paradise) was
completed by Barbara Reynolds in 1962.
On a line-by-line basis, Sayerss translation can seem idiosyncratic. For example, the famous line usually rendered Abandon all hope, ye who enter here turns, in the
Sayers translation, into Lay down all hope, you who go
in by me. As the Italian reads Lasciate ogne speranza,
voi ch'intrate, both the traditional and Sayers translation
add to the source text in an eort to preserve the original length: here is added in the rst case, and by me
in the second. It can be argued that Sayers translation
is actually more accurate, in that the original intimates to
abandon all hope. Also, the addition of by me draws
from the previous lines of the canto: Per me si va ne la
citt dolente;/ per me si va ne l'etterno dolore;/ per me si
va tra la perduta gente. (Longfellow: Through me the
way is to the city dolent;/ through me the way is to the
eternal dole;/ through me the way is to the people lost.)
The idiosyncratic character of Sayerss translation results
from her decision to preserve the original Italian terza
rima rhyme scheme, so that her go in by me rhymes
with made to be two lines earlier, and unsearchably
two lines before that. Umberto Eco in his book Mouse
or Rat? suggests that, of the various English translations,
Sayers does the best in at least partially preserving the

Cover of Are Women Human?, which contains two of Sayers

feminist essays

Sayerss most notable religious book is probably The

Mind of the Maker (1941) which explores at length the

3 CRITICISM OF SAYERS

analogy between a human creator (especially a writer of

novels and plays) and the doctrine of The Trinity in creation. She suggests that any human creation of significance involves the Idea, the Energy (roughly: the process of writing and that actual 'incarnation' as a material object) and the Power (roughly: the process of reading/hearing and the eect it has on the audience) and
that this trinity has useful analogies with the theological Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
In addition to the ingenious thinking in working out
this analogy, the book contains striking examples drawn
from her own experiences as a writer and elegant criticisms of writers when the balance between Idea, Energy and Power is not, in her view, adequate.[14] She defends strongly the view that literary creatures have a nature of their own, vehemently replying to a well-wisher
who wanted Lord Peter to end up a convinced Christian. From what I know of him, nothing is more unlikely ... Peter is not the Ideal Man.[15]

3.1 Criticism of background material in

her novels
The literary and academic themes in Sayerss novels have
appealed to a great many readers, but by no means to all.
Poet W. H. Auden and philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein
were critics of her novels, for example.[18][19] A savage attack on Sayerss writing ability came from the prominent
American critic and man of letters Edmund Wilson, in a
well-known 1945 article in The New Yorker called Who
Cares Who Killed Roger Ackroyd?[20] He briey writes
about her famous novel The Nine Tailors, saying I set out
to read [it] in the hope of tasting some novel excitement,
and I declare that it seems to me one of the dullest books
I have ever encountered in any eld. The rst part is all
about bell-ringing as it is practised in English churches
and contains a lot of information of the kind that you
might expect to nd in an encyclopedia article on campanology. I skipped a good deal of this, and found myself
skipping, also, a large section of the conversations between conventional English village characters ... Wilson
continues I had often heard people say that Dorothy Sayers wrote well ... but, really, she does not write very well:
it is simply that she is more consciously literary than most
of the other detective-story writers and that she thus attracts attention in a eld which is mostly on a sub-literary
level.

Creed or Chaos? is a restatement of basic historical

Christian Doctrine, based on the Apostles Creed, the
Nicene Creed, and the Athanasian Creed, similar to but
somewhat more densely written than C.S. Lewis' Mere
Christianity; both sought clearly and concisely to explain
the central doctrines of Christianity to those who had encountered them in distorted or watered-down forms, on
the grounds that if you are going to criticize something
you had best know what it is rst.
The academic critic Q.D. Leavis, in a review of Gaudy
Her very inuential essay The Lost Tools of Learning[16] Night and Busmans Honeymoon published in the crithas been used by many schools in the US as a basis for ical journal Scrutiny, criticises Sayers in more specic
the classical education movement, reviving the medieval terms. The basis of Leavis criticism is that Sayers
trivium subjects (grammar, logic and rhetoric) as tools to ction is popular and romantic while pretending to
[21]
enable the analysis and mastery of every other subject. realism. Leavis argues that Sayers presents academic
Sayers also wrote three volumes of commentaries about life as sound and sincere because it is scholarly, a place
Dante, religious essays, and several plays, of which The of invulnerable standards of taste charging the charmed
atmosphere.[22] But, Leavis says, this is unrealistic: If
Man Born to be King may be the best known.
such a world ever existed, and I should be surprised to
Her religious works did so well at presenting the orthohear as much, it does no longer, and to give substance
dox Anglican position that, in 1943, the Archbishop of
to a lie or to perpetrate a dead myth is to do no one any
Canterbury oered her a Lambeth doctorate in divinservice really.[23] Leavis suggests that people in the acaity, which she declined. In 1950, however, she accepted
demic world who earn their livings by scholarly specialian honorary doctorate of letters from the University of
ties are not as a general thing wiser, better, ner, decenDurham.
ter or in any way more estimable than those of the same
Although she never describes herself as such, her eco- social class outside, but that Sayers is popular among
nomic and political ideas, rooted as they are in the educated readers because the accepted pretence is that
classical Christian doctrines of Creation and Incarna- things are as Miss Sayers relates. Leavis comments that
tion, are very close to the Chesterton-Belloc theory of only best-seller novelists could have such illusions about
Distributism.[17]
human nature.[23]

Criticism of Sayers

Critic Sean Latham has defended Sayers, arguing that

Wilson chooses arrogant condescension over serious
critical consideration and suggests that both he and
Leavis, rather than seriously assessing Sayers writing,
simply objected to a detective-story writer having pretensions beyond what they saw as her role of popular-culture
hack.[18] Latham claims that, in their eyes, Sayerss
primary crime lay in her attempt to transform the detective novel into something other than an ephemeral bit of

5
popular culture.[18]

3.2

Criticism of major characters

Lord Peter Wimsey, Sayers heroic detective, has been

criticized for being too perfect; over time the various talents he displays grow too numerous for some readers to
swallow. Edmund Wilson also expressed his distaste for
Lord Peter in his criticism of The Nine Tailors: There
was also a dreadful stock English nobleman of the casual
and debonair kind, with the embarrassing name of Lord
Peter Wimsey, and, although he was the focal character Blue plaque for Dorothy L. Sayers on 23 & 24 Gt. James Street,
in the novel ... I had to skip a good deal of him, too.[20] WC1
Wimsey is rich, well-educated, charming, and brave, as
well as an accomplished musician, an exceptional athlete,
and a notable lover. He does, however, have serious aws:
the habit of over-engaging in what other characters regard
as silly prattling, a nervous disorder (shell-shock) and a
fear of responsibility. The latter two both originate from
his service in the First World War. The fear of responsibility turns out to be a serious obstacle to his maturation
into full adulthood (a fact not lost on the character himself).

4 Personal life

In London in the 1920s, she entered into an unhappy affair with the Russian emigre Imagist poet John Cournos
who moved in literary circles with Ezra Pound and his
contemporaries. Her aront at his subsequent marriage
to a fellow crime writerafter claiming to disdain both
monogamy and detective ctionhas been documented
in her collected letters,[28] an experience ctionalized a
The character Harriet Vane, featured in four novels, has decade later in her novel Strong Poison[29] and in Cournos
been criticized for being a mere stand-in for the author. The Devil is an English Gentleman, published in 1932.
Many of the themes and settings of Sayerss novels, particularly those involving Harriet Vane, seem to reect On 3 January 1924, at the age of 30, Sayers secretly gave
illegitimate son, John Anthony (later surnamed
Sayerss own concerns and experiences.[24] Vane, like birth to an[30]
though his father was Bill White),[31] who
Sayers, was educated at Oxford (unusual for a woman at Fleming,
the time) and is a mystery writer. Vane initially meets was cared for as a child by her aunt and cousin, Amy
Shrimpton, and passed o as her nephew
Wimsey when she is tried for poisoning her lover (Strong and Ivy Amy
[32][33][34]
to
friends.
Two years later, after publishing her
Poison); he insists on participating in the defence prepararst
two
detective
novels,
Sayers married Captain Oswald
tions for her re-trial, where he falls for her but she rejects
Atherton
Mac
Fleming,
a Scottish journalist whose prohim. In Have His Carcase she collaborates with Wimsey
fessional
name
was
Atherton
Fleming.[35] The wedding
to solve a murder but still rejects his proposals of martook
place
on
8
April
1926
at
Holborn Register Oce,
riage. She eventually accepts (Gaudy Night) and marries
London.
Fleming
was
divorced
with two children.
him (Busmans Honeymoon).
Sayers and Fleming lived in the at at 24 Great James
Street in Bloomsbury[36] that Sayers maintained for the
rest of her life. Both worked, Fleming as an author and
3.3 Alleged anti-Semitism in Sayerss writ- journalist and Sayers as an advertising copywriter and author. Over time, Flemings health worsened, largely due
ing
to his First World War service, and as a result he became
unable to work.
Biographers of Sayers have disagreed as to whether Sayers was anti-Semitic. In Sayers: A Biography,[25] James Sayers was a good friend of C. S. Lewis and several of the
Brabazon argues that Sayers was anti-Semitic. This is re- other Inklings. On some occasions, Sayers joined Lewis
butted by Carolyn G. Heilbrun in Dorothy L. Sayers: Bi- at meetings of the Socratic Club. Lewis said he read The
ography Between the Lines.[26] McGregor and Lewis ar- Man Born to be King every Easter, but he claimed to be
gue in Conundrums for the Long Week-End that Sayers unable to appreciate detective stories. J. R. R. Tolkien
novels but scorned the later
was not anti-Semitic but used popular British stereotypes read some of the Wimsey[37]
Gaudy
Night.
ones,
such
as
of class and ethnicity. In 1936, a translator wanted to
soften the thrusts against the Jews in Whose Body?; Say- Fleming died on 9 June 1950, at Sunnyside Cottage
ers, surprised, replied that the only characters treated in (now 24 Newland Street), Witham, Essex. Sayers died
a favourable light were the Jews!"[27]
suddenly of a coronary thrombosis[38] on 17 December

6 BIBLIOGRAPHY

1957 at the same place, aged 64. Fleming was buried

in Ipswich, while Sayerss remains were cremated and
her ashes buried beneath the tower of St Annes Church,
Soho, London, where she had been a churchwarden for
many years. Upon her death it was revealed that her
nephew, John Anthony, was her son; he was the sole beneciary under his mothers will. He died on 26 November
1984 at age 60, in St. Franciss Hospital, Miami Beach,
Florida.

Legacy

Some of the character Harriet Vane's observations reveal

Sayers poking fun at the mystery genre, even while adhering to various conventions.
Sayers work was frequently parodied by her contemporaries. E. C. Bentley, the author of the early modern detective novel Trents Last Case, wrote a parody entitled
Greedy Night (1938).
Her characters, and Sayers herself, have been placed in
some other works, including:
Jill Paton Walsh has published four novels about
Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane: Thrones, Dominations (1998), a completion of Sayers manuscript
left unnished at her death; A Presumption of Death
(2002), based on the Wimsey Papers, letters ostensibly written by various Wimseys and published
in The Spectator during the Second World War; The
Attenbury Emeralds (2010), based on Lord Peters
rst case, briey referred to in a number of Sayers novels; and a sequel The Late Scholar (2013)
in which Peter and Harriet have nally become the
Duke and Duchess of Denver.
Wimsey appears (together with Hercule Poirot and
Father Brown) in C. Northcote Parkinson's comic
novel Jeeves (after Jeeves, the gentlemans gentleman of the P.G. Wodehouse canon).
Wimsey makes a cameo appearance in Laurie R.
Kings A Letter of Mary, one of a series of books
relating the further adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
Sayers appears, with Agatha Christie, as a title character in Dorothy and Agatha [ISBN 0-451-403142], a murder mystery by Gaylord Larsen, in which a
man is murdered in Sayers dining room and she has
to solve the crime.
Wimsey is mentioned by Walter Pidgeon's character
in the 1945 lm Week-End at the Waldorf as one
of three possible detectives waiting for him in the
hall, outside the apartment of the character played
by Ginger Rogers.

In Tom Stoppards play The Real Inspector Hound, one

of the critics (Moon) identies her as a notable literary
gure, alongside Kafka, Sartre, Shakespeare, St. Paul,
Beckett, Birkett, Pinero, Pirandello, and Dante.[39]
Sayers Classical Academy in Louisville, Kentucky is
named after her.

6 Bibliography
See also Plays of Dorothy L. Sayers
See also List of ctional books#Works invented
by Dorothy L. Sayers

6.1 Poetry collections

Op. I (1916)[7]
Catholic Tales and Christian Songs (1918)[40]

6.2 Lord Peter Wimsey novels and short

story collections
Whose Body? (1923)
Clouds of Witness (1926)
Unnatural Death (1927). From the papers held by
the Marion E. Wade Center, it is clear that Sayers original title was The Singular Case of the Three
Spinsters.
The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club (1928)
Lord Peter Views the Body (1928; 12 short stories)
Strong Poison (1930)
Five Red Herrings (1931)
Have His Carcase (1932)
Hangmans Holiday (1933; 12 short stories, 4 including Lord Peter)
Murder Must Advertise (1933)
The Nine Tailors (1934) - a Peal was rung on 13 June
2004 to celebrate the 70th anniversary of publication.
Gaudy Night (1935)
Busmans Honeymoon (1937; the play on which it
was based, co-written with Muriel St. Clair Byrne,
was published in Love All, Together with Busmans
Honeymoon, ed. Alzina Stone Dale, 1984)

6.4

Dante translations and commentaries

In the Teeth of the Evidence (1939; 17 short stories, 2

including Lord Peter; editions published after 1972
usually adds Talboys, the last story she wrote with
Lord Peter)

Crime on the Coast and No Flowers by Request

(1984, written by members of The Detection Club,
Sayers takes part in the second, originally published
in Daily Sketch (1953)

Striding Folly (1972; 3 short stories)

The Travelling Rug (2005, a previously unpublished

short detective story, probably written in the early to
middle 1930s, planned as the rst in a series to be
called The Situations of Judkins. It features a housemaid, Jane Eurydice Judkins. This book contains
a printed version of the story, as well as a photographic reproduction of the manuscript in Wheaton
College Library.)

Lord Peterthe Complete Lord Peter Wimsey Stories

(1972; the rst edition contains 20 Lord Peter short
stories; the second edition includes all 21 Lord Peter
short stories by adding Talboys)

Sayers on Holmes, Essays and Fiction on Sherlock

Holmes, introd. Alzina Stone Dale (2001; booklet
of 54 pages reprinting various Holmesian essays by
Sayers, and including a previously unpublished BBC 6.4 Dante translations and commentaries
radio script, broadcast in 1954, in which an 8-yearold Lord Peter brings Holmes a problem of a missing
The Divine Comedy, Part 1: Hell (1949) ISBN 0-14cat).
044006-2
Thrones, Dominations (1998; begun by Sayers in
1936, completed by Jill Paton Walsh and published
in 1998.)[41]
The Wimsey Papers a series of ctional letters by
members of the Wimsey Family, published in The
Spectator in the early months of the Second World
War, which are actually essays expressing Sayers
views on various subjects.
Dorothy L. Sayers: the Complete Stories (2002; all
21 Lord Peter short stories, the 11 Montague Egg
stories, and 12 others)

The Divine Comedy, Part 2: Purgatory (1955) ISBN

0-14-044046-1
The Divine Comedy, Part 3: Paradise (1962) (completed by Barbara Reynolds) ISBN 0-14-044105-0
Introductory Papers on Dante: Volume 1: The Poet
Alive in His Writings (1954)
Further Papers on Dante Volume 2: His Heirs and
His Ancestors (1957)
The Poetry of Search and the Poetry of Statement
Volume 3: On Dante and Other Writers (1963)

Sayers also wrote the scenario for the lm The Silent

Passenger (1935), a Lord Peter story which was 6.5 Plays
never published in book form, and whose script
was altered greatly by the lm company from her Main article: List of plays by Dorothy L. Sayers
original.[42]

6.3

Other books of crime ction

The Man Born to be King, a cycle of 12 plays on the

life of Jesus (1941)

The Documents in the Case (1930) written with

6.6
Robert Eustace

Collections of essays and non-ction

The Floating Admiral (1931, written with members

of The Detection Club, a chapter each)

The Greatest Drama Ever Staged Hodder and

Stoughton (1938)

Ask a Policeman (1933, written with members of

The Detection Club)

Strong Meat Hodder and Stoughton (1939)

Six against the Yard (1936, written with members of

The Detection Club)
Double Death: a Murder Story (1939, written with
members of The Detection Club)
The Scoop and Behind the Screen (1983, Originally
published in The Listener (1931) and (1930), both
written by members of The Detection Club)

Begin Here (A Wartime Essay) Victor Gollancz

(1940)
Even The Parrot (Exemplary Conversations for Enlightened Children) Methuen (1944)
The Mind of the Maker (1941) ISBN 0-8371-3372-6
The Lost Tools of Learning(1947)
Unpopular Opinions (1947)

7 NOTES
The Greatest Drama Ever Staged (reprinted from
Unpopular Opinions in a series of pocket-sized
booklets) St Hughs Press

[7] Op. 1, by Dorothy Sayers. UPenn Digital Libraries:

a Celebration of Women Writers. Retrieved January 14,
2014.

Creed or Chaos?: Why Christians Must Choose Either

Dogma or Disaster (Or, Why It Really Does Matter
What You Believe) (1947) ISBN 0-918477-31-X

[8] Murder Must Advertise, chapter 5

[9] Mitzi Brunsdale (1990). Dorothy L. Sayers. New York:
Berg, p. 94.

Are Women Human? (1971) (two essays reprinted [10] Randi Srsdal (2006). From Mystery to Manners: A Study
from Unpopular Opinions) ISBN 0-8028-2996-1
of Five Detective Novels by Dorothy L. Sayers (Masters the The Whimsical Christian (1978) ISBN 0-02096430-7
Sayers on Holmes (2001) ISBN 1-887726-08-X

sis). University of Bergen. p. 45., bora.uib.no

[11] Umberto Eco (2003). Mouse or Rat? Translation as Negotiation. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson. p. 141. ISBN
0-297-83001-5.

Les Origines du Roman Policier: A Wartime Wireless [12] Dorothy L. Sayers (1949). The Divine Comedy 1: Hell
Talk to the French: The Original French Text with an
(introduction). London: Pengun Books. p. 11.
English Translation (ed. and trans. Suzanne Bray,
Hurstpierpoint: Dorothy L. Sayers Society, 2003) [13] Penguin UK web site (accessed 26 August 2009)
ISBN 0-9545636-0-3

6.7

Collected letters

[14] Examples, some hilarious, given in Chapter 10 of The

Mind of the Maker, including a poet whose solemn ode to
the Ark of the Covenant crossing Jordan contains the immortal couplet: The [something] torrent, leaping in the
air / Left the astounded rivers bottom bare

Five volumes of Sayers letters have been published,

edited by Barbara Reynolds.
[15] Dorothy L. Sayers, The Mind of the Maker, p. 105
The Letters of Dorothy L. Sayers: 18991936: The
Making of a Detective Novelist ISBN 0-312-14001-0
The Letters of Dorothy L. Sayers: 19371943, From
Novelist to Playwright ISBN 0-312-18127-2[41]
The Letters of Dorothy L. Sayers: 19441950, A Noble Daring ISBN 0-9518005-1-5
The Letters of Dorothy L. Sayers: 19511957, In the
Midst of Life ISBN 0-9518000-6-X
The Letters of Dorothy L. Sayers: Child and Woman
of Her Time ISBN 0-9518000-7-8

Notes

[16] Sayers, GBT, ISBN 978-1-60051-025-0.

[17] Adam Schwartz (2000). The Mind of a Maker: An Introduction to the Thought of Dorothy L. Sayers Through
Her Letters. Touchstone Magazine, Volume 13, Issue 4
(May 2000), pp. 2838.
[18] Sean Latham (2003). Am I A Snob? Modernism and the
Novel. Cornell University Press. p. 197. ISBN 0-80144022-X.
[19] from a letter to his former pupil Norman Malcolm, reproduced on page 109 of Malcolms Ludwig Wittgenstein: A
Memoir, O.U.P., 2001, ISBN 0-19-924759-5
[20] Wilson, Edmund. Who Cares Who Killed Roger Ackroyd?" Originally published in The New Yorker, 20 January 1945.
[21] Leavis 1968, p. 143

[1] Barbara Reynolds (1993). Dorothy L. Sayers: Her Life

and Soul. London: Hodder & Stoughton. p. 361. ISBN
0-312-09787-5.
[2] Reynolds (1993), pp. 114
[3] Alzina Stone Dale (2003). Master and CraftsmanThe
Story of Dorothy L. Sayers. iUniverse. pp. 36. ISBN
978-0-595-26603-6.
[4] Dorothy L. Sayers. Inklings. Taylor University. Retrieved 23 January 2014.

[22] Leavis 1968, pp. 143144

[23] Leavis 1968, p. 144
[24] Reynolds (1993)
[25] James Brabazon, Sayers: A Biography, pp. 216219
[26] Carolyn G. Heilbrun in 'Dorothy L. Sayers: Biography Between the Lines in Sayers Centenary.

[5] Reynolds (1993), p. 43

[27] From a letter Sayers wrote to David Highan, 27 November

1936, published in Sayerss Letters.

[6] Biography of DLS. The Dorothy L Sayers Society home

pages. The Dorothy L Sayers Society. Retrieved 29 July
2010.

[28] An Introduction to the Thought of Dorothy L. Sayers

Through Her Letters by Adam Schwartz, Touchstone
Magazine

[29] SAYERS LIFE BETWEEN WORLD WARS I AND II

DOROTHY L. SAYERS: HER LIFE AND WORK By
Nancy G. West

Reynolds, Barbara, Dorothy L. Sayers: Her Life and

Soul (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1993; rev. eds
1998, 2002) ISBN 0-340-72845-0

[30] Reynolds (1993), pp. 346

Srsdal, Randi, From Mystery to Manners: A Study

of Five Detective Novels by Dorothy L. Sayers, Masters thesis, University of Bergen, bora.uib.no

[31] Reynolds (1993), pp. 118122

[32] Reynolds (1993), p. 126
[33] http://gadetection.pbworks.com/w/page/7931476/
Sayers,%20Dorothy%20L
[34] Petri Liukkonen & Ari Pesonen (2008). Dorothy L(eigh)
Sayers (18931957)".
[35] '"Autumn in Galloway"' (1931)' Pastel landscape by Oswald Atherton (Mac) Fleming with photograph of artist
[36] Lived in London English Heritage/Yale University Press
(2009)
[37] The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien p. 95.
[38] Dorothy Sayers, Author, Dies at 64. The New York
Times. 19 December 1957. Retrieved 31 August 2012.
[39] Stoppard, Tom (1988). The Real Inspector Hound and
Other Plays. Grove Press. p. 32. ISBN 0-8021-3561-7.
[40] Catholic tales and Christian songs, by Dorothy Leigh
Sayers, Author of Op. I."". ccel.org. Retrieved Feb 3,
2013.
[41] Joyce Carol Oates (March 15, 1998). Lord Peters Last
Case. New York Times. |chapter= ignored (help)

References
Op.
I by Dorothy
digital.library.upenn.edu

Brown, Janice, The Seven Deadly Sins in the Work

of Dorothy L. Sayers (Kent, OH, & London: Kent
State University Press, 1998) ISBN 0-87338-605-1
Connelly, Kelly C. From Detective Fiction to Detective Literature: Psychology in the Novels of
Dorothy L. Sayers and Margaret Millar. CLUES: A
Journal of Detection 25.3 (Spring 2007): 3547
Coomes, David, Dorothy L. Sayers: A Careless Rage
for Life (1992; London: Chariot Victor Publishing,
1997) ISBN 978-0-7459-2241-6
Dean, Christopher, ed., Encounters with Lord Peter
(Hurstpierpoint: Dorothy L. Sayers Society, 1991)
ISBN 0-9518000-0-0
, Studies in Sayers: Essays presented to Dr Barbara
Reynolds on her 80th Birthday (Hurstpierpoint:
Dorothy L. Sayers Society, 1991) ISBN 0-95180001-9
Downing, Crystal, Writing Performances: The
Stages of Dorothy Sayers (New York: Palgrave
Macmillan, 2004) ISBN 1-4039-6452-1

[42] Reynolds (1993), p. 262

9 Further reading and scholarship

Sayers

(poetry):

The Lost Tools of Learning by Dorothy L. Sayers:

Audio of this Essay: ISBN 978-1-60051-025-0
Brabazon, James, Dorothy L. Sayers: a Biography
(1980; New York: Avon, 1982) ISBN 978-0-38058990-6
Dale, Alzine Stone, Maker and Craftsman: The
Story of Dorothy L. Sayers (1993; backinprint.com,
2003) ISBN 978-0-595-26603-6
Leavis, Q.D. (1937). The Case of Miss Dorothy
Sayers. Scrutiny VI.
McGregor, Robert Kuhn & Lewis, Ethan Conundrums for the Long Week-End : England, Dorothy
L. Sayers, and Lord Peter Wimsey (Kent, OH, &
London: Kent State University Press, 2000) ISBN
0-87338-665-5

Gorman, Anita G., and Leslie R. Mateer. The

Medium Is the Message: Busmans Honeymoon as
Play, Novel, and Film. CLUES: A Journal of Detection 23.4 (Summer 2005): 5462
Kenney, Catherine, The Remarkable Case of
Dorothy L. Sayers (1990; Kent, OH, & London:
Kent State University Press, 1992) ISBN 0-87338458-X
Lennard, John, 'Of Purgatory and Yorkshire:
Dorothy L. Sayers and Reginald Hills Divine Comedy', in Of Modern Dragons and other essays on
Genre Fiction (Tirril: Humanities-Ebooks, 2007),
pp. 3355. ISBN 978-1-84760-038-7
Loades, Ann. Dorothy L. Sayers: War and Redemption. In Hein, David, and Edward Henderson,
eds. C. S. Lewis and Friends: Faith and the Power
of Imagination, pp. 5370. London: SPCK, 2011.
Nelson, Victoria, L. is for Sayers: A Play in Five Acts
(Dreaming Spires Publications, 2012) ISBN 0-61553872-X

10

10

Webster, Peter, 'Archbishop Temples oer of a

Lambeth degree to Dorothy L. Sayers. In: From
the Reformation to the Permissive Society. Church of
England Record Society (18). Boydell and Brewer,
Woodbridge, 2010, pp. 565582. ISBN 978-184383-558-5. Full text in SAS-Space
Young, Laurel. Dorothy L. Sayers and the New
Woman Detective Novel.CLUES: A Journal of Detection 23.4 (Summer 2005): 3953

10

External links

General
The Dorothy L. Sayers Society
Dorothy L. Sayers at the Internet Movie Database
Works by Dorothy L. Sayers at Open Library
Archives
Dorothy Sayers archives at the Marion E. Wade
Center at Wheaton College
Archival material relating to Dorothy L. Sayers
listed at the UK National Archives
Articles
Dorothy L Sayers in Gallowaythe scene of her
novel Five Red Herrings (1931)
Dorothy L. Sayers: A Christian Humanist for Today by Mary Brian Durkin
Second Glance: Dorothy Sayers and the Last
Golden Age by Joanna Scutts

EXTERNAL LINKS

11

11
11.1

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

Text

Dorothy L. Sayers Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothy_L._Sayers?oldid=663245571 Contributors: Derek Ross, Vicki Rosenzweig, Sjc, -- April, Andre Engels, Deb, Ortolan88, Isis~enwiki, KF, Leandrod, Michael Hardy, Willsmith, Tamstrad, Ixfd64, Lquilter,
Zanimum, Paul A, NuclearWinner, DavidWBrooks, KoyaanisQatsi, Den fjttrade ankan~enwiki, Djnjwd, Jiang, RickK, CTSWyneken,
Dandrake, Peregrine981, Phoebe, Dimadick, Bearcat, Altenmann, Tualha, Hella~enwiki, Timrollpickering, Wikibot, JerryFriedman, Pmcray, HaeB, Haeleth, Christofurio, Jossi, Thincat, D6, Reinthal, Hayford Peirce, Rich Farmbrough, Guanabot, Zaslav, Eric Forste, Nysalor,
Kwamikagami, Wareh, Thu, Bill Thayer, Tom Yates, Carbon Caryatid, X. Lechard, Andrew Gray, Jackliddle, Ynhockey, DreamGuy, Dabbler, Deacon of Pndapetzim, Angr, FeanorStar7, David Haslam, Meniko, Colorajo, Graham87, Cmsg, Rjwilmsi, Koavf, Feydey, Ttwaring,
MarnetteD, Txqueen, SchuminWeb, Ground Zero, CarolGray, YurikBot, Sophysduckling, Mahahahaneapneap, RussBot, Bhoeble, Alanp,
Bug42, Grafen, Dethomas, Moe Epsilon, Tony1, Thamyris, Pil56, J S Ayer, Homagetocatalonia, Rms125a@hotmail.com, Village Explainer, Paul D. Anderson, Nicholas Jackson, SmackBot, Tom Lougheed, Martinp, Number seven, Lexo, Kevinalewis, Papa November,
Sadads, Colonies Chris, OrphanBot, Mhym, JoeKennedy1979, Rob~enwiki, Vina-iwbot~enwiki, Andrew Dalby, Ser Amantio di Nicolao,
John, Notmicro, Gobonobo, Ceplm, Pfold, Mr Stephen, Kyoko, Meco, Neddyseagoon, Norm mit, Iridescent, Joseph Solis in Australia,
Theoldanarchist, GiantSnowman, Eluchil404, Wspencer11, Guernseykid, Switchercat, CleverOaf, Adam Keller, ShelfSkewed, WeggeBot,
Karenjc, Edward Hyde, Cydebot, Slp1, Anne9853, Pgg7, JenKilmer, Donmillsbridge, Crana, Sirmylesnagopaleentheda, After Midnight,
Kingstowngalway, Thijs!bot, ChKa, Epbr123, John Smythe, RobotG, Mary Mark Ockerbloom, Tjmayerinsf, Coyets, DShamen, NBeale,
Dsp13, Charles01, RubyQ, Xn4, Rivertorch, Kauko56, Nick Cooper, WhatamIdoing, Malgwyn, Rif Wineld, Shadowthedog, Kurben,
CommonsDelinker, B. A. Perkins, WarthogDemon, Classicalsubjects, AntiSpamBot, Santiperez, Sarregouset, Paularblaster, GrahamHardy,
Hugo999, John.Lennard, Kevinkor2, Alexandria, Kyriosity, Larry R. Holmgren, Flyte35, A4bot, Devoxo, Andreas Kaganov, Zommer, John
Carter, Bleaney, Chanora, Rjm at sleepers, Modal Jig, McM.bot, Cremepu222, Nikosgreencookie, BigDunc, Falcon8765, Wolf2191,
Radagast3, Deloresk, SieBot, StAnselm, Accounting4Taste, Transcendentalist, Nathan, Peter.Webster, Oda Mari, John.C.Lennard, Sue
Wallace, Acahopkins, MrsKrishan, Duae Quartunciae, ImageRemovalBot, ClueBot, GeneCallahan, Jtomlin1uk, Pinksisket, Pointillist,
Jeanenawhitney, NHewlett, Roadkills-r-us, Kaiba, TonySayers, Johnuniq, NellieBly, Bevildej, Addbot, Tassedethe, Ehrenkater, Ondewelle,
ChrisopherusP, Yobot, Kimbrel, Jimjilin, AnomieBOT, Originalylem, Je Muscato, ArthurBot, Tuesdaily, Heslopian, Ganacka, Krscal,
Anna Roy, Kohomologie, Peterthetiger, Ablebakerus, Citation bot 1, Trijnstel, Brucewh, Full-date unlinking bot, CovenantWord, Stelmaris,
Lotje, ThinkEnemies, Leelenore, Dewritech, Estel1123, Cat4567nip, Jim Michael, Princess Lirin, TEHodson, ZroBot, Liquidmetalrob,
, H3llBot, SporkBot, JohannesHuber, Erianna, SpencerCollins, OpenlibraryBot, Flannel-wing jay, ClueBot NG, Poshseagull,
Widr, Helpful Pixie Bot, SchroCat, Eb00kie, BattyBot, William Hitchens, Khazar2, Mogism, SayersFan, Anna2014ivanova, KasparBot
and Anonymous: 181

11.2

Images

File:Blue_plaque_re_Dorothy_L_Sayers_on_23_and_24_Gt._James_Street,_WC1_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1237429.jpg Source:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/Blue_plaque_re_Dorothy_L_Sayers_on_23_and_24_Gt._James_Street%2C_
WC1_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1237429.jpg License: CC BY-SA 2.0 Contributors: From geograph.org.uk Original artist: Mike Quinn
File:Cathedral_oxford.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Cathedral_oxford.jpg License: CC BY 2.5
Contributors: Self-made; transferred from en.wikipedia by Kurpfalzbilder.de using CommonsHelper. Original artist: Newton2 at
en.wikipedia.
File:DorothyLSayers_MuderMustAdvertise.jpg
Source:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/89/DorothyLSayers_
MuderMustAdvertise.jpg License: ? Contributors:
http://www.facsimiledustjackets.com/cgi-bin/fdj455/2939.html Original artist: ?
File:Dorothy_L_Sayers_Are_women_human_web.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/14/Dorothy_L_Sayers_
Are_women_human_web.jpg License: ? Contributors:
unknown
Original artist: ?
File:Michelino_DanteAndHisPoem.jpg
Source:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e2/Michelino_
DanteAndHisPoem.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: http://www.intoscana.it/shared/intoscana/immagini/generica/2010/
12/13/75e0b15058c422781c84914fd03d3cb4.jpg Original artist: Domenico di Michelino
File:Wikiquote-logo.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fa/Wikiquote-logo.svg License: Public domain
Contributors: ? Original artist: ?

11.3

Content license

Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0