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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
2 Career
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
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
3
hendecasyllables and the rhyme.[11]
3 CRITICISM OF SAYERS
Criticism of Sayers
5
popular culture.[18]
3.2
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
Legacy
6 Bibliography
See also Plays of Dorothy L. Sayers
See also List of ctional books#Works invented
by Dorothy L. Sayers
6.4
6.3
7 NOTES
The Greatest Drama Ever Staged (reprinted from
Unpopular Opinions in a series of pocket-sized
booklets) St Hughs Press
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
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
Notes
References
Op.
I by Dorothy
digital.library.upenn.edu
Sayers
(poetry):
10
10
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
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11.1
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,
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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
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11.3
Content license