| • Science | • People | • Locations | • Timeline |
Dorothy L. Sayers (and she always insisted on that "L.") is perhaps best known for her Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries, a series of novels and short stories featuring an English aristocrat who is an amateur sleuth. Four of those novels also feature Harriet Vane, a detective novelist and amateur detective. Sayers also wrote a number of short stories about Montague Egg, a wine salesman who also solves mysteries.
Sayers herself considered her translationTranslation is an activity comprising the interpretation of the meaning of a text in one language — the source text — and the production of another, equivalent text in another language — the target text or translation''. Traditionally, translation has alw of DanteDante Alighieri (May/June 1265 September 13/14, 1321) was a Florentine poet. His greatest work, La divina commedia The Divine Comedy , is a culminating statement of the medieval world view and the basis of the modern Italian language. Life Early life and's Divina CommediaThis article is about the epic poem. For information about the band of the same name, see The Divine Comedy (band). The Divine Comedy (in Italian Comedia or Commedia , later christened Divina by Giovanni Boccaccio), written by Dante Alighieri between 1265 to be her best work. She also wrote religious essays and plays, of which The Man Born to be KingThe Man Born to be King is a radio drama based on the life of Jesus, produced and broadcast by the BBC. It is a play cycle consisting of twelve plays depicting specific periods in Jesus' life, from the events surrounding his birth to his death and resurre may be the best known.
Her religious works did so well at presenting an orthodox AnglicanThe term Anglican describes those people and churches following the religious traditions of the Church of England, especially following the Reformation. Anglicans trace these traditions back to the first followers of Jesus, but acknowledge that schisms oc position that in 19431943 is the common year starting on Friday. Events January January 4 End of term for Culbert Olson, 29th Governor of California. He is succeeded by Earl Warren. January 11 The United States and United Kingdom give up territorial rights in China. January 1 the Archbishop of CanterburyThe Archbishop of Canterbury is a bishop of the Church of England. His see is the Diocese of Canterbury and his episcopal chair ('cathedra') is at Canterbury Cathedral. He is the most senior bishop of the Church of England and of the worldwide Anglican Co offered her an honorary doctorate in divinity, which she declined. In 1950Events January January 5 US Senator Estes Kefauver introduces a resolution calling for examination of organized crime in the USA January 6 The United Kingdom recognizes the People's Republic of China. The Republic of China severs diplomatic relations with, however, she accepted an honorary doctorate in literature from the University of Durham.
The subject of anti-Semitism in her works has been much debated. Many have found in the novels an unblushing anti-Semitism which was marked even for the time and place of their writing; others cite the most offensive passages in the Wimsey novels as the talk of characters who do not represent the authorial voice. The case is made less clear by the fact that the author's own voice tends to be patronizing at best toward any persons who are not the right sort of Christian English people - Jews and Americans receive particular disdain - and her own inconsistencies towards Judaism and Jews. For instance, in the 1920s she referred negatively to G. K. Chesterton and his brother as anti-Semitic. In 1943-44, however, she wrote an essay for inclusion in a book The Future of the Jews by J. J. Lynx, in which it is definitely the authorial voice that asserts, for instance, that Jews are bad citizens with little or no loyalty to the country they live in. Critical discussion of this piece has been limited, as the essay was withdrawn from the collection at the last minute due to the demand of the other contributors, and was never published.
Her essay "The Lost Tools of Learning" has been used by several schools in the US as a basis for a revival of classical education.
Sayers was born in Oxford, where her father the Rev. Henry Sayers, M.A., was chaplain (and headmaster of the Choir School) of Christ Church College, Oxford. She was educated at Somerville College, Oxford, where she took first-class honours in modern languages , although women could not be granted degrees at that time; she was among the first women to receive a degree when they were allowed a few years later. She worked as a teacher and later as a copywriter in an advertising agency, Benson's, in London. This was to give her a useful insight into the advertising industry which she used in one of her mysteries, Murder Must Advertise.
She gave birth to a child in 1924 whilst unmarried and arranged for it to be raised by a cousin. Two years later, by which time she was already writing her detective novels, she married Oswald Arthur "Mac" Fleming (a journalist whose professional name was "Atherton Fleming") and they later adopted her son; but he never lived in the Sayers household.
She was acquainted with C. S. Lewis and his circle, and on some occasions joined Lewis at meetings of the Socratic Club. Lewis said he read The Man Born to Be King every Easter, but he claimed to be unable to appreciate detective stories. J. R. R. Tolkien, however, read some of the Wimsey novels and scorned the later ones, such as Gaudy Night.