Regarding Oxford:
“There’s something about this place,” said Peter presently, “that alters all one’s values.”
That is the quote which opens Gatekeeper I: The Finding, and its source – though this may seem strange to some – is the next in my Thunderclap series:
Dorothy Sayers (1893-1957) was a writer/theologian/playwright/translator of Dante, but most remember her best – if they know her at all – for her series of mystery novels starring that charming aristocrat-turned-amateur-detective, Lord Peter Death Bredon Wimsey. All the Wimsey stories are marvelous, but the “Harriet Vane” quartet – the four novels describing the relationship of Wimsey with mystery writer Harriet Vane – are particularly luminous, and Gaudy Night is my favorite. More than a favorite, it is a Thunderclap book for me. Some brief thoughts on why (brief because the new novel is pressing and must receive attention!):
~ Oxford. This book takes place almost entirely in the “city of dreaming spires”. I first read it a year before I made my own first pilgrimage thither; and, though Ms. Sayers cannot take credit for instilling a love of Oxford in me – I was born with it, I believe – I can say that this book increased my excitement and gave me a point of reference when I encountered the overshelming reality of the city itself.
~ Language. Dorothy Sayers loved words, so her characters love words. (Sound familiar?) The witty banter betwixt Peter and Harriet – or, even better, Peter and his valet Bunter (think Sam Gamgee crossed with Downton Abbey’s Mr. Bates) – makes me chuckle aloud with glee. Other conversations – particularly those betwixt Harriet and the dons (professors) at her Oxford college – inspire me to read more so I may become half as intelligent and well-spoken. Then you have wonderful quotes like this:
Harriet: “Do you find it easy to get drunk on words?”
Peter: “So easy that, to tell you the truth, I am seldom perfectly sober. Which accounts for my talking so much.”
#truth #thisladywasreadingmyjournal
~ Relationship. This is probably the primary reason for Wimsey’s inclusion on this list. Gaudy Night is no mere detective story. It is not light fiction. It is a relentlessly complex, intricate, raw, real investigation of the bond that ties human beings – specifically these two human beings – together. Though I have read this book several times (and watched the miniseries starring Edward Petherbridge and Harriet Walters just as many times), I know I am still not grasping all the nuances of certain conversations.
Guess I’ll just have to keep reading and watching and reading and watching . . . oh, well. 😉
Gaudy Night showed me that genre rules are made to be broken. One can write “popular fiction” that still resonates on deep intellectual, emotional, and even spiritual levels. This is a “novel” in the truest sense of the word. It is literature, and it never fails to move me – nor to inspire me to greater heights and more profound depths in my own writing and thought.
Speaking of, I’d best hie myself away to chronicle more of Brad’s adventures. I am hoping for special Sayers grace to be with me – that the setting may be whimsical, the banter light, and the relationships genuine.
I look forward to this feeling:
“In the meanwhile she had got her mood on to paper – and this is the release that all writers, even the feeblest, seek for as men seek for love; and, having found it, they doze off happily into dreams and trouble their hearts no further.” ~ Dorothy Sayers, Gaudy Night
Love this, Ruth. We just watched the Wimsey/Vane series AGAIN!
You manage to express what I have felt but have been unable to articulate!!! Thank you!!!
confession… I have never read Dorothy sayers … its not for any specific reason. I just have not crossed paths with her yet. I’m also not a huge mystery fanatic, but mayhap, I will take a stroll with Ms. Sayers at some point in the future and I will start with this book!