Dorothy L. Sayers

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

“Mystery writer Dorothy Sayers is loved and remembered, most notably, for the creation of sleuths Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane. As this biography attests, Sayers was also one of the first women to be awarded a degree from Oxford, a playwright, and an essayist--but also a woman with personal joys and tragedies. Here, Reynolds, a close friend of Sayers, presents a convincing and balanced portrait of one of the 20th century's most brilliant, creative women. 30 b&w photos.” – Amazon. “The result is a view of the writer that Sayers herself would likely have approved of: as a generous, fiercely intelligent woman whose cardinal passion, her intellectual ardor, led her from Oxford to the hand-to-mouth London bohemianism that spawned the inimitably foppish Wimsey and then, quite logically, to a defense of the writer's imagination (The Mind of the Maker) that set forth Sayers's understanding of the Trinity. Despite some stiffness in the early chapters, and a disinclination to criticize her subject even mildly, Reynolds captures the ardent nature that sustained Sayers through her unrequited love affairs, her pregnancy without marriage, her lifelong support of the son she never publicly acknowledged, and the writing she felt certain from the beginning was her vocation.” – Kirkus Review.

Ranking: Essential.

File Code: Biography. Hardback.

The Letters of Dorothy L. Sayers 1899 to 1936: The Making of a Detective Novelist; and The Letters of Dorothy L. Sayers Volume II 1937 to 1943: From Novelist to Playwright. Chosen and Edited by Barbara Reynolds.

The first two volumes of her Collected Letters (There are three others, in increasing hard to obtain editions, which I do not have). Her observations, humor, affection, and even anger all give a deep portrait of her restless energy and great intellect. Photos and the footnotes by Reynolds help fill out that portrait in finer detail. Volumes that I lack: Volume III 1944 to 1950: A Noble Daring; Volume IV 1951 to 1957: In the Midst of Life; and Volume V: Child and Woman of Her Time.

Ranking: Essential.

File Code: Letters. Biography. Hardbacks.

The Days of Christ’s Coming, by Dorothy L. Sayers. Illustrated by Fritz Wegner.

Written for her son Anthony Fleming and published by him in 1960, this is Sayers’ own retelling of the events surrounding the birth of Christ, with clear and simple doctrinal explications of some of the more obscure points. Beautifully illustrated in a medieval illumination style, I found this at a St. James’ jumble sale years before I ever even thought of joining and was only looking for a good book. Wegner is a rather famous illustrator.

Ranking: Essential.

File Code: Religious. Biblical. Hardback.

The Wimsey Family by C. W. Scott-Giles.

“A Fragmentary History compiled from correspondence with Dorothy L. Sayers.” “Much of this inventive family history is taken from Dorothy Sayers' own notes and various publications during her "Wimsey years". This cleverly-written little volume weaves the various threads of the family background into an easily-understood and beautiful little tapestry.” – Aunt Ruthie, Amazon Review. And that pretty much tells you all you need to know. Supplementary material for aficionados of the Lord Wimsey detective stories.

Ranking: Essential.

File Code: Imaginary Family History. Softcover.

The Mind of the Maker, by Dorothy L. Sayers.

“This book is not an apology for Christianity, nor is it an expression of personal religious belief. It is a commentary, in the light of specialised knowledge [as a writer], on a particular set of statements made in the Christian creeds and their claim to be statements of fact. It is necessary to issue this caution, for the popular mind has grown so confused that it is no longer able to receive any statement of fact except as an expression of personal feeling. Some time ago, the present writer, pardonably irritated by a very prevalent ignorance concerning the essentials of Christian doctrine, published a brief article in which those essentials were plainly set down in words that a child could understand. Every clause was preceded by some such phrase as: "the Church maintains", "the Church teaches", "if the Church is right", and so forth. The only personal opinion expressed was that, though the doctrine might be false, it could not very well be called dull. Every newspaper that reviewed this article accepted it without question as a profession of faith—some (Heaven knows why) called it "a courageous profession of faith", as though professing Christians in this country were liable to instant persecution. One review, syndicated throughout the Empire, called it "a personal confession of faith by a woman who feels sure she is right". Now, what the writer believes or does not believe is of little importance one way or the other. What is of great and disastrous importance is the proved inability of supposedly educated persons to read. So far from expressing any personal belief or any claim to personal infallibility, the writer had simply offered a flat recapitulation of official doctrine, adding that nobody was obliged to believe it. There was not a single word or sentence from which a personal opinion could legitimately be deduced, and for all the article contained it might perfectly well have been written by a well-informed Zoroastrian.” – Sayers. “It used the experience she had of literary creativity to illuminate Christian doctrine about the nature of the Trinity.” – Wikipedia. A gripping look at creativity and the power and process behind it.

Ranking: Essential.

File Code: Literary Theory. Softcover.

Lord Peter, by Dorothy L. Sayers.

“A Collection of all the Lord Peter Wimsey Stories Compiled and with an Introduction by James Sandoe.” In other words, the short stories, not the novels. They are all fascinating episodes in the career of Lord Peter, and I am especially fond of the glimpses we get of his married life after the last novel, including the birth of his first-born son. This edition’s cover is in conformity with the other Harper Row books. I used to have a faded yellow copy of this book that I later sold for this neat little edition.

Ranking: Essential.

File Code: Short Story Collection. Mystery. Hardback.

The Whimsical Christian: 18 Essays, by Dorothy L. Sayers.

Collier Books. It says “Reflections on God and Man by the Creator of Lord Peter Wimsey,” but it is not that simple. It is just as much about literature, and there is even some satire that has only the slightest connection to religion. Still, it is a meaty little anthology from Collier Books, full of good things I have nowhere else.

Ranking: Essential.

File Code: Essays. Softcover. Religion/Literature.

The Man Born to be King, by Dorothy L. Sayers.

“A Play-Cycle on the Life of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,” Written for BBC Radio and first broadcast in the early 1940’s and produced by Val Gielgud. It follows Jesus from birth to his death and resurrection. “The project aroused a storm of controversy, even before it was broadcast. Objections arose to the very idea—atheists complained of Christian propaganda, while devout Christians declared that the BBC would be committing blasphemy by allowing the Christ to be impersonated by a human actor—and also to Sayers' approach to the material. Sayers, who felt that the inherent drama of the Gospel story had become muffled by familiarity and a general failure to think of its characters as real people, was determined to give the plays dramatic immediacy, featuring realistic, identifiable characters with human emotions, motivations, and speech-patterns. The decision to have the characters speak in contemporary colloquial English was, by itself, the cause of much disquiet among those more accustomed to Jesus and his followers using the polished and formal words of the King James Bible. In the event, although it continued to be criticised by conservative Christians The Man Born to Be King was generally considered a great success, both as drama and as biblical representation. The public reaction to the series is described in the foreword to the play scripts, first published in 1943, accompanied by a commentary by the author illuminating her attitude to the work and the reasoning behind particular aspects of her dramatisation. There have been many subsequent issues and editions.” – Wikipedia. I sent my Ignatius copy wandering with Kenny to Florida, and it eventually came back to me, and in good condition, too. Sayers is a fine playwright; these productions solidified her in the eyes of many as a lay Christian apologist.

Ranking: Essential.

File Code: Plays. Biblical. Softcover.

Two Plays About God and Man: The Devil to Pay (A Faustian Drama) and He That Should Come (A Nativity Play in One Act), by Dorothy L. Sayers.

“With Additional Plans for Amateur Production by Michael Wolf and Scenic Art by Lucy Avery Brook.” In ‘Devil’ “Dorothy L. Sayers reworked the legend of Faustus as a serious 'comedy' presenting Faustus as one who chooses wicked means as an end to an admirable goal: the relief of suffering (while becoming entirely focused on his own supposed satisfactions). In the last scene, in the Court of Heaven, Azrael, angel of the souls of the dead, claims Faustus' soul, opposing Mephistopheles' claim. With the knowledge of good and evil returned to him, Faustus finally accepts that his evil must be cleansed, with Mephistopheles serving as the agent of that purgation. Faustus accepts his need for cleansing, trusting that the divine Judge/Court President, will indeed in mercy meet him at the very gates of hell, finally redeemed.” – Amazon. I have seldom read such a profound dramatic examination of the nature of good and evil. ‘He That Should Come’ was the first of Sayers’ plays for religious broadcasting, and its success paved the way for her cycle “The Man Born to be King.” “Dorothy L. Sayers wanted to convince listeners of the truth that Christ was born into our deeply problematic world, in his case, in territory overrun by an army of occupation. Although framed as it were by the voices of the three 'wise men' asking whether the birth of a particular child could possibly fulfil their desires, the focus of the play is on the conflict of opinion (about roads, taxes, and so forth) expressed by those in the courtyard of the inn at Bethlehem.” – Google Books.

Ranking: Essential.

File Code: Plays. Religious. Softcover.