2007 Book Log #66: Gaudy Night, by Dorothy L. Sayers

[annathepiper]

Gaudy Night, the latest of my forays into the redoubtable Peter Wimsey series, is definitely the most substantial of all the ones I've read--and it's really more of a Harriet Vane tale than a Peter Wimsey one, since Peter doesn't really come on camera until the last third of the book. But I've got to say, with this novel Harriet Vane is now well and thoroughly enshrined as Best Handled Mary Sue in a Series Ever in my brain. ;) It is, after all, not many a Mary Sue that not only does not swoop in and save the day with her brilliance, but instead is fallible enough to screw up, smart enough to know when she's screwed up, and wise enough to accept help from the best possible quarter--even if that quarter happens to be the man who's been proposing to her like clockwork for the last five years, and in whom she herself has been vigorously denying her own interest.

The romantic advancement between Harriet and Peter was at least for me the primary appeal of this story, but definitely not the only one. Sayers does a wonderful job setting up the academic environment of the Oxford College of Shrewsbury, and there are several memorable characters scattered throughout the plot, not the least of which is Peter's young cousin (ETA: please do not hold my failure to remember his proper relationship to Peter as a strike against the character's memorability, and thanks to motherofpearl for the correction) nephew, the viscount Saint-George. A very pleasant read overall. Four stars.

Comments

[motherofpearl51.livejournal.com]

Interesting. Right now I'm reading a collection of short Lord Peter Wimsey stories. So far Harriet Vane has not made an appearance, but I have more than half of the book to read.

[motherofpearl51.livejournal.com]

And isn't the viscount his nephew.

[annathepiper]

You are absolutely correct! Thank you for pointing that out.

[annathepiper]

She's more of a presence in the novels. According to her Wikipedia page, though, she does show up in one of the short story collections (I'd forgotten, and I own this one!): In the Teeth of the Evidence.

I've greatly enjoyed her as a foil and a love interest for Peter. :)

[stickmaker.livejournal.com]

I don't recall if she's actually in the short story where her and Peter's first child is born. :-)

[annathepiper]

After consulting Wikipedia anew, I see I actually haven't read that one yet. Though I should think that the mother of the child in question should at least rate a passing mention in a story where the kid gets born. ;)

[motherofpearl51.livejournal.com]

Who was your favorite actor to play Wimsey? Mine was Edward Petherbridge. I may not have spelled it correctly. I was introduced to this actor in a Hallmark production of Nicholas Nickelby. Great production of Dickens as well.

[annathepiper]

I have yet to actually watch any productions of the stories, so I have no answer to that question yet. Shall I take yours as a recommendation? :)

[motherofpearl51.livejournal.com]

Definitely, if you can find one with him in it. If not, I may have something here. I know I have the Nicholas Nickelby production. I can't remember if it is 4, 6 or 8 hours long. Very interesting production. Very stark stage setting. Except for the 4 or 5 main characters, all the other actors play multiple parts. Some are so good, you don't realize it is the same person playing different characters. One actress plays 7 roles.

[annathepiper]

Cool beans! I'd expect chances to be high that this can be found at the local store Scarecrow Video, which has a massive cool collection; I'll ask mamishka, who works there. Thanks again!

[motherofpearl51.livejournal.com]

Harriet isn't in "In the teeth of the evidence". I just read it. Maybe she will show up in one of the remaining short stories in the book.

[annathepiper]

I stand corrected, then! Wikipedia's got it wrong, no wonder I thought I'd forgotten her being in there. ;) Thanks for pointing that out!

[waysofseeing.livejournal.com]

Gaudy Night is by far my favorite of the Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries. Also, it has one of the best last lines in literature.

Not sure how much of the rest of the Wimsey books you've read, but it's actually very atypical of the series in many respects.

[annathepiper]

I've read almost all of the series at this point, I've been proceeding through them sequentially (based on the list of titles that appear in my various paperbacks). They've been great fun. :)

[stickmaker.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's a chick book.

(Ducking and hiding. :-^)

[annathepiper]

"A chick book" "The best damn book in the whole series so far, in which it's the chick who actually does most of the work and causes the dude who has been spending most of the series intellectually brilliant but with his emotional maturity in disarray to get his shit together."

Fixed that for you.

[prettyshrub.livejournal.com]

I've loved the Lord Peter books for ages, ever since I got the collection as a present. I did some looking into Dorothy Sayers on the web, and part of her pleasure in writing about Lord Peter was being able to provide him with wonderfully expensive things when she was too broke to afford even cheap things.

Linda

[annathepiper]

That's pretty cool. It fits in well with my overall impression that while yeah, Harriet may be a self-insert and Ms. Sayers may well have been in love with her own character, at least she was quite reasonable about it and also had the writing chops to balance it out. I certainly don't mind a Mary Sue if she's a well-written character in an entertaining story, and Harriet and Gaudy Night fit that bill nicely.

Also, I gotta admit, Peter is pretty damned lovable. ;)