I used to think no one but me had read it, and then I started reading The Toast and other sites with a very female comments section, and realized that a lot more people than I thought also had it as a formative teenage reading experience. That was all I was trying to get across, but I see how it came across as a massive generalization about women English majors. Sorry about my clumsy wording!
― Lily Dale, Friday, 22 January 2021 16:10 (three years ago) link
I think things like this tear me up more than they should because I end up wondering if it's a deficiency in me, that I'm not performing womanhood properly, or I was too socialised to like Dude Literature. But then, as you can see from my posts on these threads, I mostly only know the modernists from this era anyway (my specialism tends to be post-war avant-garde lit), so it's not all that surprising that I don't know it, and maybe I should give myself a break. I'm absolutely not trying to start a fight or anything!
― emil.y, Friday, 22 January 2021 16:13 (three years ago) link
As a big reader of Dude Literature myself, I would never want to make anyone feel that way! I think it more depends on whether you were raised on Golden Age mystery fiction than anything else.
― Lily Dale, Friday, 22 January 2021 17:03 (three years ago) link
If you happened to be raised on these books, then Gaudy Night had a good chance of meaning a lot to you because it's a feminist novel sneaked into the end of a series about a man. (And also because it's a swoonily immersive romance of the kind that makes a big impression when you're a kid.)
― Lily Dale, Friday, 22 January 2021 17:11 (three years ago) link
I'm curious to check it out. Is it necessary to read any of the earlier books first?
― jmm, Friday, 22 January 2021 19:24 (three years ago) link
I'm not sure. I mean, yes, it definitely picks up a lot of stuff from earlier books and tries to resolve it, so you'd probably get more out of reading it as part of the series. But I'm not sure it's worth that much investment on your part. The series as a whole is uneven, and it gets more ambitious as it goes on. One of the interesting things about Gaudy Night is Sayers's (mostly successful) attempt to graft a heavy weight of character development and motivation onto the very slim stalk with which the series started.
So I think you can go straight to Gaudy Night, but if you like mysteries and would like a fun and well-written (though also pretentious and snobbish) series to read in lockdown, these are the books I'd recommend:
Whose Body - Good, light, slightly stylized intro to the series. Lord Peter at his most Bertie Wooster-ish, with some interesting stuff about PTSD.Clouds of Witness - Okay country-house mystery, not my favorite but fine.Strong Poison - Introduces Harriet, the main character of Gaudy Night. Tonally all over the place - can't decide if it's drama or comedy - but quite readable all the same.Have His Carcase - Lord Peter and Harriet investigate a crime together. The archest and most bitchy book in the series but not bad.Murder Must Advertise - Part mystery novel, part satire about the advertising business. Wildly improbable and pretentious, but pretty good!The Nine Tailors - All about the bell-ringing in a church in the fens. You either find this one atmospheric and stately or flat and over-researched; I go back and forth. The most ambitious of the books aside from Gaudy Night.Gaudy Night - Harriet goes back to her old college to help them investigate episodes of vandalism and harassment.
― Lily Dale, Friday, 22 January 2021 21:23 (three years ago) link
I've read some great descriptions of Gaudy Night, usually ranked among Sayers' best, would like to read all those you list, but may not happen---as daunted by all the big rep unread mystery writers as science fiction (and everything else). (And I'm a dude, at least/most lowercase.)
― dow, Friday, 22 January 2021 22:01 (three years ago) link
xp Thanks. I might start at the beginning and see how it goes.
― jmm, Saturday, 23 January 2021 15:24 (three years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.
― System, Sunday, 24 January 2021 00:01 (three years ago) link
The only one of these I've read is House In Paris, which I read last year and enjoyed. I'm always a sucker for a good frame story structure.
― o. nate, Sunday, 24 January 2021 02:25 (three years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.
― System, Monday, 25 January 2021 00:01 (three years ago) link
Wherein We Elect Our Favourite Novels of 1936
― Daniel_Rf, Monday, 25 January 2021 14:11 (three years ago) link