Books 10-17

Mar 14, 2011 11:46

10.Five Red Herrings by Dorothy Sayers ( review )

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examorata March 14 2011, 17:54:12 UTC
I had never read any Sayers until a few years ago, when a friend of mine (who went on and ON about Lord Peter and Harriet) sent me...all four of the books that comprise their story. And I love them so, so much it's ridiculous.

Murder Must Advertise is one of my favorite non-Harriet books of hers, though. =)

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wcg March 14 2011, 17:56:33 UTC
I shall be following your reviews of Lord Peter closely. He and Harriet are also favorites of mine. (I love your assessment of Sayers as a troll.)

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anadamous March 14 2011, 20:35:39 UTC
I might be misremembering, but I think the character with the lisp in Five Red Herrings might be an anti-Semitic caricature?

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tamnonlinear March 14 2011, 21:48:31 UTC
I don't recall that character as being Jewish, though I might be wrong.

(Also, I thought lisps generally involve Ss and this character had a problem with his Rs, but I don't know if there's separate name for that)

I'd be hesitant to call work Sayers' anti-Semetic. Her books have had a few Jewish characters, generally presented sympathetically and as full characters, and she's had one of her regular characters marry a Jewish woman. The victim in the first Lord Peter novel was Jewish, and there's quite a few supporting Jewish characters. Off-hand, I can think of at least a few comments against Antisemitism in her books.

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anadamous March 15 2011, 13:03:34 UTC
I agree that she's enlightened for her times. I think I might have been thinking of something else entirely.

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tamnonlinear March 21 2011, 13:19:14 UTC
For what it's worth, over at Dreamwidth we've been discussing the fact that Sayers evidently enjoyed trolling Anti-Semetic religious publications, which may be my favorite fact about her ever, and lends some additional weight to that not being her thing.

Off-hand, I know Sayers gets recommended with Georgette Heyers a good deal, and Heyers seemed to have no discomfort with some rather anti-Semetic characters in her books (the money lender in Grand Sophy comes to mind). Perhaps that's who you have in mind?

Of course, it's also entirely possible that I'm simply wrong and missing the faults of an author I love, and I will have to reread that part of Five Red Herrings to make sure I'm not doing so. It's better to be sure rather than comfortable.

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tamnonlinear March 15 2011, 13:57:30 UTC
Oh thank you! I probably would have missed this otherwise. And yes, I'd probably note where the canon stopped and the fanfic started.

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