Resources
The Lord Peter Discussion Group:
A lively reading group rejuvenated by the move to Groups.io and devoted to discussions of the Lord Peter Wimsey novels by Dorothy L. Sayers, with excursions into the short stories, Monty Egg and the Jill Paton Walsh continuations. See below for link:
The Lord Peter Discussion Group
The Marion E Wade Centre
The Marion E Wade Center at Wheaton College, Illinois holds an extensive archive of papers related to Dorothy L Sayers, as well as those of G K Chesterton, Tolkien, C S Lewis, Owen Barfield, Charles Williams and others.
For more information on DLS at the Marion E Wade Center, see here
DLS and Dante
We are grateful to Sven Redsun who has put a good deal of work into researching many of the allusions and references in Dorothy L Sayers’ introduction to her translation of Dante’s Inferno. Sven has provided links to many of the allusions and references. If you click on the links, you can find out who and what these are!
Dorothy Sayers, Introduction to her 1949 translation of Dante’s Inferno
Let us suppose that an Englishman were to write a contemporary Divine Comedy on Dante’s model, and that in it, mixed up with a number of scriptural and mythological characters, we were to find, assigned to various circles of Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise, according to the religious and political convictions of the author, the following assortment of people — some referred to by their full names, some by Christian name or surname alone, and some indicated only by a witty or allusive phrase: Chamberlain (“him of the orchid”), Chamberlain (“him of the umbrella”), [Stewart Houston] Chamberlain, “Brides-in-the-Bath” Smith, “Galloper” Smith, Horatio Bottomley, Horatio [Lord Nelson], Fox [Charles or George to be inferred from the context], the Man who picked up the Bomb in Jermyn Street, Oscar Wilde, Oscar Slater, Oscar Browning, Spencer, Spenser, Lord Castlereagh, Lord Castlerosse, Lawrence [of Arabia], [D.H.] Lawrence, “Butcher” Heydrich, W.G. Grace, Grace Darling, the Captain of the Jervis Bay, the Sisters of Haworth, the Woodcutter of Hawarden, the Ladies of Llangollen, the Lady with the Lamp, the Lady-with-the-Lampshade-made-of-Human-Skin, Titus Oates, Captain Oates, Quisling, the Owner of ‘Hermit’, the French Bluebeard, Bacon, Roger Bacon, Roger Fry, the Claimant, the Bishop of Zanzibar, Clarence Hatry, the Tolpuddle Martyrs, Browne and Kennedy, the Dean of St Patrick’s, the Dean of St Paul’s, Dean Farrar, Fred Archer, Mrs Dyer, Lord George Sanger, Lord George Gordon, General Gordon, Ouida, William Joyce, James Joyce, “the Officer in the Tower”, Peter the Painter, Jenkins ‘of the Ear’, Dick Sheppard, Jack Sheppard, and ‘the Widow at Windsor’. Let us further suppose the writer holds strong views on Trade Unionism, the constitution of the UNO, the ‘theology of crisis’, Freudian psychology, Einsteinian astronomy, and the art of Mr Jacob Epstein. Let us then suppose that the book is to be read, six hundred years hence, by an intelligent Portuguese with no particular knowledge of English social history. Would he not require a few notes, in order to savour the full pungency of the poet’s pronouncements and thoroughly understand his attitude to the cosmic set-up?
Below is a list of further useful resources
Wikipedia site of Barbara Reynolds, co-translator with DLS of Dante’s Divine Comedy and editor of several collections of DLS’ letters.
An email discussion group dedicated to Sayers’ non-mystery works.
Christ Church Cathedral School, where DLS’ father was headmaster.
St Mary’s, Bluntisham-cum-Earith, where DLS’s father was Rector, launched an appeal in 2003 to realise Henry Sayers’ dream of restoring and re-hanging the bells for full-circle ringing. The Society took a leading role, and on New Year’s Eve 2004 the first peal on the restored bells was rung - appropriately, this was Kent Treble Bob Major, the method featured in The Nine Tailors.
Kirkcudbright – one of DLS’ favourite holiday destinations, and the setting of Five Red Herrings.
OP. I: DLS’s first published book of poetry. This is part of the Celebration of Women Writers site listed below.
A transcription of The Greatest Drama Ever Told
Christian Classics Ethereal Library: On-line copies of many Christian writings, including Catholic Tales and Christian Songs by DLS.
WomenDetect: An email discussion group on women detectives. Maintained on http://groups.yahoo.com/.
C.S. Lewis Links Page and Exhaustive Bibliography.
C.S. Lewis and the Inklings Home Page.
C.S. Lewis Society of California. Their web site has an extensive collection of links to relevant articles and resources.
G K Chesterton: An impressive site, including many of Chesterton’s works in electronic form.
Margery Allingham: The official web site of the Margery Allingham Society.
Somerville College, Oxford Dorothy L. Sayers' College at Oxford
The Religious Drama Society of Great Britain
The following periodicals have articles on DLS in their archives: