Dorothy L. Sayers


		Robin Hardy Online


	Dorothy L. Sayers (1893-1957)

Robin has already mined so much of Ms. Sayers' thought (like, for instance, here and here) that we really thought it about time to give the lady herself some credit.

Dorothy Leigh Sayers was a novelist, playwright, essayist, translator, and scholar with the brain power to engage C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Dante. Robin first met her through her Lord Peter Wimsey detective novels (see below) which still rank high on her reading list.

Then Robin's daughter Stephanie seized on Ms. Sayers' essays, purchasing books with titles like Unpopular Opinions and Are Women Human? and Robin was hooked.

So Robin began reading Ms. Sayers' translation of The Divine Comedy, starting with Hell, of course—and that's when she started accosting strangers on the street, insisting that they read it.




		One of many cool diagrams from the book.

In a 1944 letter to Charles Williams (whose work The Figure of Beatrice Ms. Sayers cites often) she says, "First of all, the thing that really surprises me is that Dante could contrive to make the story so exciting. I still don't know how he does it. After all, even without having read it, one knows what it's all about, and you wouldn't think there could be any real suspense about it except a mild speculation as to whether the next clutch of bad eggs is going to be served up poached, fried or scrambled. In spite of which I found myself panting along with my tongue hanging out, as though it were a serial thriller, careful not to read the argument of each canto beforehand, lest it should spoil what was coming."

To which Robin says, "No kidding!" as she pores over the diagrams of hell with the dedication of a diehard fan. But that's what you get when a genius translates the work of another genius: something that speaks to even the less-than-genius.

And here's a cool mechanical device from Purgatory: a universal 24-hour clock (Dante makes numerous references to the time required for him and Virgil to travel these supernatural regions).




	Ms. Sayers' instructions for this device are: "Cut out the circle of the Earth . . . and that of the Heavens . . . and paste each of them down on a circle of stiff card. Place the Earth-circle on the

Heaven-circle and fasten the two together through the centre with a paper-clip or split-pin, so that the one will revolve upon the other.

"Turn the apex of Mt Purgatory to the hour indicated in the text; the clock will then show the corresponding times at Jerusalem, at Rome, on the Ganges, and at the Pillars of Hercules (Morocco)." (Images are slightly enlarged from the book.)


	On the lighter side, be sure to check out the excellent BBC production of three Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries: Strong Poison, Have His Carcass, and Gaudy Night (see here). While the dramatizations are very good, it's best to read the novels first.

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page updated Dec. 18, 2005