Gaudy Night, continued

In the "Author's Note" at the beginning of the novel, Sayers writes an apology to the "City and University of Oxford" for shifting some streets, adding a college, and for "having saddled [Balliol College] with so wayward an alumnus as Peter Wimsey... ." But the first paragraph concludes with this sentence: "Detective-story writers are obliged by their disagreeable profession to invent startling and unpleasant incidents and people, and are (I presume) at liberty to imagine what might happen if such incidents and people were to intrude upon the life of an innocent and well-ordered community; ... ." It is precisely the "startling and unpleasant incidents and people" that she addresses in this novel, and not just the outward form of a very unhappy story that makes up the detective puzzle. She is also addressing the intrusion of women into the "innocent (?) and well-ordered community" of men in ancient and newer roles, and against their expectations.

Right at the outset of the story, when Harriet Vane arrives at Shrewsbury College for the Gaudy (like a reunion), all of the women gathered - the oldest of whom, like Sayers, had fought for women to receive degrees at all - are talking about proper roles. As she meets old classmates, Harriet observes how some have seemingly thrown away their academic achievements for the traditional domestic virtues, while others have maintained a solid professional life despite the hazards of the culture. (Gaudy Night was written in 1937. This period between the World Wars in England is a fascinating time of opening all kinds of pathways for women who found themselves in a culture where so many of the men had died in warfare.)

At the end of chapter 1, Sayers puts these words in the mouth of one of the scholars of the college. Harriet says to Miss de Vine, at the end of a conversation about detachment and feelings, "...between one desire and another, how is one to know which things are really of overmastering importance?" Miss de Vine replies, "We can only know that ... when they have overmastered us."

A major theme of the novel is that of proper work and of finding your own passion and fulfilling it. In a conversation with a woman who had been an outstanding scholar, but had married a Welsh farmer and given it all up, Harriet says, "I'm sure one should do one's own job, however trivial, and not persuade one's self into doing somebody else's, however noble. And the theme of women making their way in the world of men returns time and again. Miss Hillyard, the history tutor and no fan of Harriet, has a conversation with her where she talks about women at the university. She says, "All the men have been amazingly kind and sympathetic about the Women's Colleges. Certainly. But you won't find them appointing women to big University posts. That would never do. The women might perform their work in a way beyond criticism. But they are quite pleased to see us playing with our little toys." This theme of the "proper job" and of how doing influences all of our relationships runs through every level of this story, from the relationship of the Women's Colleges to the rest of the University, to the relationship between Peter and Harriet, to the relationships of the women among themselves, and to the basic effect of the tragic story of the mystery.

Gaudy Night

On Friday a group of us are going to see the Taproot Theater's adaptation of Dorothy L. Sayers' novel Gaudy Night. One theater-goer, a Holden friend from Minneapolis who's here for a conference, first suggested the outing. I'd seen the advertizing, but hadn't yet determined to go. But she noted a remark I had made long ago: If I were marooned on a desert island the books I'd like would be the Bible and Gaudy Night, and not necessarily in that order!

I believe I first read Gaudy Night in 1971. The feminist movement was beginning to be in full swing, and my life had certainly been filled both with opportunities to grow as an independent young woman, and with many terrific role models. This book was the first one that described the cultural and historical issues around women in a way that was quite powerful for me.

This upcoming theater outing has made me very reflective about my own history as a woman in a "man's job," and of the whole sweep of the last century around these changes. And there is a little anxiety that we are moving a bit backwards in this regard.

So this week I'm going to re-read Gaudy Night and reflect on my reading in this blog. This morning's Seattle Times published an editorial that bears reading in the context: http://seattletimes.com/html/opinion/2019291724_parkercolumngloriaxml.html