List of works by Dorothy L. Sayers
Dorothy Leigh Sayers (usually stylised as Dorothy L. Sayers; 1893–1957) was an English crime writer, poet, playwright, essayist, translator and Christian humanist; she was also a student of classical and modern languages. She is perhaps best known for her mysteries, a series of novels and short stories, set between the First and Second World Wars, which feature Lord Peter Wimsey, an English aristocrat and amateur sleuth. Sayers herself considered her translation of Dante's Divine Comedy to be her best work.[1][2]
Novels↙ | 16 |
---|---|
Collections↙ | 8 |
Poems↙ | 7 |
Plays↙ | 10 |
Scripts↙ | 1 |
Letters↙ | 5 |
Translations↙ | 6 |
Books edited↙ | 4 |
Non fiction↙ | 24 |
Miscellany↙ | 4 |
References and footnotes |
Sayers was educated at home and then at the University of Oxford. This was unusual for a woman at the time, as women were not admitted as full members of the university until 1920 – five years after Sayers had completed her first-class degree in medieval French.[1][3] In 1916, a year after her graduation, Sayers published her first book, a collection of poems entitled Op. I, which she followed two years later with a second, a slim volume titled Catholic Tales and Christian Songs.[1] The same year she was invited to edit and contribute to the annual editions of Oxford Poetry, which she did for the next three years.[4] In 1923 she published Whose Body?, a murder mystery novel featuring the fictional Lord Peter Wimsey, and went on to write eleven novels and 21 short stories about the character. The Wimsey stories were popular, and successful enough for Sayers to leave the advertising agency where she was working.[5][6][lower-alpha 1] She also wrote 11 Montague Egg stories and several non-series stories.
Towards the end of the 1930s, and without explanation, Sayers stopped writing crime stories and turned instead to religious plays and essays, and to translations. Some of her plays were broadcast on the BBC, others performed at the Canterbury Festival and some in commercial theatres.[7] During the Second World War through these plays, and other works like The Wimsey Papers (1939–40) and Begin Here: A War-Time Essay (1940), Sayers "offered her countrymen a stirring argument for fighting", according to her biographer, Catherine Kenney.[1] As early as 1929 Sayers had produced an adaptation—from medieval French—of the poem Tristan by Thomas of Britain,[7][8] and in 1946 she began to produce translations of Dante, firstly the four Pietra canzoni then, from 1948, the canticas of the Divine Comedy. Her critical analyses of Dante were popular and influential among scholars and the general public, although there has been some criticism that she overstressed the comedic side of his writing to make him more popular.[2] Sayers died in December 1957 after suffering a sudden stroke.[7]
Poems
Title[4][9][10] | Year of first publication | First edition publisher | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Op. I | 1916 | Blackwell, Oxford | |
Catholic Tales and Christian Songs | 1918 | McBride, Oxford | |
Oxford Poetry, 1917 | 1918 | Blackwell, Oxford | Contributor and editor with Wilfred Rowland Childe and T. W. Earp |
Oxford Poetry, 1918 | 1919 | Blackwell, Oxford | Contributor and editor with T. W. Earp and E. F. A. Geach |
Oxford Poetry, 1919 | 1920 | Blackwell, Oxford | Contributor and editor with T. W. Earp and Siegfried Sassoon |
Lord, I Thank Thee | 1943 | Overbrook, Stamford, CT | |
The Story of Adam and Christ | 1955 | Hamish Hamilton, London |
Novels
Title[4][9][10][11] | Year of first publication |
First edition publisher (London, except where stated) |
Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Whose Body? | 1923 | Boni & Liveright, New York | |
Clouds of Witness | 1926 | Unwin | |
Unnatural Death | 1927 | Benn | Published in the US as The Dawson Pedigree |
The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club | 1928 | Benn | |
Strong Poison | 1930 | Gollancz | |
The Documents in the Case | 1930 | Benn | With Robert Eustace |
The Five Red Herrings | 1931 | Gollancz | Published in the US as Suspicious Characters |
The Floating Admiral | 1931 | Hodder and Stoughton | With members of The Detection Club. A chapter each was completed by: Canon Victor Whitechurch, George and Margaret Cole, Henry Wade, Agatha Christie, John Rhode, Milward Kennedy, Sayers, Ronald Knox, Freeman Wills Crofts, Edgar Jepson, Clemence Dane and Anthony Berkeley. G. K. Chesterton contributed the prologue.[12] |
Have His Carcase | 1932 | Gollancz | |
Murder Must Advertise | 1933 | Gollancz | |
Ask a Policeman | 1933 | Barker | With members of The Detection Club: Anthony Berkeley, Milward Kennedy, Gladys Mitchell, John Rhode, Sayers and Helen Simpson.[13] |
The Nine Tailors | 1934 | Gollancz | |
Gaudy Night | 1935 | Gollancz | |
Six against the Yard | 1936 | Selwyn and Blount | With members of The Detection Club: Margery Allingham, Anthony Berkeley, Freeman Wills Crofts, Father Ronald Knox, Sayers and Russell Thorndike.[14] |
Busman's Honeymoon: A Love Story With Detective Interruptions | 1937 | Harcourt Brace | Adapted from the play Busman's Honeymoon (1936) |
Double Death: a Murder Story | 1939 | Gollancz | With members of The Detection Club |
Short story collections
Sayers contributed to numerous short story anthologies, but also published a number of collections of her own works.[4]
Title[4][9][11] | Year of first publication |
First edition publisher (All London) |
Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Lord Peter Views the Body | 1928 | Gollancz | |
Hangman's Holiday | 1933 | Gollancz | |
In the Teeth of the Evidence | 1939 | Gollancz | |
A Treasury of Sayers Stories | 1958 | Gollancz | |
Talboys | 1972 | Harper | |
Lord Peter | 1972 | Harper | |
Striding Folly | 1973 | New English Library | |
The Scoop and Behind the Screen | 1983 | Gollancz | Two collaborative detective serials written by members of the Detection Club which were broadcast weekly by their authors on the BBC National Programme in 1930 and 1931 with the scripts then being published in The Listener a week after broadcast. |
Crime on the Coast and No Flowers by Request | 1984 | Gollancz | Two collaborative detective serials written by members of the Detection Club; originally published in Daily Sketch (1953) |
Editor
Title[4][15] | Year of first publication |
First edition publisher (All London) |
Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Great Short Stories of Detection, Mystery, and Horror | 1928 | Gollancz | |
Great Short Stories of Detection, Mystery, and Horror—Second Series | 1931 | Gollancz | |
Great Short Stories of Detection, Mystery, and Horror—Third Series | 1934 | Gollancz | |
Tales of Detection | 1936 | J.M. Dent | As part of the Everyman's Library series |
Translation
Title[4][15] | Year of first publication |
First edition publisher (London, unless otherwise stated) |
Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Tristan in Brittany, Being Fragments of the Romance of Tristan, Written in the Twelfth Century by Thomas the Anglo-Norman | 1929 | Benn | Translation of the Old French poem Tristan by Thomas of Britain |
The Heart of Stone, Being the Four Canzoni of the "Pietra" Group by Dante | 1946 | J.H. Clarke, Witham, Essex | Translation of four pietra canzoni (translates from the Italian as: "stone songs") by Dante Alighieri |
The "Comedy" of Dante Alighieri the Florentine. Cantica I: Hell | 1949 | Penguin, Harmondsworth | Translation of cantica 1 of Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri |
The "Comedy" of Dante Alighieri the Florentine. Cantica II: Purgatory | 1955 | Penguin, Harmondsworth | With Barbara Reynolds; translation of cantica 2 of Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri |
The Song of Roland | 1957 | Penguin, Harmondsworth | Translation of The Song of Roland |
The "Comedy" of Dante Alighieri the Florentine. Cantica III: Paradise | 1962 | Penguin, Harmondsworth | With Barbara Reynolds; translation of cantica 3 of Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri |
Scripts and plays
Title[4][10][11] | Location of first performance London, unless otherwise stated |
Date of first performance | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
The Silent Passenger | See note | 1935 | Screenplay; with Basil Mason; adapted from Sayers's unpublished short story of the same title[lower-alpha 2] |
Busman's Honeymoon: A Detective Comedy in Three Acts | Comedy Theatre | 16 December 1936 | With Muriel St. Clare Byrne |
The Zeal of Thy House | Canterbury Festival | 29 March 1938 | Four scenes |
He That Should Come: A Nativity Play in One Act | See note | 25 December 1938 | Radio play, first broadcast on the BBC |
The Devil to Pay: Being the Famous History of John Faustus, the Conjurer of Wittenberg in Germany: How He Sold His Immortal Soul to the Enemy of Mankind, and Was Served Twenty- four Years by Mephistopheles, and Obtained Helen of Troy to His Paramour, With Many Other Marvels; and How God Dealt With Him at the Last | Canterbury Festival | 10 June 1939 | |
Love All | Torch Theatre | 10 April 1940 | |
The Golden Cockerel | See note | 27 December 1941 | Radio play; first broadcast on the BBC. Adapted from the story of the same title by Alexander Pushkin |
The Man Born to Be King: A Play-Cycle on the Life of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ | See note | December 1941 | Twelve-episode radio series; first broadcast on the BBC between December 1941 and October 1942 |
The Just Vengeance | The Lichfield Festival | 15 June 1946 | |
Where Do We Go From Here? | See note | 1948 | With members of the Detection Club. Radio play, first broadcast for the Mystery Playhouse series on the BBC |
The Emperor Constantine: A Chronicle | Playhouse Theatre, Colchester | 3 July 1951 |
Miscellany
Sayers wrote numerous essays, poems and stories which appeared in several publications, including Time and Tide, The Times Literary Supplement, Atlantic Monthly, Punch, The Spectator and the Westminster Gazette; in the last of these she was the author of a poem under the pseudonym H.P. Rallentando. She also wrote several book reviews for The Sunday Times.[4]
Title[4][10][15] | Year | Publisher | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Papers Relating to the Family of Wimsey | 1936 | Privately printed | As Matthew Wimsey; co-written with others |
An Account of Lord Mortimer Wimsey, the Hermit of the Wash | 1937 | Privately printed | |
The Wimsey Papers | 24 November 1939 – 26 January 1940 | Published in serial form in The Spectator | |
The Wimsey Family: A Fragmentary History Compiled from Correspondence With Dorothy L. Sayers | 1977 | Harper | Compiled by C.W. Scott-Giles |
Non fiction
Title[4][10][15] | Year of first publication | First edition publisher (London, unless otherwise stated) |
Notes |
---|---|---|---|
The Murder of Julia Wallace | 1936 | John Lane, The Bodley Head | included in The Anatomy of Murder by The Detection Club |
The Greatest Drama Ever Staged | 1938 | Hodder & Stoughton | Essays; contains "The Greatest Drama Ever Staged" and "The Triumph of Easter", both of which were published in The Sunday Times, April 1938 |
Strong Meat | 1939 | Hodder & Stoughton | Essays |
Begin Here: A War-Time Essay | 1940 | Gollancz | Essays |
Creed or Chaos? and Other Essays in Popular Theology | 1940 | Hodder & Stoughton | Essays |
The Mind of the Maker | 1941 | Methuen | Essays |
The Mysterious English | 1941 | Macmillan | |
Why Work? | 1942 | Methuen | Subtitle: An Address Delivered at Eastbourne, April 23rd, 1942 |
The Other Six Deadly Sins | 1943 | Methuen | Subtitle: An Address Given to the Public Morality Council at Caxton Hall, Westminster, on October 23rd, 1941 |
Even the Parrot: Exemplary Conversations for Enlightened Children | 1944 | Methuen | |
Making Sense of the Universe | 1946 | St. Anne's Church House | Subtitle: An Address Given at the Kingsway Hall on Ash Wednesday, March 6th, 1946 |
Unpopular Opinions | 1946 | Gollancz | Essays |
The Lost Tools of Learning | 1948 | Methuen | |
The Days of Christ's Coming | 1953 | Hamish Hamilton | |
Introductory Papers on Dante | 1954 | Methuen | Criticism |
The Story of Easter | 1955 | Hamish Hamilton | |
The Story of Noah's Ark | 1956 | Hamish Hamilton | |
Further Papers on Dante | 1957 | Methuen | Criticism |
The Great Mystery of Life Hereafter | 1957 | Hodder & Stoughton | Essays; contributor, with others |
The Poetry of Search and the Poetry of Statement, and Other Posthumous Essays on Literature, Religion, and Language | 1963 | Gollancz | Essays |
Christian Letters to a Post-Christian World: A Selection of Essays | 1969 | Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, MI | Essays; selected and introduced by Roderick Jellema |
Are Women Human? | 1971 | Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, MI | Essays |
A Matter of Eternity: Selections From the Writings of Dorothy L. Sayers | 1973 | Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, MI | Essays |
Wilkie Collins: A Critical and Biographical Study | 1977 | Friends of the University of Toledo Library, Toledo, OH | |
Spiritual Writings | 1993 | Cowley, Cambridge, MA |
Letters
Title[4][9][15] | Year | Publisher | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
The Letters of Dorothy L. Sayers: 1899–1936: The Making of a Detective Novelist | 1995 | Hodder & Stoughton | |
The Letters of Dorothy L. Sayers: 1937–1943, From Novelist to Playwright | 1998 | The Dorothy L Sayers Society | |
The Letters of Dorothy L. Sayers: 1944–1950, A Noble Daring | 1999 | The Dorothy L Sayers Society | |
The Letters of Dorothy L. Sayers: 1951–1957, In the Midst of Life | 2000 | The Dorothy L Sayers Society | |
The Letters of Dorothy L. Sayers: Child and Woman of Her Time | 2002 | The Dorothy L Sayers Society | A supplement to the letters |
Notes and references
Notes
References
- Kenney 2004.
- Stock 1990, pp. 289–90.
- Howard 2004, p. 11.
- "Dorothy L(eigh) Sayers". Contemporary Authors. Gale. Retrieved 21 May 2015. (subscription required)
- Howard 2004, p. 17.
- Gunn 1998, pp. 4–6.
- Benstock 1985, p. 268.
- Stock 1990, p. 287.
- Howard 2004, pp. 18–19.
- Benstock 1985, pp. 254–56.
- Gunn 1998, pp. 12–13.
- "The Floating Admiral". British Library Catalogue. London: British Library. Retrieved 1 June 2015.
- "Ask a Policeman". British Library Catalogue. London: British Library. Retrieved 1 June 2015.
- "Six against the Yard". British Library Catalogue. London: British Library. Retrieved 1 June 2015.
- Stock 1990, pp. 285–88.
Sources
- Benstock, Bernard (1985). "Dorothy L. Sayers". In Stayley, Thomas F. (ed.). Dictionary of Literary Biography: British Novelists, 1890–1929: Modernists. Detroit: Gale. ISBN 978-0-8103-1714-7.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
- Gunn, Katharine (June 1998). "Dorothy L. Sayers". Book and Magazine Collector. Diamond Publishing Group (171).CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
- Howard, David (April 2004). "The Lord Peter Wimsey Books". Book and Magazine Collector. Diamond Publishing Group (241).CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
- Kenney, Catherine (2004). "Sayers, Dorothy Leigh (1893–1957)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/35966. Retrieved 3 June 2015. (subscription or UK public library membership required)
- Stock, R.D. (1990). "Dorothy L. Sayers". In Bruccoli, Matthew J. (ed.). Dictionary of Literary Biography: Modern British Essayists. Detroit: Gale. ISBN 978-0-8103-1714-7.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)