A Few Thoughts on the Writings of Dorothy L. Sayers

As I begin this post, I've almost finished reading the 11th and final novel in Dorothy L. Sayers' Lord Peter Wimsey series of mystery novels, Busman's Honeymoon.

Although considerably fewer in number than the collection of Agatha Christie novels I read last year, it has taken me nearly the same amount of time to read these eleven.

As mystery novels, Sayers' work cannot compare with Christie's, - Sayers' books are simply not "page turners", although it seems to me that after the first few novels in the series, Sayers was attempting to write good novels - not good mystery novels, per se. I was particularly interested in the novels and writers mentioned in the Sayers' series. In several of the novels, Sayers mentions the name of Edgar Wallace. Wallace was unknown to me, but I've learned that he was a very popular writer of adventure novels and detective stories in his day. One of his best known works was his contribution to the creation of King Kong . Much of his work is in the public domain and I've downloaded quite a bit to be placed into the queue.

In Gaudy Night, the writer Sheridan Le Fanu is mentioned a few times. I've read two works by Le Fanu - Carmilla in 2015, and Uncle Silas in 2017. I've downloaded a few more of Le Fanu's work to be placed into the queue as well.

Also in Gaudy Night , Sayers mentions a book by C.P. Snow - The Search. I've managed to locate of number of Snow's work, although I couldn't locate a downloadable file for this particular novel.

In Busman's Honeymoon , Lord Wimsey's mother writes in her diary about her attempt to read a book entitled The Stars Look Down. :
"21 May.--Was reading The Stars Look Down (Mem. very depressing, and not what I expected from the title--think I must have had a Christmas carol in mind, but remember now it has something to do with the Holy Sepulchre--must ask Peter and make sure)".

According to wikipedia:
" The Stars Look Down is a 1935 novel by A. J. Cronin which chronicles various injustices in an English coal mining community. "

Fortunately, I was able to download The Stars Look Down and I've scheduled it to be my first read of December.

VW Beetle # 74

With my now established habit of daily bicycle riding, I am getting out and about more often and the increase in my endurance over the past 20 or so months has allowed me to cover more territory each day. In spite of this enlarged area, I'm coming upon fewer random VW Beetles. As a matter of fact, the Beetle I came upon today is only the fourth one I've seen this entire year.

Looking to gain a few more miles on today's ride, I turned to the right on E.J. Blanco Drive where I would have normally turned left. This little detour brought me to an orange VW parked at a carwashing station.

This VW is #74 in my collection of VW photos (not including the photos of the VWs of Davao sent to me by my friend Dom.)

 

The October, 2022 Reading List

With only four titles, the monthly book list for Oct. 2022 is quite a bit shorter that most previous monthly lists. While this list has the same number as September, these two cannot compare with the majority of book lists for this year and last year.

Two of the four were written by Jonah Goldberg. The other two by Gabriel García Márquez. I suppose I can blame this on the Internet; I've discovered a website that has allowed me to catch up on previously unwatched (by me) episodes of Dr. Who.

Be that as it may, here is my rather short list of books read by me in Oct. 2022.

The Tyranny of Clichés: How Liberals Cheat in the War of Ideas  by Jonah Goldberg
Suicide of the West  by Jonah Goldberg
Love in the Time of Cholera  by Gabriel García Márquez
In Evil Hour  by Gabriel García Márquez

Tarzan and the Green Goddess

 

Upon finishing Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez, I immediately began reading one of his earlier novels, In Evil Hour. We're told very early in the book that the story begins on October 4th - the feast day of St. Frances of Assisi - although we're not told the year, or the location of the events, for that matter. However, it's apparent that the story takes place in a small town somewhere in Latin America.

It begins with a character called "The Pastor" being murdered by one César Montero. After the arrest of Montero and the funeral of "The Pastor", the local priest, Father Ángel informs the owner of the movie house that it would not be appropriate to show a movie on the night of a funeral taking place in the town. Márquez tells us that the movie was Tarzan and the Green Goddess.

Naturally, I had to look online to find a copy of the movie. According to imdb.com, the movie was initially released in 1935 as a serial, The New Adventures of Tarzan, later to be edited in 1938 into a feature film. Fortunately for me, the movie is only slightly longer than an hour. Although the plot is standard for a serial of that era, the film is a bit strange, even for 1935.

In the film, Tarzan spends part of the time in his Lord Greystoke persona. For reasons that are never quite clear, Tarzan is in Guatemala, rather than Africa. He is part of an expedition that has set out to retrieve a lost Mayan idol called the Green Goddess. Just as we aren’t told how Tarzan came to Guatemala, we’re also not told how there came to be lions, giraffes, elephants, rhinos, and chimpanzees in the Central American country either.

The bizarre scenes continue to the end when Tarzan and his companions, George, Ula Vale, and Maj. Martling arrive at Greystoke Mansion. According to the Tarzan stories, Greystoke Mansion is located in Britain, but the costumes worn by Tarzan and his friends, as well as the locals living around Greystoke appear to be Germanic.......leading us to believe the mansion is in Germany, Austria or somewhere thereabouts.

I have to wonder why Márquez made the point of giving us the name of this film. It’s certainly not a classic movie.