The Snowflake Challenge, Day 2

[scripsi]

Day 2

In your own space, share a book/song/movie/tv show/fanwork/etc that changed your life. Something that impacted on your consciousness in a way that left its mark on your soul. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

I think, if I must boil it down to just one thing, it would be Gaudy Night by Dorothy L. Sayers, which I read when I for the first time when I was fourteen.

It’s a crime novel published in 1935. Sayers got famous writing about Lord Peter Wimsey, gentleman detective, but though he is in this book, the novel is really about Harriet Vane, the woman he is in love with. She gets involved in a mystery at her old college in Oxford, where someone writes poison pen letters and do other kinds of mischief. It’s not a murder mystery, though and what this book really is, is a discussion of women’s role in society. Basically every conversation in this book is about that, and so is the mystery. Being more than 80 years old, some of those discussions are dated, other parts are depressingly still relevant.

When I first read it, a lot of it went over my head, but I still loved it and felt I would understand more eventually. And I did, because I have re-read this book every two or third year for the past 30. But most of all I fell in love with Harriet Vane. I admired her objectivity and her determination to keep to the point and tell the truth. And I admired her struggle to be a person in her own rights and not one to define herself through someone else. She’s certainly not without faults, but I felt then that those qualities were something to strife for. More than anyone else, Harriet Vane has been my role model in life.

Comments

[sperrywink]

That is awesome. I never read Sayers when I was a kid (Not much for mysteries), but maybe I will check this one out. Sounds like a good ride.

[scripsi]

The mystery is really secondary here, so hopefully you would like it anyway!

here from snowflake challenge

[turlough]

I don't remember when I first read anything by Sayers but since I know my mother had almost all the Swedish translation I wouldn't be suprised if it wasn't around the same age as you. And yes, a lot of it definitely went over my head but one of the great joy with re-reading it so many times as a grownup is that I still manage to discover things I'd missed up to then.

Re: here from snowflake challenge

[scripsi]

I read the Swedish translations too. :) And I was very annoyed when I realised the translation cut out quite a few scenes from Gaudy Night as well as a Little in Murder Must Advertise and Busman's Honeymoon, without saying so!

Re: here from snowflake challenge

[turlough]

I'd forgotten that completely! It was so annoying to discover. I must have repressed the memory :-)

[bunn.livejournal.com]

She's a pretty awesome role model. I love the variety of the women in that story, the fact that they can (mostly) work together but definitely don't agree on everything.

[scripsi.livejournal.com]

Yes, me too! And I like that they are allowed to have both good and bad qualities- they feel very human. :)

[chelseagirl.livejournal.com]

I adore that book! I now have the ebook on my phone so I can always know it's there . . .

[scripsi.livejournal.com]

Me too! :D

[snogged.livejournal.com]

Cool. Thanks for sharing.

[evelyn-b.livejournal.com]

Hey Gaudy Night! Dorothy Sayers also changed my life, though for me the change was mostly in the direction of reading too many murder mysteries. Or just the right number of murder mysteries, I can't tell.

Sometimes I wonder what I would have thought of this book if I'd read it for the first time when I was fourteen, like everyone else, instead of in my thirties. I can't tell if I would have completely failed to appreciate it or eaten it up with the largest spoon in the Northern Hemisphere. I'm pretty sure it wouldn't have been anywhere in between.

[thisbluespirit]

Aw, thanks for sharing. :-)

Gaudy Night was my first Sayers novel, too - I never quite forgave the rest for not being about Harriet Vane at Oxford; what was the point of that Wimsey person?

[scripsi.livejournal.com]

I very quickly developed a crush on Lord Peter, so I didn't mind. :) It was quite intriguing readong Gaudy Night- who was hear dead lover? Why was he murdered? And so on. Being a teenage I also found it strange that Harriet hadn't fallen in love with him at an earlier date. Now I don't Think it's so strange. :)

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

I love Harriet! I loved Lord Peter too, and avidly read all of the Sayers set, but it was Harriet and her relationship with Peter that kept me hooked and re-reading. She's definitely a great role model - fiercely independent and intelligent.

[scripsi.livejournal.com]

I love Lord Peter too, but he is very much an image of the ideal man. Harriet is always so real. :)

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Yes, and it's funny that I didn't see that about him when I first read the books in my early teens - probably too taken with the whole idea of an ideal man, innocently unaware they don't exist LOL.

[scripsi.livejournal.com]

Me neither! Teenage me had such a crush on him. :D

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Hee hee me too - along with Aragorn.

[lyryk.livejournal.com]

Sounds like an awesome book! I'll put it on the to-read list. :-)

[scripsi.livejournal.com]

It is awesome! But it might be good to know (even if this was the first I read too) that it's the second to last in a series of books. You might enjoy it more is you at least read Strong Poison first. Though in truth I rec all the Lord Peter Wimsey books- they are a great read! :)