inmyriadbits: oranges on blue (bookslibrary)
inmyriadbits ([personal profile] inmyriadbits) wrote2011-09-23 10:24 am

the pleasure of hearing you talk piffle

A friend of mine moved to Nicaragua recently, for whom I scanned a few essays to PDF from my first edition copy of Dorothy L. Sayers' Unpopular Opinions, which I have mentioned here before. The book is out of print, and the essays are wretchedly difficult to find elsewhere; I thought some of you might be interested, so I've uploaded them to Mediafire as well:

Foreword

Aristotle on Detective Fiction

Are Women Human?

Forgiveness

I'm completely in love with "Aristotle on Detective Fiction," which uses Aristotle's Poetics to analyze the detective genre. Sayers was an Oxford-trained scholar and a popular writer during the golden age of detective fiction, so she knew whereof she spoke. It's also slyly hilarious in the best Sayers style.

"Are Women Human?" is one of the most sensible essays on feminism that I've read, and it was written in the 1930s; this is why I love Sayers. I really wish I could give it to some of the people I went to school with. "Forgiveness" was interesting, but I mostly scanned it for my friend's sake.

[ETA: new links 12/18/11]

[identity profile] gingerwall.livejournal.com 2011-10-17 12:40 am (UTC)(link)
I don't have time to read this now, but I'm saving it for later. :)

[identity profile] inmyriadbits.livejournal.com 2011-10-21 04:12 am (UTC)(link)
They're really great! I think you'll enjoy them. :)