Dorothy L. Sayers, the Great War, and Shell Shock

Dorothy L. Sayers is one of the most well-known writers from the golden age of detective fiction, an author whose longevity is rivaled only by that of G. K. Chesterton and of Agatha Christie. Her main character, the aristocratic Lord Peter Wimsey, has become a blueprint for the seemingly inane man of leisure who sharpens his intellect through detection, an inspiration for Margery Allingham’s Albert Campion and Ngaio Marsh’s Roderick Alleyn. In the character of Wimsey, Sayers creates a transition from the logic-based detective story to a model that incorporates detectives as characters with actions and emotions that may not necessarily further the act of puzzle solving, but do contribute to fleshing out a character. From his opening statement in Whose Body? (1923), Wimsey’s irritated “Oh, damn” at the realization of having forgotten his auction catalog shows a complex, though occasionally petulant and foppish, character whose experiences beyond solving mysteries make him more well rounded than previous literary detectives. What truly separates Lord Peter Wimsey from his counterparts, the popular detective fiction heroes of the late Victorian and early modern period, becomes apparent in The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club (1928) when Sayers demonstrates the effects of his war service on his psyche. As a major in the army, Wimsey saw a great deal of battle during the war; was nearly buried alive in the trenches; and suffered from flashbacks and anxiety, particularly in situations in which he was responsible for the lives of others. Sayers uses his shell shock from this incident to create a new kind of hero, not the emotionless Sherlock Holmes or the asexual Miss Marple, but a man who has known the pain of war and has been able to address the effects of it. Wimsey was a character that sought a respite in rational and logic-based detection. Through detection, Wimsey regains the masculinity that had been wounded by his experiences in the war. Sayers creates a character whose detection activities provide a treatment for shell shock that enables him to recoup his masculinity, thus fitting him for an idealized marriage at the end of the series. Lord Peter encapsulates the burgeoning modernist movement through his frustration with authority, particularly that of the police force; his sense of loneliness and alienation when solving a case; and his nostalgia for a simpler time before his war experiences. Flourishing in this time period, detective fiction shows itself to reflect the growing modernist movement in its questioning of governmental authority, emphasis on the motivation of the individual, and challenge to social customs. These hallmarks of modern literature demonstrate the trauma felt by society that had been ripped apart by World War I. The detective fiction novel thrived because it brought a sense of comfort to readers, reassuring them that within the confines of several hundred pages someone was keeping order and making sure justice was administered and a peaceful equilibrium restored by the last page. Through the act of detection, Lord Peter is able to take on authority that enables him to provide justice and closure to other characters, particularly in saving both his brother and his future wife from execution for crimes they did not commit, respectively, in Clouds of Witness (1926) and Strong Poison (1930). Lord Peter’s self-awareness of the weaknesses brought upon him by his war experiences introduces a character whose emotion and detective abilities create an antirationality that redefines post-war masculinity. The effect of the battlefield on the soldiers is a motif that Sayers revisits in most of her novels, particularly in Unnatural Death (1927), The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club (1928), Gaudy Night (1936), and Busman’s Honeymoon (1937). In the medium of detective fiction, Sayers explores issues of crippled masculinity in postwar Britain and offers detection as a treatment for shell shock, making a strong claim for the power of the genre.

A closer examination of the issue of war in Sayers’s writing, both fiction and nonfiction, reveals that her attitude is far more complex than most scholarship indicates. Critics claim that Sayers uses shell shock as...