Overmastery (or, my love affair with Harriet Vane)

[readingredhead]

I mentioned in my last post that I've been reading Dorothy Sayers for the first time (and kicking myself throughout, because HOW have I never read Sayers before?). I started with Strong Poison about two weeks ago at the recommendation of 

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[readingredhead]

GOD YES THAT BIT. Because she is dedicated to Truth and the Facts and even in Strong Poison she understands why she is being tried, because the facts really do look like they are all against her!

And it's not that she's a scholar first and a mystery writer second -- because obviously she's not -- but I see her as my other half, the reverse side of the mirror, what could have happened if I'd taken the other road at the turning...and it's fascinating to see her deal in Gaudy Night with her decision NOT to focus primarily on being a scholar, because it resonates in weird ways with my own decision NOT to focus primarily on being a novelist.

In other news, YOU are Harriet Vane, Harriet Vane is you, etc. Though I can't see Lola proposing in Latin... :)

And finally, you have probably read this essay Sayers wrote about the craft of Gaudy Night but if you haven't you should because it is amazing and gives me all of the "kickass ladies defending female authorship from the standpoint of genre fiction" feelings. Yes, this is a class of feelings I have very frequently.