Gaudy Night by Dorothy Sayers

"Do you find it easy to get drunk on words?"

"So easy that, to tell you the truth, I am seldom perfectly sober." 

This is just one example of the rich dialogue between Lord Peter and Harriet Vane in their third novel together, Gaudy Night, which I enjoyed immensely.

A "Gaudy Night" is a kind of college reunion at the University of Oxford. While attending her ten year reunion, Harriet stumbles upon an obscene drawing and flushes it down the toilet in disgust. Later she learns that there have been a spate of similar incidents and is asked by the dean to stay on and help discover the culprit. 

In some ways the mystery is secondary to the main theme, which is the role of women in modern society. The story takes place in an environment where women have purposely chosen the single life in order to focus on academic pursuits, but within that environment, there are women who would rather be married. Sayers is definitely not advocating a "one size fits all" for women's roles. Harriet's own struggle with accepting Peter's proposals has to do with her fear of not being able to be fully herself while "tied down" to domestic life.  

Sayer's novels are not easy reads because of her frequent references to mythology, Shakespeare, etc. (A handy guide to many of them is found here.)  The closing lines are in Latin and I had to quickly google them to find out what had actually happened! There are several bewildering references to "Mr Jones of Jesus," who turned out to be a hypothetical rival to Wimsey's affections (a man from Jesus College in Wales). In spite of the befuddling quotations, Sayers is definitely worth the effort for her well-drawn characters and her thorough exploration of societal issues. 

Plus she's funny! I laughed out loud when one of her characters said, "It would have been such a bore to be the mother of morons." And again when Lord Peter was waxing eloquent on "How fleeting are all human passions compared with the massive continuity of ducks." After reading the lines Lord Peter added to her sonnet, Harriet, "went to bed thinking more about another person than about herself. This goes to prove that even minor poetry may have its practical uses." Ha!

This is the longest (and the most full of swearing) of the Wimsey novels I have read, but has by far the best dialogue and most endearing scenes. While I thoroughly enjoyed this book without the help of outside commentary, I greatly appreciated the insights shared on the Literary Life podcast (three episodes) that I listened to afterwards. Angelina and Cindy clarified a lot of details that I had not rightly understood, and showed what a genius Sayers was in weaving together every detail of the story. Angelina mentions that Sayer's essay "Are Women Human?" is the non-fiction version of this novel so now I need to get my hands on that.

Have you read Gaudy Night or Are Women Human? Any thoughts?

Blessings,

Be Holy by Warren Wiersbe

"What health is to the body, holiness is to the soul."

I always appreciate Warren Wiersbe for putting theology into layman’s terms without dumbing it down. Of the almost twenty “Be” studies that I have done, Be Holy may be one of the most helpful so far.

Leviticus is a daunting book to modern readers, but Wiersbe does a wonderful job of showing its relevance to our faith.

Almost everything in Leviticus anticipates the life and death of Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. The sacrifices, festivals, rituals, and laws foreshadow God’s redemptive plan. Jesus becomes the means to remove the guilt and penalty for sin through his substitutionary death on the cross. His death provides the final atonement for all sin. (p. 8)

Wiersbe is quick to point out that this is not just positional holiness (what God does for us) but practical as well (what God does in us): “For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life.” (1 Thess 4:7, p. 9) He laments that the chief pursuit of most people today (including Christians) is happiness, not holiness. They want Jesus to solve their problems and carry their burdens, but they don’t want Him to control their lives and change their character.

Much confusion surrounds the idea of “law-keeping” for the redeemed Christian and Wiersbe responds: While obedience to the the law isn’t God’s way of salvation (see Romans 3:19-20, Galatians 3:21-29), a love for holiness and a desire to obey and please God are certainly evidences that we are the children of God. After we are saved, our obedience to the will of God, as revealed in the Word of God, is the basis for fellowshipping with God and enjoying the abundant life He wants us to have. (p. 15)

He concludes the book with the reminder that “Eight times in Scripture, God said, ‘Be holy, for I am holy.'  Since God’s commandments are God’s enablements, this commandment assures us that it is possible to live a holy life.

I highly recommend this accessible, insightful commentary on a frequently avoided book of the Bible.

Blessings,