Dorothy L. Sayers

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DLS is best-known as a pre-second-world-war detective novelist, particularly as the creator of Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane. But the financial success she enjoyed from these novels permitted her to turn to other genres and topics later in her career, including plays and radio dramas on religious themes, other Christian writings, and an important translation of Dante .
Brabazon, James. Dorothy L. Sayers. Charles Scribner’s Sons.
126
She also wrote poetry and reviews.
Black-and-white photo of Dorothy L. Sayers. Seated and looking off-camera with a slight smile, she wears large circular earrings and a dark blazer.
Bronze statue of Dorothy L. Sayers in Witham, England.

Milestones

13 June 1893

DLS was born at 1 Brewer Street in Oxford; she was an only child.
Reynolds, Barbara. Dorothy L. Sayers: Her Life and Soul. Hodder and Stoughton.
1

18 September 1930

DLS introduced Harriet Vane in Strong Poison, her fifth Lord Peter Wimsey detective novel.
The title is a quotation from Lord Randal, a traditional ballad about a man poisoned by his lady love.
Gilbert, Colleen B. A Bibliography of the Works of Dorothy L. Sayers. Macmillan.
51

10 November 1949

DLS published the first of her three-part translation of Dante 's Divine Comedy into English verse: Cantica I: Hell.
Gilbert, Colleen B. A Bibliography of the Works of Dorothy L. Sayers. Macmillan.
109
British Book News. British Council.
(1950): 197

7 May 1955

DLS published the second instalment of her verse translation (with her introduction) of Dante 's Divine Comedy: Cantica II: Purgatory.
Gilbert, Colleen B. A Bibliography of the Works of Dorothy L. Sayers. Macmillan.
117
British Book News. British Council.
(1955): 1189

17 December 1957

DLS died in her home at Witham in Essex, from an apparent stroke.
Reynolds, Barbara. Dorothy L. Sayers: Her Life and Soul. Hodder and Stoughton.
364
Brabazon, James. Dorothy L. Sayers. Charles Scribner’s Sons.
270

14 April 1962

The third section of DLS 's translation of Dante 's Divine Comedy—Cantica III: Paradise—was published posthumously; Barbara Reynolds completed those parts that Sayers had not finished when she died.
Gilbert, Colleen B. A Bibliography of the Works of Dorothy L. Sayers. Macmillan.
121

Biography

Birth and Background

13 June 1893

DLS was born at 1 Brewer Street in Oxford; she was an only child.
Reynolds, Barbara. Dorothy L. Sayers: Her Life and Soul. Hodder and Stoughton.
1

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