Lord Peter Wimsey
| Fandom | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Lord Peter Wimsey |
| Abbreviation(s): | |
| Creator: | Dorothy L. Sayers |
| Date(s): | 1923 – 1937 |
| Medium: | Books (Novels and short stories) |
| Country of Origin: | United Kingdom |
| External Links: | The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club (1972-73) Murder Must Advertise (1973-74) The Nine Tales (1974) Five Red Herrings (1975) Chronology of Stories portrait at Balliol, Oxford Review by Joanna Scutts at Wikipedia |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
The Lord Peter Wimsey detective series, featuring the protagonist of the same name, joined in the last four books of the series by romantic interest Harriet Vane. The Wimsey books are sometimes collectively called "The Corpus."
Although some of the books in the series are marred by occasional anti-Semitism, they remain appealing to fans for many reasons. These include Lord Peter's perseverance in the face of personal vulnerability (a veteran of WWI, he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder), the strong bond between Peter and his manservant Bunter (perceived by many as being particularly slashy) and the canonical romance between Peter and Harriet Vane, a conflicted yet strong female character who struggles to reconcile her desire for independence with her feelings for Lord Peter. The second-to-last book in the series, Gaudy Night, is almost entirely from Harriet's POV, and is a favorite among many fans.
There have been two series of TV adaptations of the books, one running from 1972 to 1975 and starring Ian Carmichael, and the other in 1987, starring Edward Petherbridge as Lord Peter and adapting the first three Harriet Vane novels (Strong Poison, Have His Carcase, and Gaudy Night). The latter seems to be most often used by fans for icons and graphics.
Canon Overview
Social satire
According to Wikipedia:
Many episodes in the Wimsey books express a mild satire on the British class system, in particular in depicting the relationship between Wimsey and Bunter. The two of them are clearly the best and closest of friends, yet Bunter is invariably punctilious in using "my lord" even when they are alone, and "his lordship" in company. In a brief passage written from Bunter's point of view in Busman's Honeymoon Bunter is seen, even in the privacy of his own mind, to be thinking of his employer as "His Lordship". Wimsey and Bunter even mock the Jeeves and Wooster relationship.In Whose Body?, when Wimsey is caught by a severe recurrence of his First World War shell-shock and nightmares and being taken care of by Bunter, the two of them revert to being "Major Wimsey" and "Sergeant Bunter". In that role, Bunter, sitting at the bedside of the sleeping Wimsey, is seen to mutter affectionately, "Bloody little fool!"[1]
Fandom Overview
This article or section needs expansion. |
The Wimsey books are sometimes collectively called "The Corpus." On Livejournal, fiction written for the books is sometimes said to be Sayersverse or Wimseyverse fic, or just Wimseyfic for short.
One of the best places to find Wimsey-related discussion is the long-running LordPeter[1][2] mailing list at YahooGroups or affiliated website The Lord Peter Wimsey Mailing List[3][4][5] by Natalie Luhrs. Fanfiction is usually not allowed on LordPeter except for certain specific times of year.
Wimsey fiction is requested reliably each Yuletide. Much Wimsey fic is gen; among fanfiction that features a pairing, popular subjects are Peter/Harriet and Peter/Bunter, with occasional Peter/Charles Parker. Crossovers with other fiction appropriate to the period are common.
There are a few livejournal communities for Wimsey meta and fic. They are low-traffic but a good place to look for Wimseyfic or icons.
Shipping
Example Fanworks
| Examples Wanted: Editors are encouraged to add more examples or a wider variety of examples. |
- The Incident of the Fellow in the Fellows' Garden, a Wimsey/Man from UNCLE crossover by azdak
- Green Ice, a Wimsey/Jeeves & Wooster crossover by Adina
- Placet, a livejournal comm for stories in catrinella and mechaieh's Harry Potter/Peter Wimsey universe
- ‘Tell Beauty How She Blasteth’, a bleak AU to Strong Poison by Tree_and_leaf
- 'Baltic Adventure', the first in a cross-over series between the Peter Wimsey universe and Arthur Ransome's Swallows and Amazons by 'constantlearner'. This concerns spying adventures in the Baltic in 1938 and various Sayers characters including Lord Peter and Freddie Arbuthnot play minor roles; 'Vale, Pater' and 'Gerry Wimsey Falls in Love' are later instalments in the series focussing heavily on the Denver family.
- 'The Elevated Investigation of the Empty Gondola' by 'Nineveh_uk' Casefic involving Peter and Harriet in the Swiss Alps.
- 'A Death in Bohemia' by Nineveh_uk. Cross-over with Buffy the Vampire Slayer and AU Strong Poison.
- 'The Healing Fountain, or, The English Aristocrat’s Gentleman’s Gentleman’s Gymslip Lover' by Nineveh_uk. Hilary Thorpe writes a novel and Lord Peter suspects roman-a-clef.
- 'Underground' by A. J. Hall. 2011. Two women are flung together by what seems to be an accident on the Underground. But then the Tube train draws up at a station that was closed in 1932.... Crossover with Torchwood.
- 'That Still Centre' by A. J. Hall. After a planning appeal, Miss Jan Scott receives an unexpected invitation to lunch from the client on the other side, the elderly Duke of Denver. He says he once knew her mother -- but who does he mean? Crossover with The Marlows by Antonia Forest
- Gentle Antidote by x_los. Story featuring Soulmate identifying marks, written for Yuletide 2014. As of September 2015, the most-kudos'd work on AO3
- Harriet and Sergeant by OnYourMark (2010)
- A Day at the Cattery by Bookwormsarah (2016)
- The Peculiar Case of the Inadvertent Poisoning of a Gentleman's Gentleman by antisoppist (2012)
Links & Resources
- crack_van canon overview by nineveh_uk
- crack_van 'recs' by various fen, as listed.
- Recs by Espresso Addict
- Fascinating Peter Wimsey book reviews and meta by pro author Sarah Monette
- Talboys: "A community for all friends of Lord Peter Wimsey, his wife and his family - and of course for the adorers of Dorothy L. Sayer's work."
- Wimseyfic may also be found at rarelitslash (link).
- AO3 lists some 272 works under Lord Peter Wimsey.
Wimsey Fiction from Pro Authors
Sayers herself once wrote a short piece, The Young Lord Peter Consults Sherlock Holmes[6], for "A Tribute to Sherlock Holmes on the Occasion of his 100th Birthday", a BBC radio programme broadcast on 8 January 1954 in which a very young Peter Wimsey traveled to Baker Street in order to consult Sherlock Holmes[7][2][3][4] about a lost kitten.
Marion Mainwaring's Murder in Pastiche, or Nine Detectives All at Sea (1955)[8] includes thinly disguised caricatures of nine detectives including Wimsey, Ellery Queen, Perry Mason, Mike Hammer, Nero Wolfe, etc.[5][6][7]
Laurie R. King's third Mary Russell novel, A Letter of Mary (1996), features a cameo by a young Lord Peter Wimsey (named only as "Peter", and referenced elsewhere in the series as the "second son of a Duke"). However, King was forbidden from using the character again by the Sayers estate.[8]
In 1998, mystery author Jill Paton Walsh completed Sayers' unfinished Wimsey novel Thrones, Dominations, following it up with A Presumption of Death and The Attenbury Emeralds. Critical reaction was mixed.[9]
Author Stephen King once began a Peter Wimsey story in which Harriet had been killed during the Blitz; although it was never finished, or published, copies of the story fragment were apparently in circulation in the Stephen King fandom for some time.[10]. It was very, very sad. Reaction from one section of Livejournal fandom was basically, "YOU CAN'T DO THAT."[11]
References
- ^ Wikipedia. Lord Peter Wimsey. Accessed 30 July 2024.
- ^ "Sayers on Holmes — Essays and Fiction on Sherlock Holmes". The Mythopoeic Society. 2001. Archived from the original on 2016-07-11.
- ^ Irene Henry (2001). "Sayers on Holmes, Essays and Fiction on Sherlock Holmes". A Green Man Review. Archived from the original on 2021-04-19.
- ^ John W. Kennedy (2005-08-05). "Re: Sherlock Holmes / Doyle question". rec.arts.books at newsgroups.derkeiler.com. Archived from the original on 2012-08-18. Retrieved 2008-11-19.
- ^ Jon (2007-03-20). "Mainwaring, Marion - Murder in Pastiche (1954) AKA Nine Detectives All At Sea". gadetection. Archived from the original on 2021-01-26.
- ^ "A Gathering of Gumshoes: Murder in Pastiche (1954), by Marion Mainwaring Part One". The Passing Tramp. 2017-06-27. Archived from the original on 2017-10-27.
- ^ Edwards, Martin. "Parody and Pastiche". Martin Edwards Books. Archived from the original on 2021-10-27.
- ^ Liz Barr and Rebecca Anderson (2007-03-03). "RUSS-L Frequently Asked Questions". The Mary Russell Holmes. Archived from the original on 2008-07-03. Retrieved 2008-12-03.
- ^ "Thrones, Dominations". Wikipedia. 2012-07-26. Archived from the original on 2012-08-28. Retrieved 2008-11-19.
- ^ Wood, Rocky; Rawsthorne, David; Blackburn, Norma. "Stephen King: Uncollected, Unpublished". Cemetery Dance Publications. Archived from the original on 2006-05-10. Retrieved 2008-11-19.
- ^ liviapenn (2007-04-12). "Oh, you guys..." LiveJournal. Archived from the original on 2012-11-29. Retrieved 2008-11-19.