In which Charis and Sharon begin our conversation on MURDER MUST ADVERTISE and introduce the mysterious goings-on at Pym’s Publicity that summon one Death Bredon to investigate. We cover the difference between the “mystery of the mystery” and the “mystery of the text,” Dorothy L. Sayers’ own work at an advertising agency, her views on mass consumption and the tricky ethics of the advertising trade, and more.
This episode touches on events and revelations from the beginning of MURDER MUST ADVERTISE to approximately halfway through the fourth chapter, and does not give away the whodunnit.
Shownotes:
- The excerpts Sharon pulls from Sayers’ letters to her publisher regarding writing MURDER MUST ADVERTISE and to her parents about her job at Benson’s ad agency come from The Letters of Dorothy L. Sayers 1899 to 1936: The Making of a Detective Novelist (edited by Barbara Reynolds). Regarding MMA, the full quote from her letter to Victor Gollancz, her publisher, reads as follows from a letter she sent him in September 1932: “The new book is nearly done. I hate it because it isn’t the one I wanted to write, but I had to shove it in because I couldn’t get the technical dope on The Nine Tailors in time. still, you never know what the public will fancy, do you? It will tell people a little bit about hte technical side of advertising, which most people are inquisitive about, and it deals with the dope-traffic, which is fashionable at the moment, but I don’t feel that this part is very convincing, as I can’t say I ‘know dope.’ Not one of my best efforts. The Nine Tailors will be a labour of love—and probably a flop!”
- We briefly mention the TV shows Mad Men and Leverage
- Note that Sharon initially correctly notes the dates Sayers worked at Benson’s ad agency (1922-1931) and then immediately misspeaks twice and says she left in 1929.
- The essay on “The Other Six Deadly Sins” that Sharon brings up in our conversation about Sayers’ disapproval of mass consumption and advertising as a means to create a public appetite for goods that people do not need was initially delivered in 1941 and then published in her Creed or Chaos? collection in 1949. Sharon cites from the essay as it appears in the more widely available collection Letters to a Diminished Church.
- We bring up Amanda Mull’s essay “Your Sweaters Are Garbage” (The Atlantic, October 2023) in our conversation about fast fashion. For further reading/listening on this topic, we recommend the Culture Study podcast episode “Why Do Clothes Suck Now” as well as Aja Barber’s book Consumed: The Need for Collective Change: Colonialism, Climate Change, and Consumerism. Charis refers as well to “the Vimes boot theory” which is taken from Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels and proudly has its own Wikipedia page.
- When Sharon mentions Ursula K. LeGuin’s injunction that we must imagine our way out of capitalism, she is referring to LeGuin’s remarks in her acceptance speech for the National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters: “We live in capitalism, its power seems inescapable — but then, so did the divine right of kings. Any human power can be resisted and changed by human beings. Resistance and change often begin in art. Very often in our art, the art of words.” You can find video of the full speech and transcript here.
