Editing Gaudy Night (section)

==Themes==

Although no murder occurs in ''Gaudy Night'', it includes a great deal of suspense and psychological thrills. The narrative is interwoven with a love story and an examination of women's struggles to enlarge their roles and achieve some independence within the social climate of 1930s England, and the novel has been described as "the first feminist mystery novel".<ref>{{cite book |author=Randi Sørsdal |title=From Mystery to Manners: A Study of Five Detective Novels by Dorothy L. Sayers (Masters thesis) |publisher=University of Bergen |year=2006 |pages=45}}[https://web.archive.org/web/20070611050150/https://bora.uib.no/bitstream/1956/2136/1/Masteroppgave_Randi%20Soersdal.pdf]</ref>

The novel deals with a number of philosophical themes, including the right relation between love and independence, and between principles and personal loyalties. [[Susan Haack]] has an essay on ''Gaudy Night'' as a [[philosophical novel]].<ref>Haack, Susan (May 2001). [http://www.newcriterion.com/articles.cfm/sayers-haack-2180 "After my own heart: Dorothy Sayers' feminism. Reflections on ''Gaudy Night'', the philosophical novel, and old-school feminism"], ''[[The New Criterion]]'', Vol. 19. Reprinted in Cassandra L. Pinnick, [[Noretta Koertge]], and [[Robert F. Almeder]] (eds) (2003). ''Scrutinizing Feminist Epistemology: An Examination of Gender in Science''. Piscataway, NJ: Rutgers University Press, pp. 244–251. {{ISBN|0-8135-3227-2}}.</ref>

The issue of women's right to academic education is central to the book's plot. Sayers had herself been one of the first women to obtain an Oxford University degree, having been awarded first-class honours in the mediaeval literature examinations of 1915.<ref name="NYT">{{Cite news |title= Dorothy Sayers, Author, Dies at 64 |date=19 December 1957 |work=[[The New York Times]] |page=29}}</ref> She attended [[Somerville College, Oxford|Somerville College]], the basis for the fictional Shrewsbury College of the plot.<ref>[http://www.some.ox.ac.uk/3606/Dorothy-L-Sayers.html Somerville Stories – Dorothy L Sayers] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131005002943/http://www.some.ox.ac.uk/3606/Dorothy-L-Sayers.html |date=5 October 2013 }}, Somerville College, [[University of Oxford]], UK.</ref>