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Unpopular Opinions
I have called this collection of fugitive pieces "Unpopular Opinions," partly, to be sure, because to warn a person off a book is the surest way of getting him to read it, but chiefly because I have evidence that all the opinions expressed have in fact caused a certain amount of annoyance one way and the other. Indeed, the papers called "Christian Morality," "Forgiveness" and "Living to Work" were so unpopular with the persons who commissioned them that they were suppressed before they the first because American readers would be shocked by what they understood of it; the second because what the Editor of a respectable newspaper wanted (and got) was Christian sanction for undying hatred against the enemy; the third—originally intended for a Sunday evening B.B.C. "Postscript"—on the heterogeneous grounds that it appeared to have political tendencies, and that "our public do not want to be admonished by a woman."
192 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1951
About the author
Dorothy L. Sayers
757 books3,048 followersThe detective stories of well-known British writer Dorothy Leigh Sayers mostly feature the amateur investigator Lord Peter Wimsey; she also translated the
Divine Comedy
of Dante Alighieri.
This renowned author and Christian humanist studied classical and modern languages.
Her best known mysteries, a series of short novels, set between World War I and World War II, feature an English aristocrat and amateur sleuth. She is also known for her plays and essays.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothy...
This renowned author and Christian humanist studied classical and modern languages.
Her best known mysteries, a series of short novels, set between World War I and World War II, feature an English aristocrat and amateur sleuth. She is also known for her plays and essays.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothy...
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
December 2, 2021
ENGLISH: The articles in the book are grouped in three sections:
a) "Theological," containing seven papers, five of which are also included in the collection Letters to a Diminished Church: Passionate Arguments for the Relevance of Christian Doctrine, which I read a little time ago, so I won't discuss them again here.
b) "Political," containing nine papers, all of them new to me. In my opinion, a few of them are not particularly interesting for non-English people. One of the best is "Are women human?," an essay full of common-sense, which is frequently excluded, because people are blinded by their ideologies. In contrast, the next article, devoted for the most part to criticizing the opposition to women wearing trousers, I see as out of date.
The following is an apposite cite from her broadcasted conference on "Living to work": Some people are so greatly depressed... that they can see no way out... except to do away with machines altogether, as things evil in themselves and destructive of all good living. But this is a counsel of despair. For one thing, it is not a practical proposition in the present state of things... To renounce the machines means... to renounce the world and to retire to a kind of hermitage of the spirit. But society cannot be exclusively made of saints and solitaries; the average good citizen, like the average Christian, has to live in the world; his task is not to run away from the machines but to learn to use them so that they work in harmony with human nature instead of injuring or oppressing it.
Compare with the solutions offered in Rod Dreher's The Benedict Option: A Strategy for Christians in a Post-Christian Nation or John Senior's The Restoration of Christian Culture. As Sayers says, I don't think they are practicable, except for minorities.
c) Five "Critical Studies in Sherlock Holmes," written tongue-in-cheek, which I had never read before. I understand that Sayers and those vying with her to write erudite essays of apparent serious intent were having a lot of fun, but I find that this set of papers is not to my taste.
d) An original essay about "Aristotle on detective fiction." It made me wish to read Aristotle's Poetics.
ESPAÑOL: Los artículos del libro se agrupan en tres secciones:
a) Teológicos, con siete artículos, cinco de los cuales también aparecen en la colección Letters to a Diminished Church: Passionate Arguments for the Relevance of Christian Doctrine, que leí hace poco, así que no voy a discutirlos de nuevo aquí.
b) Políticos, con nueve trabajos, todos nuevos para mí. Algunos de ellos no me parecieron especialmente interesantes para quienes no son ingleses. Uno de los mejores es "¿Son las mujeres humanas?", Un ensayo lleno de sentido común, que con frecuencia no se aplica, porque la gente se ciega con sus ideologías. En cambio, el artículo siguiente, dedicado en su mayor parte a criticar la oposición a que las mujeres lleven pantalones, lo veo desfasado.
La siguiente cita sale de su conferencia por radio sobre "Vivir para trabajar": Algunas personas están tan deprimidas... que no pueden ver otra salida... que acabar por completo con la maquinaria, ya que las máquinas son malas en sí mismas y destruyen la buena forma de vivir. Pero este consejo viene de la desesperación. Esta propuesta no es práctica en el estado actual de las cosas... Renunciar a las máquinas significa... renunciar al mundo y retirarse a una especie de ermita espiritual. Pero la sociedad no puede estar formada exclusivamente por santos y solitarios; el buen ciudadano medio, como el cristiano medio, tiene que vivir en el mundo; su tarea no es huir de las máquinas, sino aprender a utilizarlas para que funcionen en armonía con la naturaleza humana, en lugar de herirla o de oprimirla.
Compárese con las soluciones ofrecidas en La opción benedictina. Una estrategia para los cristianos en una sociedad postcristiana de Rod Dreher o La restauración de la cultura cristiana de John Senior. Como señala Sayers, no creo que sean factibles, excepto para minorías.
c) Cinco estudios críticos sobre Sherlock Holmes, escritos con ironía, que no había leído antes. Entiendo que Sayers y quienes compiten con ella escribiendo ensayos eruditos aparentemente serios se divertían mucho, pero a mí este tipo de artículos no me va.
d) Un trabajo muy original sobre "Aristóteles hablando de la novela policiaca". Me han entrado ganas de leer la Poética de Aristóteles.
a) "Theological," containing seven papers, five of which are also included in the collection Letters to a Diminished Church: Passionate Arguments for the Relevance of Christian Doctrine, which I read a little time ago, so I won't discuss them again here.
b) "Political," containing nine papers, all of them new to me. In my opinion, a few of them are not particularly interesting for non-English people. One of the best is "Are women human?," an essay full of common-sense, which is frequently excluded, because people are blinded by their ideologies. In contrast, the next article, devoted for the most part to criticizing the opposition to women wearing trousers, I see as out of date.
The following is an apposite cite from her broadcasted conference on "Living to work": Some people are so greatly depressed... that they can see no way out... except to do away with machines altogether, as things evil in themselves and destructive of all good living. But this is a counsel of despair. For one thing, it is not a practical proposition in the present state of things... To renounce the machines means... to renounce the world and to retire to a kind of hermitage of the spirit. But society cannot be exclusively made of saints and solitaries; the average good citizen, like the average Christian, has to live in the world; his task is not to run away from the machines but to learn to use them so that they work in harmony with human nature instead of injuring or oppressing it.
Compare with the solutions offered in Rod Dreher's The Benedict Option: A Strategy for Christians in a Post-Christian Nation or John Senior's The Restoration of Christian Culture. As Sayers says, I don't think they are practicable, except for minorities.
c) Five "Critical Studies in Sherlock Holmes," written tongue-in-cheek, which I had never read before. I understand that Sayers and those vying with her to write erudite essays of apparent serious intent were having a lot of fun, but I find that this set of papers is not to my taste.
d) An original essay about "Aristotle on detective fiction." It made me wish to read Aristotle's Poetics.
ESPAÑOL: Los artículos del libro se agrupan en tres secciones:
a) Teológicos, con siete artículos, cinco de los cuales también aparecen en la colección Letters to a Diminished Church: Passionate Arguments for the Relevance of Christian Doctrine, que leí hace poco, así que no voy a discutirlos de nuevo aquí.
b) Políticos, con nueve trabajos, todos nuevos para mí. Algunos de ellos no me parecieron especialmente interesantes para quienes no son ingleses. Uno de los mejores es "¿Son las mujeres humanas?", Un ensayo lleno de sentido común, que con frecuencia no se aplica, porque la gente se ciega con sus ideologías. En cambio, el artículo siguiente, dedicado en su mayor parte a criticar la oposición a que las mujeres lleven pantalones, lo veo desfasado.
La siguiente cita sale de su conferencia por radio sobre "Vivir para trabajar": Algunas personas están tan deprimidas... que no pueden ver otra salida... que acabar por completo con la maquinaria, ya que las máquinas son malas en sí mismas y destruyen la buena forma de vivir. Pero este consejo viene de la desesperación. Esta propuesta no es práctica en el estado actual de las cosas... Renunciar a las máquinas significa... renunciar al mundo y retirarse a una especie de ermita espiritual. Pero la sociedad no puede estar formada exclusivamente por santos y solitarios; el buen ciudadano medio, como el cristiano medio, tiene que vivir en el mundo; su tarea no es huir de las máquinas, sino aprender a utilizarlas para que funcionen en armonía con la naturaleza humana, en lugar de herirla o de oprimirla.
Compárese con las soluciones ofrecidas en La opción benedictina. Una estrategia para los cristianos en una sociedad postcristiana de Rod Dreher o La restauración de la cultura cristiana de John Senior. Como señala Sayers, no creo que sean factibles, excepto para minorías.
c) Cinco estudios críticos sobre Sherlock Holmes, escritos con ironía, que no había leído antes. Entiendo que Sayers y quienes compiten con ella escribiendo ensayos eruditos aparentemente serios se divertían mucho, pero a mí este tipo de artículos no me va.
d) Un trabajo muy original sobre "Aristóteles hablando de la novela policiaca". Me han entrado ganas de leer la Poética de Aristóteles.
December 21, 2021
I really enjoyed this book of essays, although I skipped one on discrepancies for a specific Sherlock Holmes book. Even when she was writing about stuff I didn’t care about she made it interesting. It was crazy to see how little things like politics change over time. Dorothy L Sayers has a razor sharp wit that is fun to read, so her opinions were worth my time all these years later.
June 25, 2020
I wish I was more intelligent/better educated,,,each essay makes me aware how I little I know and understand.
November 27, 2025
Very good collection of Sayers’s lectures and essays. The theological writing is better and lighter than you might fear, and you can see why she became known as a popularizer. I really enjoy her humanizing of Christian behavior and biblical characters, though I still think her equation of Christian thought with the creative impulse a bit out there. The political essays are best when talking about women (“Are Women Human?” is the best essay in the book) and language, but aside from “They Tried To Be Good,” which is jejune, they all make interesting points about England at war. The third section, which is mostly Sherlock Holmes pseudoscholarship, is amusing but a bit too much to take at length. I do like the tongue-in-cheek Aristotle essay at the end. And overall, I just like her voice—cranky and pedantic and passionate and engaging.
October 14, 2019
I ended up paying thirty dollars to get a copy of this book, since it appears to have been out of print for sixty years. To be honest, I can understand why; it is a slim volume, and the subject matter is eclectic, inconsistent, and somewhat dated. It was worth every penny.
The first third of the book was dedicated to matters of theology (and not, as the author points out, religion). The best compliment I can offer here is that they are thoroughly unsatisfying and merely whet my appetite to the effect of adding her lengthier treatment of the subject to my reading list. (Or, more accurately, moving them closer to the top. I only stumbled on this collection because I was already looking into her commentary on The Divine Commentary.)
The last third of the book dedicates itself to the sober discipline of Holmesian exegesis, and is precisely the sort of cerebral diversion that tickles my fancy. This also has added considerably to my backlog of material in solidifying my hitherto vague aspirations to tackle that cannon.
The middle third, under the heading of "political", is perhaps the most varied. The subjects range from the nature of the English as a people, to criticism of those who employ and enjoy "slatternly forms of speech", to feminism, to the actual meaning of a "free press". While certain details are understandably date (the material collected dates back in some cases to the 1930's), they nonetheless speak to timeless concerns and the indelible features and flaws of human nature.
Her insights on the gender and the treatment of women, in particular, strike me as relevant today as when it was written. It is perhaps a sad testament to our worst reflexes that we need constant reminder to treat individuals are more than a mere representative of the various classes we assign them to.
(Tangentially, throughout the course of the book, there are references to a number of seemingly excellent English writers, who must also vie for my time and attention.)
The first third of the book was dedicated to matters of theology (and not, as the author points out, religion). The best compliment I can offer here is that they are thoroughly unsatisfying and merely whet my appetite to the effect of adding her lengthier treatment of the subject to my reading list. (Or, more accurately, moving them closer to the top. I only stumbled on this collection because I was already looking into her commentary on The Divine Commentary.)
The last third of the book dedicates itself to the sober discipline of Holmesian exegesis, and is precisely the sort of cerebral diversion that tickles my fancy. This also has added considerably to my backlog of material in solidifying my hitherto vague aspirations to tackle that cannon.
The middle third, under the heading of "political", is perhaps the most varied. The subjects range from the nature of the English as a people, to criticism of those who employ and enjoy "slatternly forms of speech", to feminism, to the actual meaning of a "free press". While certain details are understandably date (the material collected dates back in some cases to the 1930's), they nonetheless speak to timeless concerns and the indelible features and flaws of human nature.
Her insights on the gender and the treatment of women, in particular, strike me as relevant today as when it was written. It is perhaps a sad testament to our worst reflexes that we need constant reminder to treat individuals are more than a mere representative of the various classes we assign them to.
(Tangentially, throughout the course of the book, there are references to a number of seemingly excellent English writers, who must also vie for my time and attention.)
April 10, 2019
I am spending the year reading Sayers, both fiction and non-fiction.
Her essays are splendid. Some I skimmed because of lack of interest (the political ones from 1930s England). Although the essays are several decades old, many are still relevant. My favorite: Are Women Human? (1938) followed by The Human-Not-Quite-Human. I loved this quote from the second:
"Perhaps it is no wonder that the women were first at the Cradle and last at the Cross. They had never known a man like this Man - there never has been such another. A prophet and teacher who never nagged at them, never flattered or coaxed or patronised; who never made arch jokes about them, never treated them either as "The women, God help us!" or "The ladies, God bless them!"; who rebuked without querulousness and praised without condescension; who took their questions and arguments seriously; who never mapped out their sphere for them, never urged them to be feminine or jeered at them for being female; who had no axe to grind and no uneasy male dignity to defend; who took them as he found them and was completely unself-conscious. There is no act, no sermon, no parable in the whole Gospel that borrows its pungency from female perversity; nobody could possibly guess from the words and deeds of Jesus that there was anything "funny" about woman's nature.
But we might easily deduce it from His Contemporaries, and from His prophets before Him, and from His Church to this day. Women are not human; nobody shall persuade that they are human; let them say what they like, we will not believe it, though One rose from the dead."
^^^^^^ That resonated with me. If the church acted like Jesus, women as a whole would be much more highly regarded.
Also --- the essay Dr. Watson's Christian Name (A Brief Contribution to the Exegetical Literature of Sherlock Holmes) was quite hilarious ... four pages deducing why John Watson's wife calls him James.
Her essays are splendid. Some I skimmed because of lack of interest (the political ones from 1930s England). Although the essays are several decades old, many are still relevant. My favorite: Are Women Human? (1938) followed by The Human-Not-Quite-Human. I loved this quote from the second:
"Perhaps it is no wonder that the women were first at the Cradle and last at the Cross. They had never known a man like this Man - there never has been such another. A prophet and teacher who never nagged at them, never flattered or coaxed or patronised; who never made arch jokes about them, never treated them either as "The women, God help us!" or "The ladies, God bless them!"; who rebuked without querulousness and praised without condescension; who took their questions and arguments seriously; who never mapped out their sphere for them, never urged them to be feminine or jeered at them for being female; who had no axe to grind and no uneasy male dignity to defend; who took them as he found them and was completely unself-conscious. There is no act, no sermon, no parable in the whole Gospel that borrows its pungency from female perversity; nobody could possibly guess from the words and deeds of Jesus that there was anything "funny" about woman's nature.
But we might easily deduce it from His Contemporaries, and from His prophets before Him, and from His Church to this day. Women are not human; nobody shall persuade that they are human; let them say what they like, we will not believe it, though One rose from the dead."
^^^^^^ That resonated with me. If the church acted like Jesus, women as a whole would be much more highly regarded.
Also --- the essay Dr. Watson's Christian Name (A Brief Contribution to the Exegetical Literature of Sherlock Holmes) was quite hilarious ... four pages deducing why John Watson's wife calls him James.
Read
September 11, 2021I didn’t read the entire section on the Holmes controversies. Loved her essays on women.
November 15, 2016
Essays that make your brain dance even when you don't care for Sayers' sentiments. I preferred the religious and political essays to the language and literature ones, particularly the diatribe against the press. It feels a bit tragic that so much of what Sayers addressed is still around - feminism is still in need of advocates, women are still seen as less than human; capitalism is still at odds with Christianity but the tension is mostly unrecognized; etc etc. I wish I was t so lazy as to need four months to read excellent thoughtful books like this,as they make me smarter.
March 20, 2018
I love Dorothy Sayers's essays. While I don't love all of her essays in the political section, and that is because I don't understand what she was trying to get at with some of the essays about the British people, I still enjoy the quality of the writing even in the essays I don't enjoy as much. I thoroughly enjoyed her theological and literary essays. I also think her essays concerning women are still relevant to today. In fact many of her essays are still relevant to today.
July 5, 2011
I prefer the political and critical essays over the theological ones. The essays on women, feminism and gender roles are very funny and full of sharp observations. The Sherlock criticism essays are great fun to read.
January 3, 2019
Sayers was a paragon of good sense, as a writer (even if she didn't always exercise commonsense in her private life!)
Read this in 1993, and mentioned in my notes at the time that there were two very essays on what men can do and what women can do. Will have to read them again!
Read this in 1993, and mentioned in my notes at the time that there were two very essays on what men can do and what women can do. Will have to read them again!
April 30, 2025
A combination of no-nonsense Sayers (whether you agree with her or not, she doesn’t pull any punches) and scholarly humor. Some topics are a bit dated, but there’s still a lot worth encountering here.
February 28, 2023
Quite interesting perspectives of the topics discussed. But wasn't enjoyable as a fictional story, for obvious reason as it is analysis of various factors.
December 29, 2023
Parts of it are excellent, some good only as a fan of Sherlock Holmes books. I'm not so much, but I'm not taking points off her excellent writing because I find the subject less than fascinating.
November 26, 2025
Read this on the virtue of "Are Women Human?" and "The Human-Not Human" alone. Just so good. Sayers was a genius and so far ahead of her time as to be completely prescient.
January 22, 2026
Book of essays. I liked the essays on Aristotle and Holmes, Did not understand the critiques on newspaper English but felt her gentle feminism were well thought out
July 17, 2025
I enjoy Dorothy’s Essays- she’s brilliant & thought provoking. Rating 3 because it was a rather disjointed compilation -Some of the essays weren’t very relevant to today & the last few chapters were “critical studies on Sherlock Holmes” (I actually couldn’t bring myself to read the last bit as I am not that versed in the Sherlock realm and it was VeRY detailed.) Definitely was compiled as a resource rather than an arrangement so I don’t fault anyone for that- just difficult to recommend unless someone is an avid fan! As someone who is- some really great bits in here!!
August 10, 2021
Bit of a mixed bag for me.
The theological and critical sections I mostly found very interesting and thought provoking. In the political section, I very much liked the last four essays, and absolutely LOVED Are Women Human? and The Human-not-quite-Human - but the earlier ones in that section seemed to me to be quite arrogant in tone, and I found They Tried to be Good so objectionable that I barely made it to the end.
There are essays in here that I'll definitely revisit many times, but others that I'll be very happy not to see again.
So, as I say, a mixed bag.
The theological and critical sections I mostly found very interesting and thought provoking. In the political section, I very much liked the last four essays, and absolutely LOVED Are Women Human? and The Human-not-quite-Human - but the earlier ones in that section seemed to me to be quite arrogant in tone, and I found They Tried to be Good so objectionable that I barely made it to the end.
There are essays in here that I'll definitely revisit many times, but others that I'll be very happy not to see again.
So, as I say, a mixed bag.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews