She refers to a Jewish family as living their "dark, dense Jewish lives" at one point. So some of those attitudes were hers. In terms of feminism, she considered herself a feminist, but also was rebelling against what she considered the prudishness and joylessness of the feminists who came before her. And she was a lifelong supporter of the Tory party. So conservative even by contemporary standards. Which makes sense. She was an Inkling. Hung around with Chesterton, C.S. Lewis, Tolkein. All brilliant writers. All reactionary, all even by the standards of their day. C.S. Lewis was probably the least reactionary of the bunch.

As to not judging people by contemporary standards - fair enough. But we are reading it now, and so you can't expect us not to notice or be bothered. And it is also worth remembering that there were people at time who were critics of those attitudes. Sayers got booed down for a reactionary speech at one point.

One last point. Historically, in North America and Western Europe, the more conservative viewpoints are usually the ones proven wrong fifty years later. Not always, but 90% of the time in North American or Western Europe, the conservative of today is mostly taking the position of the liberal of fifty years ago. (Though the current USA conservative movement does seem to want to go back further and repeal the New Deal, in some cases repeal the Civil War. Note that I'm sure there are many conservatives this is not true of, but it does describe the contemporary movement.) So, though it is not 100% certain, if you want to guess what positions will be considered enlightened in 50 years, the left viewpoints are your best bets.

But we are reading it now, and so you can't expect us not to notice or be bothered.

Here's what I said:

So, while I understand having a contemporary critique of racist/sexist attitudes of the past in the work. To be aware of it and conscious of it.

So at no point was I advocating that writers of the past get a free pass for their objectionable attitudes.

I want to heartily recommend the Chet and Bernie mysteries by Spencer Quinn. Here is a link to the first one: [link] They are about a private eye named Bernie, written from the point of view of his dog, Chet. It seems as if they would be twee and cloying, but they are actually very funny and very smart.

Big surprise: Anne Rice's Sleeping Beauty is getting re-released.

Totally parenthetical, but I'm pretty sure Chesterton and Sayers never hung out. I'm not certain that even Lewis ever met Chesterton, whose writing he idolized.

(And, parenthetically to the parenthetical remark, TBH, once I read Chesterton it was really hard to go back to Lewis -- once I'd immersed myself in one of his stylistic heroes, it became so painfully clear how much of what I'd loved about his own style was imitative. Really competently, lovingly imitative, but not a patch on the real thing.)

(There's also a whole huge dissertation on all the gigantically problematic things about Chesterton and his worldview (not to mention the persistent threads of solidarity with the working, non-working and totally shat on poor, and the Occupy-friendly EAT THE RICH sentiment glimmering through all the gigantically problematic parts) and looking at old works through a modern lens, but now I'm about to make myself late for work. I will say, though, that for all his racism and sexism and all the other -isms, Chesterton was an incalculably huge part of pushing me into straight-up progressivism.)

(But still pretty sure he and Sayers never met.)

I've never read any Chesterton, but I've always wondered about him. Where should I start?

Where should I start?

JZ's busy at work on a Tuesday morning, but I'm sure she'd recommend The Man Who Was Tuesday as that's her favorite.

(It's also very accessible and funny.)

Is this the Chesterton who wrote The Rich are Different?

You are right the Chesterton was not part of the Inklings. Don't know why I thought he was. Apparantly Sayers was not really a member being a woman, but did socialize with them and was sometimes considered an informal member. [link]

But if Chesterton was pro-working class it was in a very odd way. [link]

I will add that the Rebecca West link is the essay in which she made the statement often quoted: "I myself have never been able to find out precisely what Feminism is: I only know that people call me a Feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat or a prostitute." [link]