The Casual Vacancy & Lord Peter Wimsey

[donnaimmaculata]

So, the posting challenge that has been going around has finally inspired me to make a post with fannish contents. This makes me very proud (I'm easily pleased).

Over a month ago, I finally read JK Rowling's The Casual Vacancy. (I actually wanted to make a post about it straightaway, but... yeah.)

How had nobody pointed out to me how good it is? I loved it, deeply and passionately. It is precisely my kind of book. Despite my love for the Discworld novels and Harry Potter, I have never considered myself a fan of the fantasy genre. I like novels in which nothing of any earth-shattering relevance happens, that dissect the lives of ordinary people, provide a social commentary of close-knit (and narrow-minded) communities, where everybody is self-righteous and prejudiced and in some way or another a horrible human being. I started reading The Casual Vacancy with no expectations whatsoever, tore through it in the space of three days, and then listened to the audiobook that for some miraculous reason is available on YouTube. It's probably my favourite of all the books that I've read this year (50+). (The runner-up would be World War Z, which is the exact opposite, genre-wise.) I am very much looking forward to the BBC adaptation, because if done right, it has the potential to be absolutely fabulous.

The month of August has so far been dedicated to reading Dorothy L. Sayers' Lord Peter Wimsey novels. I've never read them before and thought it's about time to rectify this.

How has there been no adaptation lately? They adapt just about anything, and surely, Lord Peter Wimsey has all the necessary ingredients to appeal to today's audiences: a mind-blowingly attractive* detective who is also an aristocrat, an athlete and a scholar, has an angsty past and a vaguely homoerotic relationship with his gentleman's gentleman. The Lord Peter/Bunter hurt/comfort scenes alone would bring fandom to its knees.

Plus, they could cast David Tennant, if he can do the posh accent.

*Dorothy Sayers goes out of her way to point out that he had "no pretentions to good looks", but we know how well that works out, don't we, Professor Snape?

Comments

[shocolate.livejournal.com]

1) I loved it, too - all such fallible, petty, normal people.

2) agreed, but we've had the Inspector Lynley Mysteries quite recently, with the earl!detective.

[donnaimmaculata.livejournal.com]

1) I also very much admired how she wrote about small-town, middle-class bigotry and managed to not recycle the Dursleys!

2) Hm, would you believe I've never really watched the Inspector Lynley Mysteries? I caught a few episodes on German telly, but since they're dubbed, it doesn't really count.

[shocolate.livejournal.com]

2) they're not that great - despite Dan's mother doing the original casting - but they are recent.

Although, of course, they're present day, so a period Wimsey series shouldn't really be an issue.

[donnaimmaculata.livejournal.com]

so a period Wimsey series shouldn't really be an issue

Exactly. Especially since the Twenties came back en vogue lately in the wake of The Great Gatsby.

[shocolate.livejournal.com]

I think I was just preemptively wincing at the people who have never heard of him and would say, "who is this aristocratic detective, copying Lynley?"

[donnaimmaculata.livejournal.com]

I would have thought Lord Peter Wimsey is so well-known as one of the seminal detectives - on a par with Miss Marple and Poirot, though not as well-know as Sherlock Holmes - that everyone would instantly recognise him as an established literary character. But I might be naive.

[pauraque]

I recently read The Casual Vacancy too, and keep meaning to post about it. I found it a really surreal read because JKR's author voice is so distinctive that it was hard to shake the feeling that I was reading a HP book! But I think that's more an issue with me than with the book itself.

[donnaimmaculata.livejournal.com]

See, it was the exact opposite with me: Whilst I do agree that she's got a distinctive author voice, the novel did not make me think of Harry Potter at all. To the point that I was surprised that so many reviewers drew parallels among or comparisons between The Casual Vacancy and the HP novels. The only thing that occurred to me after I'd finished reading was what I mentioned above: that she did not recycle the Dursleys, even though, with a few minor adjustments, they would have fit very well into the world of Pagford.

[magnetic-pole.livejournal.com]

Ah, another recommendation for the Casual Vacancy! I'll have to try it. I also love

novels in which nothing of any earth-shattering relevance happens, that dissect the lives of ordinary people, provide a social commentary of close-knit (and narrow-minded) communities, where everybody is self-righteous and prejudiced and in some way or another a horrible human being.

:) In fact, that line alone is convincing me I need to go to the library.

Have you seen the Lord Peter Wimsey adaptations from the 80s? I remember watching them with my parents while growing up. I wonder if the success of Sherlock will inspire some more updates of the "classic" mysteries series. M.

[donnaimmaculata.livejournal.com]

Oh, if you like that kind of novel, you will like it - especially since you like JK Rowling's characters. The Casual Vacancy is a great character study of deeply human, unhappy (for the most part) people.

I saw bits of the Lord Peter adaptation on YouTube, but that wasn't the Lord Peter I pictured when reading the books. He should be younger, I feel, and rather more playful. That's why I can picture David Tennant in this role: as a chatty, playful, foppish young man, crackling with energy.

I'm currently reading Murder Must Advertise, and I am struck at how very modern it feels. The beauty about the Lord Peter Wimsey novels is that they could be easily adapted as period dramas - with pretty costumes and the debonair Twenties charm -, and yet many of the issues raised in them are quite contemporary.

[donnaimmaculata.livejournal.com]

I've just realised I'd confused the two existing adaptations: the 70s one with Ian Carmichael, who is just. Plain. Wrong, and the one that you probably had in mind: the one from the 80s with Edward Petherbridge, who looks right for the part (albeit too old). I will have to do some more research, I think.

[magnetic-pole.livejournal.com]

I didn't realize there were two versions--I haven't even heard of the Carmichael ones. But, re: above, I agree with you entirely about the age issue and the cosmopolitan glamor of the 20s. Someone should take this idea and run with it! (Any television producers reading this journal? They should be!) M.

[donnaimmaculata.livejournal.com]

I discussed it with a RL friend the other day, and we agreed that we should nudge the BBC to produce an updated version for today's audience ;-)

[hippediva.livejournal.com]

Best adaptation of Lord Peter was done in with Edward Petherbridge back in the 80s. He was practically perfect (as opposed to Ian Carmichael ones---I am a longtime Lord Peter fan and I always hated Carmichael in the role---top big, too bulky, just too much. Petherbridge had the wonderfully effete nervousness and made his Peter absolutely note-perfection. His DVDs are available as the Peter Wimsey/Harriet Vane collection and are worth every cent!

[donnaimmaculata.livejournal.com]

Oh, I've just realised I confused the 70s and the 80s adaptations in my comment above and claimed the 80s Peter was too old and wrong. "Effete nervousness" sounds just about right (even though the actor was still too old to play Lord Peter, by about 20 years!). Ian Carmichael was definitely wrong. He looks nothing like Lord Peter; he could have played Peter's twinkly great-uncle, but not Peter himself, who is much more frail and nervy.

[hippediva.livejournal.com]

Petherbridge was yes, a bit old for the early stories, but he was actually spot-on age wise in the later ones (Peter is in his mid 40s when he finally marries Harriet). And he really had the nerves and such down---part of my problem with Carmichael was I could never imagine him being so emotionally fragile as to need Bunter the way Peter does, particular after solving a case and getting a conviction...I always loved that life/death angst that tears him to pieces and brings on his PTSD. My absolutely fave (and my sister's) is The Nine Tailors, closely followed by Gaudy Night which was also a fantastic production that they filmed at Oxford.

[donnaimmaculata.livejournal.com]

I've started reading the novels in order and have just arrived at The Nine Tailors. That would make Lord Peter about 45, but to me, he's still in his 30s, because I've read them all within the space of four weeks and he didn't have time to age, so to speak. But that's my problem, not that of E. Petherbridge.

Agreed on Ian Carmichael. From the bits I saw on YouTube, I feel he brings across the personable, charming side of Lord Peter's character, but not its damaged, brittle aspect. The novels between Clouds of Witness and Murder Must Advertise are relatively angst-free - as in: there's no breakdown, but I know there's one coming in The Nine Tailors.

[cordelia_v]

Seconded. Edward Petherbridge is a god.

a mind-blowingly attractive* detective who is also an aristocrat, an athlete and a scholar, has an angsty past and a vaguely homoerotic relationship

But there was a quite successful reworking of this trope recently: BBC Sherlock, no?

The world still needs a David Tenant! Lord Peter, too, of course.

[hippediva.livejournal.com]

And Harriet Walter was without doubt THE perfect Harriet Vane....she really managed that terrified snark so well. But as you say, yes, it is definitely time to redo them for sure. I am not a huge Tennant fan as a hero (I much prefer him playing villain roles---he gets that manic febrile intensity sooooo well!---can't you see him as the crazy artist in the Man withthe Copper Fingers?)and I haven't watched Sherlock, but I would adore seeing a new interpretation of Lord Peter! He has been a staple in my nightstand since I was in high school!

[donnaimmaculata.livejournal.com]

I threw in David Tennant's name because of my latent and long-standing Tennant!crush, but there's no conviction behind this suggestion, tbh. A RL friend of mine suggested Laurence Fox, who certainly does posh and haughty very well, and has an appropriately "silly face" ;-) But I don't like him, so, yeah, not my first choice, either. I would actually like to see the part played by someone brand new and unspoiled.

Well, off to read The Nine Tailors!

[donnaimmaculata.livejournal.com]

Hah! As the only person on the Internet who wasn't into Sherlock, I would welcome a new Lord Peter adaptation, even if it made use of the same tropes ;-)

There one aspect in which Sherlock and Lord Peter definitely differ: Lord Peter is almost aggressively personable. Sherlock makes a point of not getting on with people (with the exception of a select few), Lord Peter relies on his charm and his people skills a lot. I would like to see how this is handled on screen - investigators in contemporary dramas tend to present themselves to the world as caustic and misanthropic, whereas Lord Peter would have to don the outgoing, foppish persona.

[cordelia_v]

You're right about that difference. Although I don't see Peter as really that naturally outgoing. He's actually quite nervous and certainly has moments where he has low self-esteem; the outgoing gregariousness is more of a role he plays (successfully) when needed.

Sherlock doesn't even try, of course. He's definitely misanthropic, but I see this not as a sign that he's on the autistic spectrum (as some people argue) but that he' so far out the bell curve in terms of intelligence that he cannot control his arrogance towards others, who are mostly hopelessly dull from his point of view.

[donnaimmaculata.livejournal.com]

Oh, I agree that it is - for the most part - role playing. Still, high-strung as he is, he has got the necessary interpersonal skills to slip into that role easily. His giddy cheerfulness when faced with horrific murders strikes me as almost hysterical. I'm currently reading The Nine Tailors, and his reaction on finding a mutilated corpse is childish glee. Such a reaction could easily be mistaken for callousness, if it wasn't obvious that he has taught himself detachment. To make this absolutely clear, the author even included a dialogue that takes place shortly afterwards: Peter talks to Hilary Thorpe about how when "you're interested in a thing, it makes it less [personal]", and he says, "Because you have the creative imagination, which works outwards, till finally you will be able to stand outside your own experience and see it as something you have made, existing independently of yourself".

There are many parallels to Sherlock Holmes, I think, but Lord Peter cultivates such a different persona that I would like to see him tackled on screen as a sort of counterpart to the character of the BBC's Sherlock.

[cordelia_v]

Actually, you've now persuaded me that what I really want to read is a Wimsey/Sherlock crossover story!

[donnaimmaculata.livejournal.com]

There are crossover stories on Ao3, but I haven't read any yet and can't tell whether they're any good.

[ellensmithee.livejournal.com]

The BBC's 70s adaptation of the Lord Peter novels was really excellent, but I have no idea if they've remade them since.

[donnaimmaculata.livejournal.com]

There's a 70s adaptation with Ian Carmichael (who looks nothing like Lord Peter) and an 80s adaptation with Edward Petherbridge, who's supposed to be excellent, albeit too old. I'm greedy, I want a contemporary adaptation that caters to my needs and sensibilities as a modern viewer.

[houseboatonstyx.livejournal.com]

It's not just that Carmichael looks sturdy. His whole attitude seems wrong. I think he uses the banter and such as manipulation, to keep other people off balance, almost aggressively. And in his Harlequin costume he was certainly mean to the girl in the forest.

The Harriet of the 80s adaptations would have been repelled. I wonder what kind of Harriet WOULD like him?

[donnaimmaculata.livejournal.com]

I didn't see enough of the Carmichael adaptation to be able to judge on his overall attitude and especially his interactions with others. From the bits that I saw, I did find his Lord Peter too overbearing - and his sturdy physique certainly helped to convey this impression. I'm not surprised that, as you say, he uses the banter and such as manipulation, to keep other people off balance, almost aggressively - he doesn't seem to be wrecked by self-doubt. Whereas the canonical Peter has an artist's ego: huge, yet fragile.

And you're right: Harriet from the 80s adaptations would recoil when he leans across the table and asks, "You don't positively find me repellent, do you?"