Talk:Mervyn Bunter

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Help! I have expanded the original Literary Stub for Mervyn Bunter into an article, but I do not know (or am too scared to try) how to turn it into a regular article. Any suggestions, please? DanAtEly 14:13, 14 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Help Me

If you require help with a subject please use the {{helpme}} tag and someone will be along shortly to help you out. Richard Thompson (Talk! | Contribs) 14:15, 14 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I am unclear as to where the date 1942 came from in reference to 'Tallboys'. There is no dating evidence in the story for this date as far as I can see, and it seems unlikely to me that the village would hold a flowershow in 1942 - it was the middle of the war, and flower beds had all be converted to fruit and vegetable patches. My 1987 reprint of the 1973 edition (New English Library' does not end with those words, though the last paragraph is addressed to Bunter by Lord Peter. 79.78.246.20 (talk) 17:16, 23 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Well, I think you're absolutely right about the unlikelihood of a flower show in 1942: in fact the whole atmosphere of the Talboys story suggests that is not set in war time. BUT In Talboys Harrriet refers to "seven years" of marriage between herself and Peter. Now in her "Author's Note" to Gaudy Night Sayers writes that "the action of the book takes place in 1935" and the wedding takes place shortly after that. (Don't have a copy of Busman's Honeymoon to hand for details of how long after). So 1942 (or 1943 at latest) is correct for Talboys. Also Roger (second son) is referred to as 4 years old which again fits a 1942 date, and certainly means that Talboys cannot be pre-war since first child was born in 1936.

Now, if DLS were to read this I am sure that she would remind us that "For, however realistic the background, the novelist's only native country is Cloud-cuckooland" and, just as she did in Gaudy Night, she could arrange "the weather and the moon's changes to suit [her] own fancy" in Talboys.

The quotation about Bunter "who knew everything without asking" does occur in my copy of the story (Harper and Rowe paperback of 1987 entitled "Lord Peter" - collection of the Wimsey short stories), but not as the final paragraph.

Cje (talk) 20:44, 2 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]