International Background
A subplot in the book is Peter Wimsey's role as an informal envoy of the British Foreign Ministry, called upon to help defuse international crises where more conventional diplomats have failed. For much of the book he is in Italy, dealing with a major crisis which for a time seemed to threaten the outbreak of a new European war (as he tells Bunter). Though not explicitly named, this was clearly the Abyssinia Crisis, and the reference was obvious to readers at the time. The book reflects the mindset at the time of writing, when the outbreak of the Second World War had not yet come to seem inevitable.
In the frame of the book's plot, Wimsey's diplomatic obligations serve as a plot device to keep him away from Britain, and leave Harriet on her own for most of the book, to try to resolve the mystery at Oxford without his help.
Read more about this topic: Gaudy Night
Famous quotes containing the word background:
“In the true sense one’s native land, with its background of tradition, early impressions, reminiscences and other things dear to one, is not enough to make sensitive human beings feel at home.”
—Emma Goldman (1869–1940)