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Jeeves and Wooster
04 August 2005
I've been reading P.G. Wodehouse of late, enjoying the Jeeves Omnibus Vol. 2 and Blandings Castle in particular. What drew me back to P.G., after so many years since my last read of him, was finding one of his works at a yard sale (I fail to see how anyone can sell or dispose of books, but it's fortunate for me they sometimes do...).
I've also been watching the 1990s' BBC production of Jeeves & Wooster on a DVD set I bought on eBay (23 episodes, many of which I had never seen, being such a TV-luddite that I find it difficult to commit to any time slot on a regular basis, especially when there's a good book at hand...). Hugh Laurie as the foppish Bertie and Stephen Fry as the steadfast valet Jeeves play - in my reading - the perfect characters for the stories. In fact, it's hard to read the tales without seeing both of them in my mind these days.
Wodehouse is such silly fun, such innocence, such lightweight and enjoyable pleasure that it's difficult sometimes to read the serious social criticism in his words. He covered it well, at times, with humour, but was also not contrite when he let it out. From the names of the characters and places, to the attitude of protagonists like Jeeves, Wodehouse was writing both fiction and social commentary. Sometimes that commentary is easily missed in the sheer fun.
Pelham Grenville Wodehouse was also prolific. He was first published in 1903, at the age of 22, and his last book was published in 1977, two years after his death, publishing 98 novels and a large array of short stories in that time. The earliest short story I can find dates from 1901 (When Papa Swore in Hindustani). That's a lot of his works to catch up on.
Although Wodehouse is the quintessential English writer for many people, he actually left England to live in America in 1924. He kept a seaside vacation home in France where, in 1940, he was captured by the invading German army. Wodehouse proved so entertaining to his fellow prisoners that the Germans persuaded the very non-political writer to make a series of lightweight radio broadcasts - fluffy stuff, but not without criticism of the Germans. But that wasn't appreciated by the British, then under daily air raids and bombing runs. When the war ended, Wodehouse returned to America, becoming a citizen in 1955.
George Orwell wrote a Defence of P.G. Wodehouse over those broadcasts.
That explains in part the adventures of Bertie in New York, where Wodehouse had the social butterfly reside for about a year. But geography mattered little to Bertie, and he continued to find himself in the same sort of adventures as he had in England. In fact, most of the stories and novels include similar elements: Bertie trying to avoid bombastic aunts and marriage (with the help of Jeeves), rollicking with his pals (mostly members of the aptly-named Drones Club...), while trying to find some form of superiority over Jeeves in the matter of habadashery or culture. Jeeves' taste was, of course, impeccable, albeit somewhat conservative. And he always won these battles with his master in the end.
Wodehouse is, for many, second only to Dickens in his creation of memorable characters. However, his caricatures often poked a sharp stick in the eye of the British establishment and offended many of the titled nobbery Wodehouse lampooned. The aristocracy was not amused - and in fact suggested in 1944 he be tried as a traitor for his broadcasts, and in 1967 blocked his being awarded the Companion of the British Empire. He triumphed, however, and received the Knight of the British Empire, in 1975.
But the real delight in Wodehouse is his writing, his turn of phrase, his characterizations. Like Shakespeare, he turned words around, used them in new ways, and created new forms. The latter is most notable in the abbreviations Bertie frequently uses. He was adept at crafting his works, not merely writing a good yarn.
Wodehouse also chronicles a lost time with a sense of affection, setting most of his stories between the wars, although many are also Edwardian. Many dramatizations of his works set the time in the early 1920s. His England was less urbanized, more gentile, with a culture of servants and valets. There's a soft but ubiquitous nostalgia in Wodehouse for his native land at that time.
Wikipedia lists 18 Jeeves' novels, six about the Drones' Club, and 11 about Blandings. Plus he wrote numerous short stories about them all, as well as other series and stories such as his golf novels. Some of the novels have passed into public domain and can be downloaded from sites like Blackmask.com and the Gutenberg Project.
Anyway, the tales are fun, and the wide-ranging cast of characters delightful, no matter on what level you read him. And I do recommend you read Wodehouse - it's far better entertainment than you'll ever find on American (and most Canadian) TV and will make you laugh aloud. I recommend you start with the Jeeves series. Jeeves has become a cultural icon, and once you begin, you'll find yourself wanting more in short order.
Failing that, you might hunt for the DVD set on eBay, although watching it without reading at least some of the books is like trying to view a beautiful outdoors scene through a sheet of translucent vellum. You get some of the broader strokes, but you miss the precision and the detail. And you will miss Wodehouse's wordplay, although Laurie and Fry still manage to retain a good component of that in their dialogue.
I've also been watching the 1990s' BBC production of Jeeves & Wooster on a DVD set I bought on eBay (23 episodes, many of which I had never seen, being such a TV-luddite that I find it difficult to commit to any time slot on a regular basis, especially when there's a good book at hand...). Hugh Laurie as the foppish Bertie and Stephen Fry as the steadfast valet Jeeves play - in my reading - the perfect characters for the stories. In fact, it's hard to read the tales without seeing both of them in my mind these days.
Wodehouse is such silly fun, such innocence, such lightweight and enjoyable pleasure that it's difficult sometimes to read the serious social criticism in his words. He covered it well, at times, with humour, but was also not contrite when he let it out. From the names of the characters and places, to the attitude of protagonists like Jeeves, Wodehouse was writing both fiction and social commentary. Sometimes that commentary is easily missed in the sheer fun.
Pelham Grenville Wodehouse was also prolific. He was first published in 1903, at the age of 22, and his last book was published in 1977, two years after his death, publishing 98 novels and a large array of short stories in that time. The earliest short story I can find dates from 1901 (When Papa Swore in Hindustani). That's a lot of his works to catch up on.
Although Wodehouse is the quintessential English writer for many people, he actually left England to live in America in 1924. He kept a seaside vacation home in France where, in 1940, he was captured by the invading German army. Wodehouse proved so entertaining to his fellow prisoners that the Germans persuaded the very non-political writer to make a series of lightweight radio broadcasts - fluffy stuff, but not without criticism of the Germans. But that wasn't appreciated by the British, then under daily air raids and bombing runs. When the war ended, Wodehouse returned to America, becoming a citizen in 1955.
George Orwell wrote a Defence of P.G. Wodehouse over those broadcasts.
That explains in part the adventures of Bertie in New York, where Wodehouse had the social butterfly reside for about a year. But geography mattered little to Bertie, and he continued to find himself in the same sort of adventures as he had in England. In fact, most of the stories and novels include similar elements: Bertie trying to avoid bombastic aunts and marriage (with the help of Jeeves), rollicking with his pals (mostly members of the aptly-named Drones Club...), while trying to find some form of superiority over Jeeves in the matter of habadashery or culture. Jeeves' taste was, of course, impeccable, albeit somewhat conservative. And he always won these battles with his master in the end.
Wodehouse is, for many, second only to Dickens in his creation of memorable characters. However, his caricatures often poked a sharp stick in the eye of the British establishment and offended many of the titled nobbery Wodehouse lampooned. The aristocracy was not amused - and in fact suggested in 1944 he be tried as a traitor for his broadcasts, and in 1967 blocked his being awarded the Companion of the British Empire. He triumphed, however, and received the Knight of the British Empire, in 1975.
But the real delight in Wodehouse is his writing, his turn of phrase, his characterizations. Like Shakespeare, he turned words around, used them in new ways, and created new forms. The latter is most notable in the abbreviations Bertie frequently uses. He was adept at crafting his works, not merely writing a good yarn.
Wodehouse also chronicles a lost time with a sense of affection, setting most of his stories between the wars, although many are also Edwardian. Many dramatizations of his works set the time in the early 1920s. His England was less urbanized, more gentile, with a culture of servants and valets. There's a soft but ubiquitous nostalgia in Wodehouse for his native land at that time.
Wikipedia lists 18 Jeeves' novels, six about the Drones' Club, and 11 about Blandings. Plus he wrote numerous short stories about them all, as well as other series and stories such as his golf novels. Some of the novels have passed into public domain and can be downloaded from sites like Blackmask.com and the Gutenberg Project.
Anyway, the tales are fun, and the wide-ranging cast of characters delightful, no matter on what level you read him. And I do recommend you read Wodehouse - it's far better entertainment than you'll ever find on American (and most Canadian) TV and will make you laugh aloud. I recommend you start with the Jeeves series. Jeeves has become a cultural icon, and once you begin, you'll find yourself wanting more in short order.
Failing that, you might hunt for the DVD set on eBay, although watching it without reading at least some of the books is like trying to view a beautiful outdoors scene through a sheet of translucent vellum. You get some of the broader strokes, but you miss the precision and the detail. And you will miss Wodehouse's wordplay, although Laurie and Fry still manage to retain a good component of that in their dialogue.
