Plum Pudding
Today is the birthday of one of the 20th century's greatest humorists, not to mention prose stylists, Pelham Grenville Wodehouse--known as "Plum" to friends. P.G. Wodehouse wrote hundreds of short stories and novels about an England peopled with upper class eccentrics (and middle and lower class eccentrics) that no longer existed, and probably never did. Nevertheless, so funny and charming are his creations that it feels like they're real.
He wrote about golf, Psmith, Blandings Castle, Mr. Mulliner, The Drones Club and many other subjects, but is best known--deservedly--for the creation of Bertie Wooster and valet Jeeves. Bertie, an independently wealthy bachelor whose closest relations are aunts, is the well-intentioned but not too swift gent who narrates the stories. Luckily for him, Jeeves is always ready to shimmer in and save the day, using his wide knowledge and understanding of psychology, but not before Bertie is put through an awful lot.
The first Bertie and Jeeves short story appeared in 1915, and Wodehouse wrote over 25 more during the next fifteen years. Then for the next 40 years or so (Wodehouse lived a long life) B and J appeared mostly in novels.
Much of the humor is in how Bertie expresses himself. He's not always in on the joke, but he tries his best. Then there are the special scenes where Jeeves appears, and with quiet understatement takes his master in hand. Holding it all together are the farcical plots, at which Wodehouse is unsurpassed. The short stories are often tales of love and embarrassment, while the novels have chapters that end with a cliffhanger (which make it hard to stop reading), and keep the various storylines spinning, eventually so intertwined that resolution seems hopeless.
You can jump in any place, but I'd suggest you read Bertie and Jeeves chronologically so you can see how the characters develop. If you want a little dip to see if you like it, pick any of the short story collections. But the best Bertie and Jeeves are probably the novels. They're all fine (though avoid Ring For Jeeves, which doesn't use Bertie), but my favorite is Code Of The Woosters, followed by Joy In The Morning (also known as Jeeves In The Morning).
There have been a number of dramatic adaptations of Wodehouse, but none I've seen have been able to capture the delight of his books. Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry did a notable turn as the duo in the early 90s, but really, it's not the same thing. Still, I'm embedding this video because I've always liked "By Jingo":
He wrote about golf, Psmith, Blandings Castle, Mr. Mulliner, The Drones Club and many other subjects, but is best known--deservedly--for the creation of Bertie Wooster and valet Jeeves. Bertie, an independently wealthy bachelor whose closest relations are aunts, is the well-intentioned but not too swift gent who narrates the stories. Luckily for him, Jeeves is always ready to shimmer in and save the day, using his wide knowledge and understanding of psychology, but not before Bertie is put through an awful lot.
The first Bertie and Jeeves short story appeared in 1915, and Wodehouse wrote over 25 more during the next fifteen years. Then for the next 40 years or so (Wodehouse lived a long life) B and J appeared mostly in novels.
Much of the humor is in how Bertie expresses himself. He's not always in on the joke, but he tries his best. Then there are the special scenes where Jeeves appears, and with quiet understatement takes his master in hand. Holding it all together are the farcical plots, at which Wodehouse is unsurpassed. The short stories are often tales of love and embarrassment, while the novels have chapters that end with a cliffhanger (which make it hard to stop reading), and keep the various storylines spinning, eventually so intertwined that resolution seems hopeless.
You can jump in any place, but I'd suggest you read Bertie and Jeeves chronologically so you can see how the characters develop. If you want a little dip to see if you like it, pick any of the short story collections. But the best Bertie and Jeeves are probably the novels. They're all fine (though avoid Ring For Jeeves, which doesn't use Bertie), but my favorite is Code Of The Woosters, followed by Joy In The Morning (also known as Jeeves In The Morning).
There have been a number of dramatic adaptations of Wodehouse, but none I've seen have been able to capture the delight of his books. Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry did a notable turn as the duo in the early 90s, but really, it's not the same thing. Still, I'm embedding this video because I've always liked "By Jingo":
posted by LAGuy @ 12:22 AM
4 Comments:
Over the years I've listened to many Wodehouse books (the English accent helps but its not much different I think than the one I would imagine for Jeeves and Bertie) and my favorite (among many favorites)is Bertie's use of language- he's a twit as a character but his verbal gymnastics and metaphorical juggling and ridiculous abbreviations are fun to follow. I actually find Jeeves to be a bit of a wet blanket (a necessary one to set up everything else of course) who gets an occasional hilarious & droll understatement but usually ends all the chaos and fun when he arrives on the scene.
Interesting. Bertie's there all the time, and Jeeves only occasionally, so to me, when Jeeves appears, it's very special. His arch, understated way, not to mention his intelligence, always makes his scenes of great interest, for comic and plot reasons.
I like Jeeves- I just think Wodehouse made him the adult authority to rein in his wilder side. I imagine Wodehouse appeared to the world to be much more like Bertie (Not to bring up a sore point, but you could also imagine Bertie sans Jeeves thinking it a boffo notion in the old noggin to pop on the radio and yuck it up with the Narzis- clearly his inner Jeeves was on holiday)
Sorry- but you've got me going on a favorite subject- according to a recent Wodehouse biography by Frances Donaldson, PG was prolific but found the hardest part of writing to be getting the plot right. This at first seem very odd because nothing seems more inconsequential than the actual plot- I can't remember any of them and they give the impression of just being a background against which the beloved characters can riff.
But these riffs would not be quite so enjoyable if there weren't a tight set holding it all together. Silly people acting silly for no reason would get tiresome but silly people acting silly within an accepted reality where certain things are deemed to matter (the right cow creamer) make it work.
On re-reading my prior post I would like to substitute "old nog" for "old noggin" Natch.
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