The P. G. Wodehouse thread

Must correct an unforgivable error in last post: what I am reading is Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves (1963). It should be the 3rd to the last Jeeves books. At 70+ Wodehouse is as funny and sharp as ever, if not funnier and sharper.:)
 
Finished the hilarious Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves. Now started Much Obliged, Jeeves. Thank heavens Wodehouse had a 70+ years of writing career that left us such a great fortune.
 
I'm just reading some 'Mulliner'. The Truth about George is the finest, funniest, most perfect short story I've read. It's entirely wonderful - read it if you can, I beseech you.
 
Yes it's a topper in Meet Mr Mulliner. I was getting into the 2nd collection Mr Mulliner Speaking, but read only the first two before got distracted by something else. Some people seem to think the late 20's till 30's, when these Mulliner books among a variety of others were written, was the golden age of his writing career. I totally disagree. The Jeeves/ Wooster and Blandings Castle books I've read so far spreading half a century, all brilliant. In fact Stiff Upper Lips, Jeeves was published in his 80's and not 70's as per my previous post. Much Obliged, Jeeves, I'm currently reading towards the end, was published in 1971 when he was 90! It's brilliant as ever. The man's wit just wouldn't dim.
 
The one with the cow creamer - Code of the Woosters?
Joy in the Morning.
The short story where Bertie ends up addressing a girls' school - absolutely hilarious.
Favourite character - Gussie Fink-Nottle, also the fascist/Oswald Mosley character whose name I can't remember...
 
aThenian said:
Thank you. It's the perfect name for him, some how. The Eulalie storyline was excellent.
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That sweet victory involving Eulalie was short lived though. You'll see in the later novels. Bertie has much to deal with Spode. :)
 
No, but is frequently mentioned together with the unfortunate umbrella incident, as poor Wooster keeps stumbling into the society of Sir Watkyn Basset who as a collector always got other junks to be pinched, and of course there would be Spode. :)

I'm now reading - sadly, the last Wooster/Jeeves novel Aunts Aren't Gentlemen, it is the last complete novel by Wodehouse, published at his ripe age of 93. He would go on write his final Sunset at Blandings until his last days in hospital, unfinished. The man is a genius, no doubt, an uncanny genius. I bet like Jeeves, he ate a lot of fish, had a bulge at the back of his head with grey matters.
 
Closed Aunts Aren't Gentlemen in awe last night. One of his best. I laughed many hearty laughs (some fortissimo I must say) and when wasn't laughing I was chuckling or smiling. The finest humour, finest prose and finest style done with ease. Truly the fine art of language of the highest calibre.
 
Bick said:
I read Laughing Gas. A super book, which I know Teresa likes a good deal too from comments earlier in the thread. It is a nicely done 'body switch' comedy. I especially enjoy it when Plum makes small but endearing links to his larger world of Drones and the idle rich, as he does here. Reference is made to friends of the book's protagonist as members of the Drones Club, notably 'Barmy' Phipps and 'Oofy' Prosser, despite this otherwise being very much a standalone book (set mostly in Hollywood).

Speaking of connections between books, I know Wooster very occasionally refers to Blandings in passing - but does he ever go there, or meet any of the Blanding cast in any stories?
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I'm never tired of using the word 'brilliant' for the brilliant minds and their works. So yes, Laughing Gas is absolutely brilliant. It's the best of his stand alone (out of the main theme) book I've read. Plum is a master of comic farce. The plot is superbly constructed and the characters are vividly caricatured. The personality of Lord Havershot is very similar to Wooster's, in spite of his beefy built and gorilla-ish face. Why don't they make those chivalry gentlemen anymore? :p I haven't read any Drones club books so I wouldn't be able to make connections.

If I haven't missed anything, I think I have read all the novel and s. stories of Wooster/Jeeves. And if I haven't missed anything, Wooster didn't set foot in Blandings or meet someone of that clan in any stories. I guess he'd get along with Lord Emsworth just fine if he did. :)
 
Funnily enough, Allegra, while Bertie may have never visited Blandings, "Algernon Wooster" is staying there in Something Fresh (1915), and plays billiards with Freddie. I believe Algernon was an early incarnation of Bertie? He's never mentioned again I think.
 
Hm... Algernon Wooster completely slipped from my mind. He must've been Bertie's predecessor or one of his many cousins. As for Drones stories I just realised I did read Young Men in Spats. Too many Wodehouse books to keep the record straight.:) Just finished Mr. Mulliner Speaking, not as good as Meet Mr Mulliner. Something Squishy in the collection is probably the best.
 
Still the faithful Wodehousian here. Finished Mulliner Nights. My favourite is The Story of Webster. Webster the cat is just my kind of cats, the reformed Webster that is.:) Since Plum is a devoted animal lover who always had dogs and cats (some rescued) and parrots around, his description about them are vividly funny.
 
How would you rank those three Mulliners, Allegra? I've only read 'Meet...'. It contained the finest Plum short I've read though, in 'The Truth About George'.
 
unfortunately I must confess to being a bit (OK then a LOT!!) of a philistine. I loved the Jeeves & Wooster TV series and off the back of that I decided to try the novels... and came away totally disillusioned, didn't enjoy them at all :(
 
WaylanderToo said:
unfortunately I must confess to being a bit (OK then a LOT!!) of a philistine. I loved the Jeeves & Wooster TV series and off the back of that I decided to try the novels... and came away totally disillusioned, didn't enjoy them at all :(
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Well, each person's tastes are their own, but I feel incredibly sad for you that you can't enjoy these as much as I do!
 
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