P G Wodehouse

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Topic started by Saketh (sakethr@hotmail.com) on Mon Aug 30 17:11:04 .


What do you think of British Humour?
Partiularly the funny world of Wodehouse and his characters?

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Makes good light reading. I am a big fan. Read a lot of his books. I dont see many PGW fans in US.
Heard that he had emigrated to US and wrote most of the books while living in US. Dont know if that is true.
Trivia: Only two characters appear both in Blandings Castle stories and Bertram Wooster stories. Who are they?

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Just finished reading my first PGW book. Goes by the name of 'Picadilly Jim'. It's very humourous but not in the sense that one can laugh out loud. Everything is taken lightly. I found that it reminded me of 'Crazy Mohan's' screenplays. A lot of 'aal maraadam' going on. Of course, this is the first book so let's see how it goes.

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great!!!!!

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aruvi: PGW is most famous for aaL maaraattam. In "Aunt's aren't gentleman" Bertram Wooster and his friend (monty bodkin?) get arrested for trying to steal a policeman's helmet during Oxford Boat Race Night. Bertie gets fined 5# and is let off. Next when his friend's turn came the judge decides to take notice of the increasing number of attempts to steal policemen's helmtets and delivers a lecture and sentences him to 1 month in jail. But the friend is engaged to the Vicar's daughter and has to be present in the village. So Bertie goes there taking his name, the girl knows him and cooperates. She has eight aunts. The friend gets clemency on the queen's birthday so decides to go to the village, but since bertie has already gone there in his name, he goes as bertram wooster. Oh my god you got to read the book. Does it remind you of the plot of a recent tamil movie?

The number of aaL maaraattams in Uncle Dynamite is just too much! Is that where a character will be living with three different false identities at the same time in the same house?

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Freddie Threepwood marries the daughter of the owner of Dog-Joy dog biscuits and emigrates to US. He returns and announces he is the Vice President of Dog-Joy. "So it pays to marry into the family in America?"
Freddie:"No pretty much everyone starts out as a vice president over there. If I really do well I hope soon to become a second assistance deputy salesman" (paraphrased.). He tries to get the exclusive contract to sell dog biscuits to Sir Gregory Parsloe-Parsloe, with the help of Lady Constance Keeble, his aunt. But Sir Gregory is the arch rival for Clarance, the ninth Earl of Emsworth, owner of Empress of Blandings, hoping to win the Fat Pigs Section of the Shrophshire Country Fair. Wow, so long since I read PGW. nice remniscences.

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Some of PGW quotes...
1. They crached into each other proving that two people cannot be at the same time at the same place
2. He went in and came back so quickly that he saw himself going in.
more later

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Two lovable characters at Blandings:
1.Pig-headed Lord Emsworth,who has nothing but the
prize pig that he rears on his mind all the time.
2.Uncle Galahad,the trouble-shooter at
Blandings,who pulls out all his young nephews/nieces out of the tight holes in
which they're fixed,sometimes with the able
counsel provided by his all-efficient
(inimitable,in .G.W's words)valet,Jeeves.. (Incidentally one of his policies in life is never
to turn in b'fore 4.00 in the night(morning!)every day)

Also,P.G.W's predeliction for aunts is quite overwhelming:aunt Connie,aunt Agatha,aunt
Hermione,aunt Diana...the list goes on..Every
youngster introduced is done so with a long line
of aunts trailing him/her!!

Another of P.G.W's interesting characters is
Comrade Psmith,the communist,possessor of a
profound vocabulory,who has the uncanny ability of
framing huge complex sentences out of the most
simple of statements!
(eg:Chided by a bank manager,about his intriguing
stare,he replies politely,saying:"I'm sorry if my
stare falls short in any view of ur ideals of what
a stare should be!")

P.G.W's musical comedies really do lit up a smile on even the most impassive sect of his readers..!

(Interestingly,Crazy Mohan himself once admitted
in a Vikatan interview,that his writings were inspired by P.G.W's lighter vein of writing,&
humorous color.)

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meera:

That was a good write up on PGW, one of my all time fves.

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Thanks Ramji..nice to discover some (hard to find)P.G.W's admirers out here...

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If BW Wooster delights us with his stupidity Psmith does that with, as meera points out above, his grandiloquent style.
You should read that episode in "Leave it to Psmith" and see how he manages to find an umbrella for a strange girl who is held up in a bus-stop because of rain.
Psmith notices her stranded just as he came out of his club. He goes back to the cloak room of the club and picks the best umbrella, unmindful of the attendant's protests, and hands it over to that girl.

When it chances that he runs into her later in the same day that unknown girl thanks him and requests him to allow her to keep it until she reaches her home. He tells her not to bother about returning it. After she insisted upon returning it he gives the address to be returned as " Walderwick, ...."
The girl says "thank you Mr Walderwick" and Psmith is confused by her addressing him so and tells her
his name.
"Do you mean to say you are giving away the umbrella of another person?"

His reply is one of the best digs on communism.
"yes, While other people are content with mere talk of redistribution of property, I go one step further and practise it"
And that is not the end of that episode. When that Walderwick demands that Psmith return his umbrella
(or parasol) he consoles him saying how his name will be etched in the annals of history (by this act of donating the umbrella, although by proxy) along with the great names of people known for their kind deeds.

The whole book is hilarious.

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I am a fan of PGW too. My favourite so far is "Code of the Woosters" - easily the funniest book I've ever read. This one is non-stop farce written in a most amusing manner. Critics have rightly described PGW as a musician of the English language.

Sun: If I remember rightly, one of Bertie's friends (is it Bingo Little) becomes Emsworth's secretary. Also, one of his n^2 fiances or her father is related to Emsworth.

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SRK: The loony doctor Sir Roderick Glossop appears in both series. His daughter is the famour Honoria Glossop, engaged to Bertie, as usual for a book.
The secretary of Emsworth was Rupert Bauxter a mousy character very unlikely to be a friend of Bertie. But I do remember one of bertie's friends who needs 300 pounds to open a soup canteen in Picadilly circus, ends up kidnapping, nay pignapping, Empress of Blandings. so I was wrong there are more characters that appear in both series.

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sun: True, but Baxter got dismissed. Who was the Lord's secretary after that? I guess it was one of Bertie's friends.

Sir Roderick Glossop was exactly the guy I was referring to. The scene when he comes to visit Bertie, rather to spy on his prospective son-in-law, is one of the most hilarious ones in "Code of the Woosters".

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SRK: Bertie trying to puncture his hot water bottle with a needle at the end of a pole gets caught. Cant stop laughing just thinking about those episodes. Who was the guy who was depraved
enough to loop the last pair of ropes back and then challenge Bertie that he could not swing across the pool in Drones Club?

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what is Psmith's full name?

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P. G. WODEHOUSE! The very name is synonymous with Beauty of Language and Purity of Laughter! The amazing thing about P. G. Wodehouse is that although his language is at first difficult for non-English speaking people to comprehend fully, he is most enjoyed precisely in the non-English speaking world (outside Britain) and only rarely in the English-speaking Americas! The fact is that Indians have always enjoyed the beauty of language, whatever it may be - and PGW is a master-juggler of the English language, juggling it to the rarefied heights of comedy. Unlike so-called comedians of modern times, he does not resort to vulgarity to make people laugh. His comedy is the purest bliss! Besides, he has created a whole pantheon of characters, who, for variety and individuality, rank just below the pantheon created by Shakespeare. And that is some achievement!

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What a wonderful thread!

PGW is, IMHO, the greatest writer of humour in the English language. Whenever I read his writings, the mood lightens, the blues are blown away and "all is right with the world". Not that this is anything new or unique. Just thought I will say it.

Here are a couple of his witticisms :

"I have always had the feeling that a violin solo appears to last longer than it actually does".

"He looked at her from top knot to shoe sole".

"In American companies people generally start off as Vice-Presidents and gradually become Managers".

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I agree with u guys...PGW is the best ever!Why is it so hard to find him in a library anywhere in the US????I guess we understand his humour the best, what with having been ruled by the British for soooo long.
Can u imagine my surprise when I find a brand new hard bound copy of PGW`s 5 short works in the 50% off sale shelf of my school book store.I grabbed it immediately.It was the best $12 I ever spent.The lady at the check out counter says"P.G.Wodehouse....never heard of him".You don`t know what you are missing lady,is all I could think!

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Aarthi :

I think the libraries in the US stock books written by Americans or there is a mention of the US somewhere in the work :-).

I feel that is the reason that all of PGW's works are not available freely. Moreover PGW's books were also published in the US albeit with different titles.

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Aarthy:

Are you the budding poet that I know? PGW can be a life long companion. Besides humor, you can read him for the sheer beauty of the language.

He said: " I believe there are two ways of writng novels. One is mine, making a sort of musical comedy without music and ignoring life altogether; the other is going right deep down into life and not caring a damn."

Do you know he became a US citizen?

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No I did`nt know he became a US citizen..Interesting trivia!
No I am not the budding poet you know-Ramji.
Does anyone know if one can get him at Barnes and Noble or Borders?

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I belong to that school of thought that believes that good old plum was one of the greatest exponents of the english language. If there was a person who could breathe life into the language it was Wodehouse. His language has character and that too a distinct one. Whenever I read a Wodehouse I get the feeling that those are not merely simple words put in there. Every phrase, every word seems to leap out of the pages like impish schoolboys and make fantastic faces at you, so much so that you cannot but break out into uncontrollable laughter.
Wodehouse stories ( if one can call them that that is) for me have another very important facet. They seem to be, to me a shameless celebration of life. I at times also sit down and wonder at the genius of the human being, as to how being a part of the times that we live in could have had the strength to view and the capacity to share so much beauty and goodness.
Wodehouses world was as has been already said _idyllic_ but let us not forget that it does take a lot of beauty of spirit and strength of mind to even envisage an idyllic world.

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Read somewhere that Plum used to write 16 hours a day!

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I have been a huge fan of PG Wodehouse since the seventies! My all time favorite author. I agree that he is not nearly as big in America as you would expect...I usually get a blank stare when I speak of him which is incomprehensible to me....
I am divided between Blandings Castle and Bertie and Jeeves...my heart is torn.
Oh, he is at Barnes and Nobel, and also ebay....

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I have been a huge fan of PG Wodehouse since the seventies! My all time favorite author. I agree that he is not nearly as big in America as you would expect...I usually get a blank stare when I speak of him which is incomprehensible to me....
I am divided between Blandings Castle and Bertie and Jeeves...my heart is torn.
Oh, he is at Barnes and Nobel, and also ebay....

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He did right a lot of books. But can someone make a list of his all time great comedy books.

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Hi,
Yes I like Wodehouse a lot. I think Jeeves is the greatest. Aunt Agatha is sweet too, for all her terrorising tactics.
Jyothi

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Hi,
Yes I like Wodehouse a lot. I think Jeeves is the greatest. Aunt Agatha is sweet too, for all her terrorising tactics.
Jyothi

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Aarti

and this may probably apply to others too. Barnes and Noble is a good place, but the places that really work for me are used book shops. In the south bay (CA) there are such haunts in Palo Alto (University ave)and Mountain View (Castro Street). On good days Ive bought a couple of PGW's for as little as five quid.

I believe one can enjoy his works better with some background in English litt (not that I have any), what with there being multiple references to the old poet and other greek persona's.

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Hey the wodehouse guy .. the one who made my heart go haywire on jeeves .Oh I really love him do I? Everytime i plunge into jeeves or bertie or Aunt Agatha or the whole bunch of firecrackers ,I'm totally lost .. in a world of fun and frolic away from the rat race. If you aren't a wodehouse reader you've lost something (substantial) in life. So never too late. Pick up one and lie on a hammock coz that's the best place to enjoy a wodehouse. Bye luv Ya.

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Glad to have spotted this thread. Am a hopeless Wodehouse fan. Like Connie, my heart too is split between Blandings Castle with its Emsworths and the Jeeves series. However, I very often lean towards Blandings.

Only a genius of his kind who so exuberantly mocks at the English aristocracy could come up with names like Gussy Finknottle, Stiffy Bing, Stinker Pinker etc.

To the issue of the no.of books he has written, I think the entire collection numbers between 90 and 100. This may or may not include the screenplays I beleive he has written for some Hollywood productions.

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What Ho ! buddies, with knobs on. If you can think of a better thing to have happened to mankind than PGW, you can have it.

Cheers, all of you.

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I LOVE PGW's Novels!!!

his style, humour and english are without par!!!

The best character I like is PSMITH! I am surprised that no one has said anything about my favourite character so far!!!!!

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It would be more fruitful if some discussion takes place about the characters, plot, Wodehouses penchant and flair for bombastic words, etc.

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(Once in a while I'll post a fondly remembered scene from PGW. May be it will spark discussions
Arthus Avalon is asking for. May be others can do so too. Let us give a name and number to these references so that follow ups can refer to them clearly)

--Psmith: Meets Man with a bush on lapel #0001--
Psmith as the detective arranges to meet someone he has not seen before. Psmith asks the other guy to wear a chrysanthemum on his lapel for identification. Other guy goes to a flower shop and finds to his dismay the flower was six inches in diameter and strains the coat lapel. There was a coded exchange too for identification. Psmith is late for the meeting. This guy ends up asking everyone in the waiting room of Drones Club if it was raining in Shrophshire. Then Psmith wanders around and locates him and says, "What are you doing with that bush on your coat?". Turns out Psmith meant a carnation not the mum. Hilarious descriptions all the way during this episode.
-----end of 0001-----------------------

[For tamils: Remember the movie "sattam en kaiyil"? There the coded exhange between two smugglers is "It is raining in Mount Road (mount rodula mazahi peyyuthu)", "Yes,So it must be Friday (aamaa, innikku veLLik kizhamai)". Almost
identical to the coded exchange in #0001]

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hi ravi sundaram,

i remember this one very well. actually i think that its the otherway round. Freddie (of blandings castle) asks Psmith to wear this. :) its a very funny thing.

in the same novel, there is a part where psmith tries to woo a girl. you should read the part where he proposes to her!! Its totally hilarious!!!

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Psmith gives away the umbrella of some Drones Club member the flower shop girl right?

--------Barbazon Plank Major, Minor, Miner--#0002
Uncle Dynamite's name slips my mind, please help.
He claims to be Major Barbazon Plank, returning
from an Expdition to the Amazaon. Constable Potter knows the real Major Barbazon Plank and confronts
him and asks for an explantion.
This is how he wiggles out: (paraphrased by me
not an exact quote)
"My dear Potter, I dont blame you, many like you
have been confused. When I said Barbazon Plank,
the major, many people confuse me, like you apparently have, with my younger
brother Major Barbazon Plank, the minor."
Seeing Potter's eyes glaze over and not the one who to quit while he is ahead, he continued,
"By a curious coincidence I ended up in Africa and
America prospecting and eventually owning a goodly few mines in many parts of the world, Thus you see, I am the miner Barbazon Plank, the major. And my brother, having been promoted to the rank of Major for his services to Her Majesty, is the Major Barbazon Plank, the minor. So that should clear up any confusion you had my dear". He walked away leaving Constable Potter by the pond staring vacantly at the horizon making strange noises.
End of -----------#0002

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ravi:

The majorminor piece used to be one of my fves but I dont have the book now. Thanks for the nostalgic trip.

Uncle Dynamite? hmmmm.... Lord Ickenham?

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Dont remember in which one, a guy tells this joke during an after-dinner conversation. It is about two guys on a train who are short of hearing.

The train is just entering a station and A looks out the window apparently to see what station it was.

B: Is it Wensley?

A: No, it is Thursday.

B: So am I, let us get down for a drink.

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#0002 is definitely in Uncle Dynamite. PGW at his best there.

It starts with a shy guy returning from an expedition to Amazon cringing at the sight of a whole school choir waiting to recieve him at the
station and the fellow passenger, Uncle Dynamite,
understands the whole situation in one glance and
makes him hide under the seat. Later he invites
himself to this guy's place, masquerades under
three different names simultaneously to unite this
guy with his love. Most of the names I have forgotten.
-----------------------------

Ramji, I think it was Wembley, a suburban station
in London.
-----------------------------

---Lady Schoonmacker, and Captain Bigger---#0003
Lady Schoonmacker, an american is a potential
buyer of a castle. The lord of the castle is
trying to impress her, by going to the extent
of hiring "the boy who cleans knives and boots".
His brother keeps coming back with Captain
Bigger jokes.

Who is Bigger, Captain Bigger or Mrs Bigger?
Mrs Bigger because she became Bigger.
Who is Bigger, Captain Bigger or Master Bigger?
Master Bigger because, he is a little Bigger.
Who is Bigger, Captain Bigger or spinster(?) Bigger?
spinster Bigger, because she's always Bigger.

There were three more of these questions I have
forgotten. This guy also makes this comment that
almost torpedos the sale.
"In the summer the river is at the bottom of the
garden, in the winter the garden is at the bottom
of the river."
---End of #0003

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Ravi:

Yes, that was Wembley.

Did "Lord Ikenham" ring a bell?

One non- PGW. Forgive the related digression:

Her name was Virginia. She was called Virgin for short but she was not a virgin for long.

( This is from the days when the author could write such things and get away without being branded a sexist )

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Could be Lord Ikenham. But I dont remember
the name well enough.

A quick search in google turned up

http://www.eclipse.co.uk/wodehouse/ (http://www.eclipse.co.uk/wodehouse/
)

Try the quiz page.

--Jams, Jellies and Potted Preserved---#0004
The guy mentioned in #0003 works in the dept store
as the shop assistant in the Jams, Jellies and Potted preserves section and he confides in
Lady Schoonmacker, "The roumour has it that soon I'll be promoted to the Hats, Kerchiefs and Walking sticks section and everyone knows from there promotion to something, something and Ladies Undergarments is just around the corner".
Everytime I catch an episode of "Are you Being Served" I am reminded of this guy.
--------End of #0004

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In the eclipse website about PGW
some more info regarding #0001

1. At what time on Friday, July 1, did Freddie Threepwood stipulate that somebody wearing a pink chrysanthemum should meet him in the lobby of the
Piccadilly Palace Hotel,?
At noon, twelve sharp. "Leave it to Psmith", chapter 6 ("Lord Emsworth meets a Poet"), section 1. As Freddie didn't know what the somebody (Psmith, as it
turned out) looked like, nor what a chrysanthemum looked like, nor how much Psmith prattled on, and hadn't allowed for the fact that he had promised to catch
the twelve-fifty from Paddington, the meeting ended in undignified haste.
----------------

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British humour, hmmm! I have always thought Wodehouse had the 'bestseller' kind of humour. You would make yourself a crackpot laughing loudly while reading his works. He was a master in laughing at the absurdities of the human mind, particularly of the English Upper class.

He would certainly be a favorite writer of anyone who can appreciate good English and above all humor. I was very much impressed by his PSmith series (I won’t forget to put the ‘P’ before the name and do gross injustice to the humor that was generated behind the name; ‘Leave it to Psmith’ was my favorite book among his works); no one who reads him can forget the lazy but lovable lords of English aristocracy with their interest in weird things like pig breeding (I can’t forget Blandings castle and Lord Emsworth and his terrorizing sister or cousin), the young, spoiled but again lovable brats of the English Aristocracy, and above all the impeccable butler, Jeeves, who could come out with solutions for all these lovable idiots.

But then, I wouldn’t place him in the lines of Charles Di*kens and Oscar Wilde for his humor; he was certainly a good writer and had a good sense of English language too but he wasn’t any kind of ‘literary’ personality, for his humour, as it appeared to me, didn't have a content ; he was more of a ‘best seller’ kind of writer, but any way he was so enjoyable to read.

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Come on Vish, you seem to consider being a "best seller" somehow lessens one's literary abilities. Such a line of thinking would be considered elitist. PGW made fun of such "I am better than the masses" attitudes.

But I know you are a good guy at the core and can be salvaged ;-) after all you laughed out aloud in public places reading PGW.

---------------Vice Presidents in USA---#0005
Freddie Threepwood, son of Lord Emsworth, the ninth Earl of Emsworth marries the daughter of the owner of Donaldson's Dog-Joy dog biscuits company and goes off to USA. Then he returns as the Vice President of Sales and tries to get the accout of
Sir Gregory Parsloe-Parsloe. Someone asks him, "So you are the Vice President, eh? mm. It pays to marry into the family in America, looks like, old chap". Freddie replies, "Everyone over there starts as the vice president. If I do a really good job I might be promoted to the level of assistant saleman".
-------------End of #0005

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Vishvesh:
"I wouldn’t place him in the lines of Charles Di*kens and Oscar Wilde for his humor."

PGW is a class on his own. Di*kens, for the most part, presented life in its real form, esp. the uglier side. However, I see PGW in Di*kens' works such as 'Pickwick Papers' & 'Hard Times'. Sure, PGW came 50 years later, but I feel PGW carried that 'spirit' of Di*kens through all his works.

What is the literary worth of humor anyway? Humor should be brief, spontaneous and crackingly funny. That is what PGW's works are all about. Objective humor borders on pessimism and indifference and as you said they are not popular. They are sought after by literature students or highly academic readers.
I can agree that PGW was a bestseller sort of writer. But to say that his humor does not have literary worth is injustice.

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The question of looking for any ‘literary’ merit in a writer is a question of standards one develops in one’s acquaintance with works of different kinds. This distinction never exists in a society in which there is a possibility of a kind of homogenous context of taste and response. In our age, anything passes on as the best by the popularity it generates, our lack of any standards of judgement and so many other factors. When you look into the works of Woodhouse along with the works of Di*kens or even with the works of a minor writer like Gogol, and if you have developed some ‘standards of judgement’ , you would find the glaring difference in the quality of humor that is generated. A book, if it is to be of any value, has to have some purpose apart from just making people laughing ; it should make you an altered person after reading it by affecting your sensibility and your way of looking at life. The humor that is generated by Di*kens always has the content of a related reality, while Woodhouse just laughs at certain imagined quirks. While Di*kens uses humor as an emphasis and coloring to a subtler understanding of an issue, Woodhouse just feels happy to be light-hearted by just a loud laugh on pseudo-issues. In a way, it tends to lead one away from the realities and be an escapist. Not to say that Di*kens’ humor is always tragic. I have laughed even louder while reading the works of Di*kens. But then as I said it has a ‘content’ most of the times, and relates to an inward understanding of a related issue than just make you laugh and stop at that. I have read “Hard Times” and I still remember the liveliness of Sissy Jupe and her father, who tends horse, if I remember it right and has a funny ‘nasal’ accent. I still remember the pathos behind his humor which is subtly related to the onslaught of the Industrial Revolution in England demolishing the simpler ways of living which existed till then.

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Vishvesh:
"A book, if it is to be of any value, has to have some purpose apart from just making people laughing"
You hit the nail right on its head. I do not go to PGW for hidden messages in his prose. In PGW's own words, his works are a sort of 'musical comedy' without the music. Humor, this is strictly IMHO, should be as unreal as possible and if it is tied in with some daily occurence it just makes me sad and pessimistic.
Sure PGW is unreal, Di*kens is just too real.

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I found "Three men in a boat" to be very
humorous. Much better than the very dilute
humour in PGW's works.

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Three men in a boat was written by Jerome K Jerome. A very good humorist who has written many short pieces. "Uncle Roger hangs a picture", "Uncle Roger goes on vacation" etc come to my mind. I read them xlated in tamil, so the title might be slightly different.

PGW finds humor in a complete fantasy land filled with lords and butlers and the boy who cleans knives and boots. JKJ finds humor in mundane day to day occurances of the middleclass families.

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Recently I read "Three men on a Bummel". This
was written before the First World War. The book
is about Jerome and his two friends' cycle trip
through Germany. Many of his observations are
true even now.

It is the Genius of some people that they can
make ordinary day-to-day life appear humourous.

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With due respect to Visvesh's width of literary knowledge, I want to give my 2 cents worth of dissent.

>>>>A book, if it is to be of any value, has to have some purpose apart from just making people laughing ;it should make you an altered person after reading it by affecting your sensibility and your way of looking at life.<<<<<<

First, I do not think that a book should have a purpose. Purpose normally relates to some part ( NOT the whole) of life- like an issue,a problem,a malady. When we sit on a beach and watch the sunset, there is no purpose but that experience sometimes affects us in ways intangible. And it is not an escape from the issues of life.

Reading PGW always gave me such an enriching experience. Did it affect my sensibilty and way of lokking at life? Ofcourse yes.

Gandhi said " If I did not have a sense of humor, I would have committed suicide long ago."

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"When we sit on a beach and watch the sunset, there is no purpose but that experience sometimes affects us in ways intangible"

Beautiful!

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By the bye, did I ever say that Woodhouse doesn’t have any sense of humor or that we should always be serious in our attitude to life ? But isn’t it true that there could be various levels of getting affected in one’s sensibility ? Take for instance, a crude example of the cacophony that is called music today. It could affect (and does affect) in so many intangible ways, any human being who could be justified too in his response to it. If that is so, why did we develop something higher like Classical Music? It is all a question of making value judgements as one evolves in one’s attitude towards the various dimensions of life and a development of one’s sensibility that makes the difference between a writer like Woodhouse and a greater writer like Di*kens.

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Visvesh:

"Great and Greater" are in my opinion not absolute as nothingelse in life is. As we seem to differ on this basic premise, I don't see any point in arguing further.

Let us agree to disagree.

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I wasn't arguing with you either. I was just ruminating myself on the difference between two writers of different significance to me. I was just reading Robin Mayhead's "Understanding Literature", when this passage struck me. I thought I could just share it here (not for argument's sake, Pal, but for an appreciation of the fine thought content I found in it).

“Literature is to be enjoyed. It DOES make for relaxation ; it DOES bring distraction from the monotony or strain of day-to-day concerns. But it does these things in ways from which mental laziness is quite remote. It relaxes by exercising, bringing into play faculties of the mind that would otherwise lie dormant. It distracts, not by offering a cowardly escape from the business of living, but by making life fuller and more meaningful. Literature can take us out of the track of weary routine, by leading us to understand something of that whole vast body of human living in which our day-to-day concerns have their place…”

Somehow reminds me of what I was trying to point out or rather ruminating on the differences earlier !!!

[Oldposts]

Sorry, the first line "Hi Ramji" seems to have vanished in the above message !

[Oldposts]

Whatever people say, I enjoyed every bit of PGW
in all his books I read. Especially I like his
style of writing. I can't argue like literary
buffs but PGW is PGW. Cricket and PGW are two
institutions which I like of the British.
<a name="last"></a>

[camilleisback]

Has this discussion ended?

How great it is to meet other PGW fans. I have been enamoured with him since I was young and I love his works. Like so many people said, it is not just the humour, it is the way he wrote. That is why every British writer call him The Master. The foremost young PGW fan is Stephen Fry, who incidentally acted in the biography of Oscar Wilde.

I love Oscar too, but you cannot compare Dickens and Wilde to Plum, because they are all in different categories. It is like comparing cakes to bread. They are all nourishing and they are food, but they are not the same.

Like someone else said, Plum himself laughed at the highbrows who looked down on him and his work.

[vandanabalaji]

I read books by a British Vetenarian these were humorus accounts of his country practice, I have forgotten the name of the author and am unable to search for his books in the US.

If anybody knows of this author please give me his name.

[rshankar]

Do you mean James Herriott?

[vandanabalaji]

Thank you so much yes it was Herriot, I hope I am able to find some of his books here.

[ramsri]

one of my favourite PGW pieces is from "psmith in the city", where psmith is talking to mike. he says:

"it is a fearful strain, this commercial toil. let us trickle down to the post-office. i will leave my hat and gloves here as a guarantee of good faith. the cry will go round : 'psmith has gone ! some rival institution has kidnapped him !' then they will see my hat, my gloves, and they will sink back swooning with relief. the awful suspense will be over. they will say,'no, he has not gone permanently. psmith will return. when the fields are white with daisies he'll return !' "

[ramsri]

another one is where wooster talks about his childhood pal kipper herring:

"years ago, while striplings, he and i had done a stretch together at malvern house, bramley-on-sea, a preparatory school conducted by that prince of stinkers, aubrey upjohn, MA and had often stood side by side in the upjohn study awaiting six of the juiciest from a cane of the type that biteth like a serpent and stingeth like an adder, as the fellow said"

[pavalamani pragasam]

A typical Wodehouse quote: “Hell has no fury like a woman who wants her tea and cannot have it.”

[ramsri]

just saw a post from someone who wanted to know Psmith's full name. well, it's Rupert Psmith - i think the only mention of his first name, appears in "Psmith in the City"

as for jeeves, i think his first name is reginald, right ?

[ramsri]

another gem from bertie wooster:
"my uncle tom liked to see me once in a while, and this happened to be one of the whiles he liked to see me once in"

[Fire111999]

another gem from bertie wooster:
"my uncle tom liked to see me once in a while, and this happened to be one of the whiles he liked to see me once in"

oh yes! it's wonderful to see that there are PGW fans in this forum! i really like PGW myself. i'm reading do bulters burgle banks right now. just starting it actually.

i also like oscar wilde. the one abt the ghost of some house (can't remember the name properly) is really nice. as is the importance of being earnest.

i also like terry pratchet. he bases his stories in the fantasy world rather than the real world, but his books are so amusing as well. i don't like fantasy, but then terry pratchet is not abt fantasy.

it's be nice if we could continue with the excerpts from PGW's books!

[ramky]

I find P.G.Wodehouse's humour very enjoyable, but I especially liked those featuring Jeeves, Bertram Wooster. Psmith, etc.

[P_R]

Wodehouse's preface to The Clicking of Cuthbert and Other Stories.

For those who are yet to read the book - it is a collection of golf short stories. The first story : "Clicking of Cuthbert" - is IMO one of the finest short stories I have ever read.

TO THE

IMMORTAL MEMORY OF JOHN HENRIE AND PAT ROGIE WHO AT EDINBURGH IN THE YEAR AD 1593 WERE IMPRISONED FOR

'PLAYING OF THE GOWFF ON THE LINKS OF LEITH EVERY SABBATH THE TIME OF THE SERMONSES', ALSO OF ROBERT ROBERTSON WHO GOT IT IN THE NECK IN AD 1604 FOR THE SAME REASON

Fore!

This book marks an epoch in my literary career. It is written in blood. It is the outpouring of a soul as deeply seared by Fate's unkindness as the pretty on the dog-leg hole of the second nine was ever seared by my iron. It is the work of a very nearly desperate man, an eighteen-handicap man who has got to look extremely slippy if he doesn't want to find himself in the twenties again.

As a writer of light fiction, I have always till now been handicapped by the fact that my disposition was cheerful, my heart intact, and my life unsoured. Handicapped, I say, because the public likes to feel that a writer of farcical stories is piquantly miserable in his private life, and that, if he turns out anything amusing, he does it simply in order to obtain relief from the almost insupportable weight of an existence which he has long since realized to be a wash-out. Well, today I am just like that.

Two years ago, I admit, I was a shallow farceur. My work lacked depth. I wrote flippantly simply because I was having a thoroughly good time. Then I took up golf, and now I can smile through the tears and laugh, like Figaro, that I may not weep, and generally hold my head up and (eel that I am entitled to respect.

If you find anything in this volume that amuses you, kindly bear in mind that it was probably written on my return home after losing three balls in the gorse or breaking the head off a favourite driver: and, with a murmured 'Brave fellow! Brave fellow!' recall the story of the clown jesting while his child lay dying at home. That is all. Thank you for your sympathy. It means more to me than I can say. Do you think that if I tried the square stance for a bit ... But, after all, this cannot interest you. Leave me to my misery.

postscript - In the second chapter I allude to Stout Cortez staring at the Pacific. Shortly after the appearance of this narrative in serial form in America, I received an anonymous letter containing the words, 'You big stiff, it wasn't Cortez, it was Balboa.' This, I believe, is historically accurate. On the other hand, if was good enough for Keats, he is good enough for me. Besides, even if it was Balboa, the Pacific was open for being stared at about that time, and I see no reason why Cortez should not have had a look at it as well.

P. G. WODEHOUSE

[thriinone]

Any online links available for reading pgwodehouse?

[Plum]

"Besides, even if it was Balboa, the Pacific was open for being stared at about that time, and I see no reason why Cortez should not have had a look at it as well"
Yeah, this is an important retort I gathered from this book. Very handy.

[P_R]

"Besides, even if it was Balboa, the Pacific was open for being stared at about that time, and I see no reason why Cortez should not have had a look at it as well"
Yeah, this is an important retort I gathered from this book. Very handy.

:lol:

That preface to TCoC is a ripper.

Dedication

...who got it in the neck...for the same reason :lol:

[Plum]

There's also summer moonshine where he goes
" Critics have carped that we use the same characters under different. Hope they have met the same fate as the children that mocked at the bear elijiah. In a move to confound them, we have decided to use the same characters under same name this story...
Our initial happiness ata striking a name like summer moonshine was subsequently tempered by realising that there are 18 novels, 3 short stories, 5 books named sm. Here's hoping that this would be remembered among the 100 best movies named sm."
Ofcourse, I am paraphrasing which takes away the fun, but the original is a masterpiece. He also refers cortez and pacific there.
Once upon a time I could quote it verbatim when woken up from sleep - ravages of time!

[P_R]

:lol:

adhu Summer Lightning

One awesome preface. That same season another booked called Summer Lightning would have been released in the US :lol2:

The novel's not bad either

It has the scene where Baxter jump out of the window and into the garden patch

There was amid the garden bed of lobelias, something that was so profoundly not a lobelia. It was the efficient Baxter on all fours.

[Plum]

:-). Must re-read some of those.

[P_R]

sari sari, unga Jeeves kadhai enna aachchu ?

[Plum]

Thedindurukken. Romba expectationlaam vechukaadheenga - it was pretty juvenile an effort, though I was probably older than you are now, when I wrote it- I am always in. A struggle to play my age and being left behind :-)

[rangan_08]

I know that this piece will not surprise you folks ! But just look at the brilliance of flow...


from " The Good Angel "

" Keggs was a man - one must use that word, :D though it seems grossly inadequate - of medium height, pigeon-toed at the base, bulgy half-way up, and bald at the apex " .

:lol:

[Plum]

:lol:
The thing is you just cannot share this humour with anyone else - it only works for you fresh off the page. Really unique in that sense

[rangan_08]

In a way, what u say is right plum. Since they are meant to be humorous short stories, the plots are generally frivilous and predictable and mostly with an happy ending. It's the narration that does all the fire works. But that's not the case with Jeeves and other novels where you have plots, sub plots and interesting knots.

The biggest advantage of his works is that whenever you feel your " spirits " are low, you just pull out a book from the rack and start reading from any page and I'm sure you'll come back to your original " spirits " very soon. :) Though there are many other " cheer(s)ful ways :D to get back your spirits, I would always prefer the gentleman's gentleman because I too am a gentleman :roll: :confused2: :fatigue: :goodidea:

BTW, in the league of " Bharathidasan ", " Kannadasan " and other dasan's, you must have chosen to be " Plummadasan ". But, as a direct rip-off, you became Plum !!! :D Hope you don't pay any royalty to the "dorai's " descendants, if any. :D

[P_R]

Ukridge :lol: :lol:
Just read "Dog College" and "Accident Syndicate" stories till now.
It's been a long time since I read Wodehouse.

[Plum]

Rangan, apdi ipdi Plum-nu pErai appropriate paNNittOm. kandukkAdhInga :-)

Ukridge is one of the most colourful characters - the Accident Syndicate is one of the best. It can be made into a nice tamil movie or a short serial even now. Shoot it, there is more chance of that happening in Hindi, let me admit. Sometime back Kundan Shah was supposed to start on an adaptation of Leave it to Psmith as a Hindi movie. Never heard of it since.
Even I havent read Wodehouse in years now.

Ukridge specials
=======
Dog College
Love Among Chicken
That story on managing a giant bodied, fragile minded boxer
His sojourn with the wealthy aunt in Wimbledon
The short one where Ukridge foists his nephew and aunt from the province on his writer friend, and the latter ends up driving them around London upon the kid's insistence, on seeing such historical places as the house of the stonehenge murder(or some such), the nook where the serial killer was caught etc.

I'll have to observe something here - I do believe a lot of his worldview comes from *reading newspapers*. Yes, I have often tried to analyse such characters as the above kid, and many other quirks - a collection of his other essays does reveal a tendency to make articles out of newspaper letters, and reportage. I do strongly believe that he could build something out of mundate newspaper reports as well.

[rangan_08]

From " Deep Waters ". Boy meets girs. Falls in love. Despite being a beauty, she's also intelligent. He says to himself,

" How rare is the combination of beauty and intelligence !!! "

What a statement & how true it is !! A guy who associates himself with the above combination is sure to be lucky !

[Plum]

I'll continue from here (http://forumhub.mayyam.com/hub/viewtopic.php?p=2010815#2010815)

Found Clicking of Cuthbert online:
http://www.classicreader.com/book/3062/1/

[Plum]

The distinguished visitor peered in a wary and defensive manner through the shrubbery, but did not speak. Inwardly he was thinking how exactly like Mr. Devine was to the eighty-one other younger novelists to whom he had been introduced at various hamlets throughout the country. Raymond Parsloe Devine bowed courteously, while Cuthbert, wedged into his corner, glowered at him.

"The critics," said Mr. Devine, "have been kind enough to say that my poor efforts contain a good deal of the Russian spirit. I owe much to the great Russians. I have been greatly influenced by Sovietski."

Down in the forest something stirred. It was Vladimir Brusiloff's mouth opening, as he prepared to speak. He was not a man who prattled readily, especially in a foreign tongue. He gave the impression that each word was excavated from his interior by some up-to-date process of mining. He glared bleakly at Mr. Devine, and allowed three words to drop out of him.

"Sovietski no good!"

He paused for a moment, set the machinery working again, and delivered five more at the pithead.

"I spit me of Sovietski!"


While every line is furiously at work to create the whole, I think the following line captures PGW's technique of eliciting laughter more than anyone else - there is no way anyone can emote this onscreen or explain to a fellow connoiseur:

He paused for a moment, set the machinery working again, and delivered five more at the pithead.

[Plum]

There was a painful sensation. The lot of a popular idol is in many ways an enviable one, but it has the drawback of uncertainty. Here today and gone tomorrow. Until this moment Raymond Parsloe Devine's stock had stood at something considerably over par in Wood Hills intellectual circles, but now there was a rapid slump. Hitherto he had been greatly admired for being influenced by Sovietski, but it appeared now that this was not a good thing to be. It was evidently a rotten thing to be. The law could not touch you for being influenced by Sovietski, but there is an ethical as well as a legal code, and this it was obvious that Raymond Parsloe Devine had transgressed. Women drew away from him slightly, holding their skirts. Men looked at him censoriously. Adeline Smethurst started violently, and dropped a tea-cup. And Cuthbert Banks, doing his popular imitation of a sardine in his corner, felt for the first time that life held something of sunshine.

Raymond Parsloe Devine was plainly shaken, but he made an adroit attempt to recover his lost prestige.

"When I say I have been influenced by Sovietski, I mean, of course, that I was once under his spell. A young writer commits many follies. I have long since passed through that phase. The false glamour of Sovietski has ceased to dazzle me. I now belong whole-heartedly to the school of Nastikoff."

There was a reaction. People nodded at one another sympathetically. After all, we cannot expect old heads on young shoulders, and a lapse at the outset of one's career should not be held against one who has eventually seen the light.

"Nastikoff no good," said Vladimir Brusiloff, coldly. He paused, listening to the machinery.

"Nastikoff worse than Sovietski."
He paused again.

"I spit me of Nastikoff!" he said.

[Plum]

Vladimir Brusiloff proceeded to sum up.

"No novelists any good except me. Sovietski--yah! Nastikoff--bah! I spit me of zem all. No novelists anywhere any good except me. P. G. Wodehouse and Tolstoi not bad. Not good, but not bad. No novelists any good except me."

[Plum]

you know that is our great national sport, trying to assassinate Lenin with rewolwers
:rotfl3:

[P_R]

It is my fav. short story of all time.
It has the highest density of laughs per line. Breathtaking genius.

I remember so many lines

it looked every member of the wood hills literary society had a manuscript hidden in their person. the worst that could happen in Ninji-Novogorod was that a grenade could come in through the window and get itself mixed up with the breakfast egg :rotfl2:

doubtless with best intentions, Vladimir Brusiloff had let most parts of his face be buied under a dense zareba of hair :rotfl3:

And of course thw waeld famous - pretty nifty tomb :lol:

The following line has permanently damaged my literary appreciation: "Vladimir Brusiloff specialized in grim studies of hopeless misery where nothing happened till page 359, where the moujik decided to commit suicide"


PGW....extremely dangerous fflo !

[Plum]

doubtless with best intentions, Vladimir Brusiloff had let most parts of his face be buied under a dense zareba of hair

:lol:

There is another short story "Love at Droitgate Spa". It is a tight competitor. In signs of my growing old, I have gone from reciting it by-heart to not remembering an iota of a sentence from it :-(

[Plum]

There it is (http://www.cisl.columbia.edu/grads/tuku/descriptions/romance.1)
As I re-read it, I realised that here's the rare PGW creation that can actually be performed to elicit laughter and doesnt sparkle off the page like it usually does.


we like to feel -
the Twelve Jolly Stretcher-Cases ...'



'Your career has been an inspiration to me. Is it really true that you
have Thrombosis of the Heart and Vesicular Emphy?sema of the Lungs?'

'That's right.'

'And that your temperature once went up to 107.5?'

'Twice. When I had Hyperpyrexia.'

Sir Aylmer sighed. '^єhe best I've ever done is 102.2.'

Joe Boffin patted him on the back. 'Well, that's not bad,' he said. 'Not
bad at all.'




A man who is endeavouring to lower the record for the
dis?tance between Podagra Lodge, which is in Arterio-Sclerosis Avenue, and
the Droitgate Spa Pump Room has little leisure for thinking, but Freddie
managed to put in a certain amount as his feet skimmed the pavement. And
the trend of his thought was such as to give renewed vigour to his legs.
He could scarcely have moved more rapidly if he had been a character in a
two-reel film with the police after him.

[kid-glove]

Funny. :rotfl:

I read the short after P_R quoting parts it as some kind of respite(?) to his disregard for Russian literature. :lol:

[P_R]

I read the short after P_R quoting parts it as some kind of respite(?) to his disregard for Russian literature. :lol: Not Russian as such but kind of arts in general :-)

முன்பொரு காலத்தில் எனக்கு நண்பராக இருந்தவர்கள் list is topped by one Ivan Turgenev. My drift away from him happened to coincide with Raymond Parsloe Devine's drift away from Nastikoff.
:-)

[kid-glove]

I read the short after P_R quoting parts it as some kind of respite(?) to his disregard for Russian literature. :lol: Not Russian as such but kind of arts in general :-)

முன்பொரு காலத்தில் எனக்கு நண்பராக இருந்தவர்கள் list is topped by one Ivan Turgenev. My drift away from him happened to coincide with Raymond Parsloe Devine's drift away from Nastikoff.
:-)

Congratulations :thumbsup:

[Plum]

I read the short after P_R quoting parts it as some kind of respite(?) to his disregard for Russian literature. :lol: Not Russian as such but kind of arts in general :-)

முன்பொரு காலத்தில் எனக்கு நண்பராக இருந்தவர்கள் list is topped by one Ivan Turgenev. My drift away from him happened to coincide with Raymond Parsloe Devine's drift away from Nastikoff.
:-)

Is there an adeline smethurst mixeed up somewhere in this?

[P_R]

Is there an adeline smethurst mixeed up somewhere in this? Ah well.... appidinnA dhaan naanum thilaquer maadhiri Caught=1 'nu signature pOttiruppEnE.

[rangan_08]

It is my fav. short story of all time.
It has the highest density of laughs per line. Breathtaking genius.

I remember so many lines

it looked every member of the wood hills literary society had a manuscript hidden in their person. the worst that could happen in Ninji-Novogorod was that a grenade could come in through the window and get itself mixed up with the breakfast egg :rotfl2:

doubtless with best intentions, Vladimir Brusiloff had let most parts of his face be buied under a dense zareba of hair :rotfl3:

And of course thw waeld famous - pretty nifty tomb :lol:

The following line has permanently damaged my literary appreciation: "Vladimir Brusiloff specialized in grim studies of hopeless misery where nothing happened till page 359, where the moujik decided to commit suicide"


PGW....extremely dangerous fflo !

Finally, read it. thanks to you guys. Brilliant.

Like Plum said, " no great writer except me.....& PGW came at the right moment in the story - but i was not at all prepared - so i just lolled.

Bomb getting mixed up in eggs :D

There's always a caterpillar in the salad :lol:

nifty tomb - avarukku eppavume india mela oru kannu - ( " fakirs " in some other story)

Years back, when i was reading crime & punishment, i really longed that it gets over soon. Cutaboot really was a relief.

Be serious, atleast for once, Mr. PG :lol:

[P_R]

வருக வருக :lol2:


Like Plum said, " no great writer except me.....& PGW came at the right moment in the story - but i was not at all prepared - so i just lolled.

No writer any good except me. Tolstoi and PG Wodehouse not bad. Not good..but not bad

:rotfl:

[Plum]

The wartime speeches from the german prisoners' camp are brilliant - self-deprecation, humour, spoof of his captors, needles in the banana. Ofcourse, it was all lost on the British Government, which exiled him. There used to be an online link which I dont find now.

[rangan_08]

வருக வருக :lol2:


Like Plum said, " no great writer except me.....& PGW came at the right moment in the story - but i was not at all prepared - so i just lolled.

No writer any good except me. Tolstoi and PG Wodehouse not bad. Not good..but not bad

:rotfl:

Thank you :D

[Plum]

Following is too good a discussion to go into the dustbins of Coffee Corner history.
Zero alias Equa will probably remind me that this particular trick(quote) I have already performed(used) in the internet world somewhere, and probably add insult to injury by quoting said link but it is my duty to archive this here:


Comedy could be described just as easily in words. Books could replace that. Slapstick, maybe not as effectively
Wodehouse fossifle. The following will not sound as good as when it is in context but if you know, then here's verbal slapstick for you:
Scene: Psmith(The fun's double if you know his character) and his silent, strong friend Mike end up picking a fight with a mob that runs after them baying for blood. A scuffle ensues and here's how one of the antagonists bites the dust:

He met the left upper-hook with his face, spun and sat down. He took no further part in the proceedings.

Actually, not verbatim. Verbatim has a greater effect. And in context, the imagery it invokes is undeniably, hilariously slapstick.

[P_R]

In Summer Lightning, Baxter jumps out* of the window of Galahad's room and lands in the garden. First only the noise is heard and then Lord Emsworth discovers him:

"Upon the garden bed of lobelias was something that profoundly not a lobelia. It was the efficient Baxter on all fours"


* baxter defenestrates because Galahad enters the room when Baxter is trying to pinch the manuscript of his reminiscences, which Gregory Parsloe Parsloe fears may not bode well for his election ticket prospects with the Conservative party.

PGW intoduces the situation (of why Sir Gregory fears the book) thus. (sic) "Sir Gregory led an impeccable life up until the age of twenty. After thirty he had settled down to the peace and quite becoming of the landed gentry. The intervening ten years :rotfl: (I always start laughing here that I don't recall how that sentence finishes)

[Plum]

I need to read that one again. Isnt it the one where there is intrigue with the pig-men - I badly need to catchup with Wodehouse again? Once upon a time, I used to be able to recite books off head

[P_R]

I need to read that one again. Isnt it the one where there is intrigue with the pig-men - I badly need to catchup with Wodehouse again? Once upon a time, I used to be able to recite books off head

Summer Lightning is the one where Ronnie Fish falls in love with a choir girl Sue Brown. Surely Aunt Constance is not going to approve that so to he tries to garner Emsworth's support (and some money) by pretending to like pigs. But Emsworth sees him bouncing tennis balls off Empress (:rotfl2:) and he has to devise a kidnapping plan - with Beach as his accomplice - to come out as the hero. Parallely Constance hires Baxter to retrieve Galahad's reminscences, whose publication prospects gives Sir Gregory parsloe parsloe the shivers. Add to it private investigator Pilbeam a host of impersonations and what not. It is my favorite Blandings novel.

The foreword is hilarious. Got an exceprt from a blog (http://khazhad.blogspot.com/2004_11_01_archive.html).


A certain critic--for such men, I regret to say, do exist--made the nasty remark about my last novel that it contained 'all the old Wodehouse characters under different names.' He has probably by now been eaten by bears, like the children who made mock of the prophet Elisha: but if he still survives he will not be able to make a similar charge against Summer Lightning. With my superior intelligence, I have outgeneralled the man this time by putting in all the old Wodehouse characters under the same names. Pretty silly it will make him feel, I rather fancy.

[kid-glove]

A certain critic--for such men, I regret to say, do exist--made the nasty remark about my last novel that it contained 'all the old Wodehouse characters under different names.' He has probably by now been eaten by bears, like the children who made mock of the prophet Elisha: but if he still survives he will not be able to make a similar charge against Summer Lightning. With my superior intelligence, I have outgeneralled the man this time by putting in all the old Wodehouse characters under the same names. Pretty silly it will make him feel, I rather fancy.

Ultimate piss-taking. :lol2:

[rangan_08]

A certain critic--for such men, I regret to say, do exist--made the nasty remark about my last novel that it contained 'all the old Wodehouse characters under different names.' He has probably by now been eaten by bears, like the children who made mock of the prophet Elisha: but if he still survives he will not be able to make a similar charge against Summer Lightning. With my superior intelligence, I have outgeneralled the man this time by putting in all the old Wodehouse characters under the same names. Pretty silly it will make him feel, I rather fancy.

Ultimate piss-taking. :lol2:


Andha critic yaru petha pullayo ?? :D Indha aasamikitta vaya kuduthu matikitta avlodhan......aram padiye konnruvaru !!! :lol:

BTW, kid-glove, terrific avtar - deadly combo !

[kid-glove]

Thanks my man, a man of taste !

[rangan_08]

[tscii:efad06bba9]Just relax…..

1. “ How long I remained motionless, like a ventriloquist’s dummy whose ventriloquist has gone off to the local and left it sitting, I cannot say “ :lol: .

What a comparison !!! Really gifted.

2. “ Now his face was drawn and his general demeanour that of an incautious luncher who discovers when there is no time to draw back that he has swallowed a rather too elderly oyster “ :lol: .

His thinking & articulating capabalities goes beyond any unimaginable proportions !!! This punch of his, pervades almost word to word throughout this novel :notworthy:

- from Stiff upper lip Jeeves.


And, the dog’s name is Bartholomew :lol: .

Sabapathi is as humorous a title as Bartholomew :thumbsup: .
[/tscii:efad06bba9]

[rangan_08]

Hope that some of you must have already accessed the below link.

For those who have not, I think you will like it.


http://wodehouse.thefreelibrary.com/The-Man-Upstairs-and-Other-Stories

[rangan_08]

Read " The Man with two left feet " & " Sir Agravaine : A Tale of King Arthur's Round Table ".

What a relief from this monotonous, dreadful & chaotic life.

Wodehouse, the saviour !

[P_R]

Rangan and Plum, you guys may like this : http://www.the-tls.co.uk/tls/public/article848326.ece

A review in the Times Literary Supplement of a recent book of PGW's collected letters



In another letter in this collection, written in 1932, Wodehouse tried to read Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. “Aren’t these stories of the future a bore. The whole point of Huxley is that he can write better about modern life than anybody else, so of course he goes and writes about the future.”
:lol:

The review covers his infamous period in Nazi France. They build up to how complete refusal to understand and engage with reality, or atleast attempt to tune his works to reality, has always been a fundamental characteristic of his.



Wodehouse was not a friend of Christie, but he kept an eye on her, read her work regularly, and could see that they were comparable figures. Worried by the possibility that post-war Britain might not be able to enjoy his country-house farces, he was reassured to read Christie’s The Hollow. “The people in it simply gorge roast duck and soufflés and caramel cream and so on, besides having a butler, several parlourmaids, a kitchen maid and a cook. I must say it encouraged me to read The Hollow and to see that Agatha Christie was ignoring present conditions in England.”


And on another occasion he makes a tactless, but funny, remark about his employment in Hollywood, which doesn't go down well with his employers


How does one define this? Tactlessness on a monumental scale? Innocent tactlessness? A breezy unconsciousness of the way the world works, or the way his words and actions would appear to that world? However you define the quality, you can see that it is the dark side of the coin which made him such a successful writer – that is, his capacity to see the world entirely on his own infantile terms, without realizing how those terms would impact on grown-ups.




Many people consider that it is a writer’s duty to engage with “reality”. All through the 1930s, many of Wodehouse’s fellow writers were lining up with the Left and “identifying” with the Spanish Republic or with Stalin’s Soviet Union. A smaller number were aligning themselves with Ezra Pound, Henry Williamson, Céline and others in their open avowal of fascism. But the central appeal of Wodehouse, a supreme master of language, is in his capacity to live in phrases and paragraphs, and not to deliver himself of bigger views. These letters reveal that it was no accident that he would one day come a cropper with the literal-minded and violent twentieth century. Indeed, far from being a silly ass who made a chump of himself, Wodehouse was a sort of martyr to art.


Exceedingly well put :clap:



This is a sane man, writing in a lunatic world.
.........
He wrote to his old school chum Bill Townend . . . . "It’s odd but I don’t find world cataclysms and my own personal troubles make any difference to my feelings about Dulwich. To win the Bedford match seems just as important to me as it ever did”. As for the ending of the war, “The horrible senselessness of it all oppresses me. I can’t see how any kind of a world can be left after it is over. How can England pay the bill?”

Strangely enough, the world still divides between those who would condemn such remarks and those who see them as the decent reactions of a civilized human being. But they are also the remarks of an artist who thought it was his job to get on with his craft, not to usurp the role of the politicos.