“Boyhood, like measles, is one of those complaints which a man should catch young and have done with, for when it comes in middle life it is apt to be serious.”
“If not actually disgruntled, he was far from being gruntled.”
If you are a Wodehouse afficionado, these quotations of his are apt to bring a smile on your face. If you aren’t, you will still find them idyllically amusing. By far the greatest English writer of unbridled humor, Wodehouse has left a fascinating legacy of laughter and mirth, to be enjoyed by generations to come.
It may be preposterous of me to assume that you may not have read Wodehouse, but in the unlikeliest event of this being true, and particularly if you wish to relish genuine English humour, you need not look further. Wodehouse’s sole intention was to make his readers laugh their spleens out, and he cared two hoots for his detractors who derided his outrageously comical style. He even had the audacity to name a pig “the Empress of Blandings.”
His characters included the eccentric Lord Emsworth, obsessed by his two prize-winning possessions – a pig and a pumpkin; Bertram Wilberforce "Bertie" Wooster – a wealthy, good natured but beetlebrained Englishman who never marries but gets engaged in nearly every story, whose top class Eton and Oxford education seems to have escaped him completely and who typically fails to recognise Shakespeare when it is quoted to him by Jeeves; Reginald Jeeves, the quintessentially convoluted, intelligent and cocky (yet surprisingly very well mannered) valet-cum-butler of Bertie Wooster who unfailingly extricates his master from intriguing situations and who, according to Bertie, can “buttle with the best” and Psmith – the veritable jack-of-all-trades with a with a charismatic and exaggeratedly sophisticated manner.
All of Wodehouse’s stories unfailingly have a happy ending, although his near lunatic characters have to first entangle themselves in incredibly hilarious situations through intricate misunderstandings and then be let out by either design or providence, creating a laugh riot for the reader in the process. So alarmed were the British about the popularity of the gawky Bertie Wooster (with all his foppishness and imprudence) that in 1967, Sir Patrick Dean, British ambassador in Washington, opposed Wodehouse’s recommendation for a Companion of Honour on the grounds that it "would also give currency to a Bertie Wooster image of the British character, which we are doing our best to eradicate.” Wodehouse caricatured the pre World War II English lifestyle in his savagely humourous novels. His stories were not written to be "important" or to appeal to critics; they were straightforward humour.
So the next time you happen to visit a bookstore, just pick up a Wodehouse. It doesn’t really matter how you love to have your laugh – in giggles, chuckles, peals, squeals, guffaws or downright rolls (clutching your – abdomen, what else), you are guaranteed to go through all these (e)motions until you are nearly breathless and have tears in your eyes. Do it once and you would get addicted to this brilliant stuff from a genious of all times.
Go ahead. Do a Wodehouse. I dare you.
Name – Pelham ("Plum") Grenville Wodehouse
Birth – 15th October 1881 in the English county of Guildford
Education – Went first to boarding school and then to Dulwich College
Career – Wandered from being a banker at HSBC, London to a journalist working for The Globe and eventually as a screenwriter and novelist in Hollywood
Marriage – Married Ethel Wayman in 1914, gaining a stepdaughter, Leonora. He didn’t have a natural child of his own.
Difficult moments – While residing in France, he was captured and imprisoned by the Germans in 1940, who made him ridicule America in radio broadcasts. The broadcasts led to many accusations of collaboration and even treason.
Works – Ninety-six books in a career spanning from 1902 to 1975.
Rest of his life – The criticism led Wodehouse to move permanently to New York with his wife, Ethel. He became an American citizen in 1955, and never returned to his homeland, spending the remainder of his life in Remsenburg, Long Island.
Honours – He was made a Knight of the British Empire (KBE) shortly before his death at the age of 93. It is widely believed that the honour was not given earlier because of lingering resentment about the German broadcasts. His wax statue adorns Madame Tussaud’s.
Thanks as always for reading my stuff. Comments invited.
© Sudipto Chakravarty 2006