"Had his only contribution to literature been Lord Emsworth and Blandings Castle, his place in history would have been assured. Had he written of none but Psmith, he would be cherished today as the best and brightest of our comic authors. If Jeeves and Wooster had been his solitary theme, still he would be hailed as a comic master. If he had given us only Ukridge, or nothing but recollections of the Mulliner family, or a pure diet of golfing stories, Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse would nonetheless be considered immortal. That he gave us all those -- and more -- is our good fortune and a testament to one of the most industrious, prolific and beneficent authors ever to have sat down, scratched his head, and banged out a sentence."Lemuria Books in Jackson, Mississippi has chosen the inimitable British humorist P. G. Wodehouse as their May "Author of the Month." Click here to check out two wonderful appreciations of Wodehouse's work (Catherine's is quoted above), as well as a four quick (and funny) summaries of Mulliner Nights, Money in the Bank, Pigs Have Wings, and Picadilly Jim.
AND they've helpfully broken down the books into the Blandings books, Jeeves books, Mulliner stories, and Psmith books.
I'm from Arkansas (I probably mention this enough on the blog--it tends to come out when I've had a few at the bar or when I'm blogging), but it's great to see the good folks down South keeping the upperclass hi-jinx of Edwardian England at the forefront of people's minds. Seriously. The thing with trying to explain Wodehouse to people is that you either do a passable job of it or you scare them off for good. It's part of my job to explain Wodehouse to people (a habit occasionally undertaken during my free time as well*), and this is hands down the best introduction to Jeeves and company that I've read...
--John Mark
*Yes, occasionally at the bar.
No comments:
Post a Comment