Jeeves And The Feudal Spirit (2002) - Plot & Excerpts
I can’t begin to tell you how much I enjoy these books. If there is one problem, it is that I’m reading them out of order – but that is hard to avoid. The problem is that they seem to have been out of print for ages and trying to find them in second hand bookshops is also remarkably difficult. I asked a woman in a second hand bookshop I frequent about them and she said they disappear as soon as they come in the door. She has a lovely grey cat that allows you to pat it while you talk to her the lady of the shop about books – I trust this woman implicitly, as one trusts anyone who allows a cat to sprawl on the desk before them. Bertie is a remarkable creation – I know I’ve said this before, but he really has captivated my imagination. Not least because he breaks all of the ‘rules’ as I would have them. He is not the smartest person in the book – and I would normally recommend stories be told by the smartest person in the book. Secondly, people are constantly telling him he is not the smartest person in the book – often in ways that are breathtakingly rude.I really like the way he becomes tongue tied around Jeeves, world recognised genius and recurrent saviour of Bertie and his family and friends.The thing is that although the characters are exaggerated, they are still very much recognisable types of people we have all known. As I said, I have had to find whatever copy I can get my hands on of many of these books and this is a Four Square Edition reprinted in 1963 after having been first printed in 1954. The cover says, “Jeeves and Wooster rally against the common enemy – A WOMAN.” Now, when Maddy, my youngest, read this cover she was suitably annoyed and picked the book up in mild disgust and flicked it open at random, I assume to see if she couldn’t become even more outraged. Then she told me the most wonderful thing – she said she started reading it and found she had finished three pages before she realised she had really been reading any of it at all. And it is true – the writing is so natural, so free flowing, that you just get completely sucked in. Wodehouse says he writes romantic comedies – but they are a bit different from your standard romantic comedy. In your normal romantic comedy the boy always gets the girl – in these Wooster is generally seeking to avoid ending up with the girl. Finding out how he is going to make his escape is part of the fun of the story. If these books were written today I guess people would talk about ‘repressed homosexuality’ – but in the world Wodehouse has created there is a kind of innocence that makes such thoughts seem – what? – too clever by half, perhaps? This is a very special world, a world not terribly different from childhood. Yes, think of children in the bodies of adults and you are somewhere close to the world Wodehouse has created – although, even that view is too simple.I would love to study his comedy more closely. In part it is made up of very clever mixed metaphors – I think this gives a subtle back taste to virtually every page of the book. There is also his wonderful misunderstanding of the key stories of our culture – in this story the ‘retelling’ of the Lot’s Wife really is very amusing.But best of all is Wodehouse's utter command of his story at all times. They are so light and joyful that the craft behind them is hardly noticed, in fact can be almost 'missed' entirely – well, until you think about the wonderful twists and turns he has bent you through. A master story teller – and this was pure magic, as always.
Reading Wodehouse is pure bliss. His writing style seems simple but it is not. Wodehouse is a genius and he painstakingly creates humor out of ordinary everyday situations. It is not slap stick, satire or comic. It is pure unadulterated humor. Reading Wodehouse is the best stress buster and anti-depressant. He doesn’t claim to very highly literary writing prowess. In his own words “I believe there are two ways of writing novels. One is making a sort of musical comedy without music and ignoring real life altogether; the other is going deep down into life and not caring a damn...”.Wodehouse believed that one of the factors that made his stories humorous was his view of life, and he stated that "If you take life fairly easily, then you take a humorous view of things. It's probably because you were born that way." "For a humorous novel you've got to have a scenario, and you've got to test it so that you know where the comedy comes in, where the situations come in … splitting it up into scenes (you can make a scene of almost anything) and have as little stuff in between as possible."Bandings castle and its characters is one the best of his creations. All other charaters Jeevs, Ukridge, Bertram Wooster, Psimth, Mulliner, Clarence Threepwood, Sebastian Beach, Ashe Marson, Joan Valentine, J. Preston Peters, Aline Peters, Freddie Threepwood, Mrs. Twemlow, Mrs. Bell, Richard Jones, George Emerson, Lord Stockheath, Adams, Rupert J. Baxter, Thorne, George Threepwood, Ann Warblington, Merridew, James, Alfred, Mildred Mant, Horace Mant, Judson, Algernon Wooster, Bishop of Godalming, Billy, Muriel, Dr. Bird, Slingsby, Chester, Ferris, Miss Willoughby etc are highly likable. I think there will not be a single person who cannot like Wodehouse.
What do You think about Jeeves And The Feudal Spirit (2002)?
When I really stopped to think about it, something amused me that was mentioned in a different book. Some character was referred to as a flitter (actually, I think this topic has come up in more than one novel, but I digress), and said "flitter" went from one woman to another to another. I only mentioned it now because I think it's funny that any one person could be singled out as such a being considering it seems that nearly EVERY Wodehouse character flits like mad. Usually a dust-up will occur
—Devon
Wodehouse in fine form. The language and clever turns of phrases are so entertaining, it doesn't really matter where the plot goes.Aunt Dahlia: ...Tom opened the safe and I stood there as if I been turned into a pillar of salt, like 'Lot's wife'.Bertie: I recalled the incident to which she referred, it having happened to come up in the examination paper that time I won that prize for Scripture Knowledge at my private school, but it's probably new to you, so I will give you a brief synopsis. For some reason which has escaped my memory they told this Mrs. Lot, while out walking on day, not to look round or she would be pillar of salt, so of course she immediately did look round and by what I have always thought an odd coincidence she WAS turned into a pillar of salt. It just show you, what? I mean to say, you never know where you are these days."Here's another fun one:Florence Craye: I think it's rather wonderful of you. But then agai everybody says that though you have brain like a peahen, you're the soul of kindness and generosity.Bertie: Well, I was handicapped here by the fact that, never having met a peahen, I was unable to estimate the quality of the fowls' intelligence, but she had spoken as if they were a bit short of the gray matter, and I was about ask her who the hell she meant by 'everybody' when she resumed.
—Jeffrey
This was my third Bertie and Jeeves novel, and it has only deepened my appreciation for Wodehouse. Although the plots tend to be extremely predictable, Wodehouse throws in so many reversals that it ends up being a complicated Gordian knot that only Jeeves can solve. The language is simply a delight; Wodehouse should remain in print indefinitely for the simple reason that his books are practically a dictionary of old British slang. And whether or not there is a biting social commentary lurking under this world of hopeless aristocrats and cunning butlers, Wodehouse still manages to deliver an unfailingly hilarious story that wraps up as well as an episode of Seinfeld. My only critique is that, after three under my belt, I have been forced to admit that all the Jeeves novels are, unfortunately, the same Jeeves novel told over and over again. Everything, from the dreamy girl that Bertie is accidently engaged to, to the blustering jealous rival, to the wardrobe faux pas that Bertie must relinquish at the end of the book to please Jeeves, to the blustering Aunts and the misadventures at Brinkley, repeat in only slightly different permutations in every novel. And yet, I am more than willing to permit this endless reputation if only to hear that delightfully fluid British slang.
—Anna C
