P. G. Wodehouse's
stories of the early-20th-century British upper class with its butlers
and country estates might seem so anachronistic as to make the
uninitiated wonder about why Woodhouse endures. Yet his books continue
not only to be read but also to be staged in theaters and produced for
television.
Pick up one of the scores of Wodehouse books, however, and the
appeal is apparent from the first page. With their droll dialogue, oddly endearing characters, and superb comic
timing, they are hilarious.
Wodehouse's novels fall mainly into two groups: the Blandings
books, in which a pig figures large, and the Jeeves-Wooster books. Right Ho, Jeeves,
in the latter series, is a typical plot in which the clueless Bertie
Wooster meddles in his friends' romances and strews disaster until his
butler, the much-smarter Jeeves, rescues the situation, at some expense
to Bertie's ego.
In his good-natured way, Wodehouse satirized the British upper crust of
the early 20th century and the frivolous ways in which they spent their
time. And when Jeeves bests the muddleheaded Wooster, the superiority
assumed in the master-servant relationship is turned on its head.
If you become a fan of P. G. Wodehouse, you don't have to worry about
running out of books to read too soon. He wrote more than 100
novels.
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