Bookish atheists

Genius of P.G. Wodehouse

This topic contains 6 replies, has 6 voices, and was last updated by  private 7 years, 4 months ago.

Viewing 7 posts - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • #2540

    Simon Mathews
    Participant

    For anyone who is a fan of the English language and hasn’t read any Wodehouse, I recommend it – particularly the Jeeves and Wooster books. They contain lovely turns of phrase such as:

    “Well upon my word, Spode, this is just too much. Just that little bit above the odds that compels a man to take drastic action.”

    “I don’t think Totley Towers is renown for its prandial jocundity, sir.”

    My favourite Wodehouse quote, though, is one by the man himself responding humorously to a critic:

    “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 out-generalled 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.”

    Sums up his humour perfectly.

    #2542

    Davis
    Moderator

    Indeed. The Code of the Woosters was brilliant.

    A particularly nice quoty by Wodehouse:

    “Everything in life that’s any fun, as somebody wisely observed, is either immoral, illegal or fattening.”
    ― P.G. Wodehouse

    #2545

    Strega
    Moderator

    Having read all (and I do mean all) of the Jeeves and Wooster books he wrote, I was ecstatic when Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie played Jeeves and Wooster respectively in an adaptation series from the books. If you haven’t seen them in action, I’m pretty certain YouTube will have full episodes available. Pip pip, old friend, no time like the present…

    #2550

    Simon Mathews
    Participant

    Having read all (and I do mean all) of the Jeeves and Wooster books he wrote, I was ecstatic when Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie played Jeeves and Wooster respectively in an adaptation series from the books. If you haven’t seen them in action, I’m pretty certain YouTube will have full episodes available. Pip pip, old friend, no time like the present…

    Not only have I seen them, I know them pretty much by heart. I had the whole collection on VHS (for anyone under 25 that is an archaic media storage medium).

    Hugh Laurie in particular is excellent. I always laugh thinking of people who have only seen him in House seeing him as Wooster. No-one does upper-class bafflement quite like Laurie.

    One of my favourite lesser characters is Roderick Spode and another Stilton Cheesewright. Both seem to spend their entire time trying to “break Wooster’s spine in 3 places.”

    #2555

    As I grew up I remember my father reading PGW with regular loud outbursts of laughter and seeing a long line of “orange” Penguin books by him on one of the bookshelves.

    “I hadn’t the heart to touch my breakfast. I told Jeeves to drink it himself.”

    #2566

    .
    Spectator

    Hhmmm I has never heard of him (until now)…

    You know that feeling like everyone In the room is laughing and you have no idea why…like everyone knows a secret you don’t – and it’s a good one? yep that’s me.

    #5429

    private
    Participant

    @Belle ….. It can happen to any of us unwary ones.  I only accidentally stumbled on Laurie doing Wooster on TV.  By the way, none of us deserves to live if we let this bookish forum die.

Viewing 7 posts - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)

You must be logged in to reply to this topic.