In Wodehouse’s first story of the exploits of Bertie Wooster and his man Jeeves, many of the familiar details are present: the language, Bertie’s aunts, and the predicament that needs resolving.<\/p>\n
But there was one notable exception: Jeeves scarcely got a mention<\/a>. \u201cI still blush to think of the off-hand way I treated him at our first encounter,\u201d wrote\u00a0Wodehouse. He would flesh him out later. \u201c[A] tallish man, with one those dark, shrewd faces\u201d who brings order to the scrape-ridden world of Bertie and his friends with noiseless omniscience. In that first story, however, there is no hint that we are in the presence of a \u201cbird of the ripest intelligence\u201d, who \u201cFrom the collar upward\u2026stands alone.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
I don’t believe I’ve ever gotten around to this story. My first foray into this part of Wodehouse’s world was with one or two stories from Very Good,\u00a0Jeeves<\/em>, which being written in the late 20s\u00a0was beyond\u00a0establishing many of the principles. When I saw that another book, Carry On, Jeeves<\/em>, began with what you might call an origin story (originally published in 1916), I read through\u00a0that one before returning to the other. I like to keep things in order.<\/p>\n
Jeeves and Wooster came into play for Glenn Fisher the other day when he praised these habit of two writers he admires<\/a>.\u00a0“Both JG Ballard and PG Wodehouse challenged themselves to write 1,000 words a day.”<\/p>\n
That may be just the idea I need to press ahead with my own goals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In Wodehouse’s first story of the exploits of Bertie Wooster and his man Jeeves, many of the familiar details are present: the language, Bertie’s aunts, and the predicament that needs resolving. But there was one notable exception: Jeeves scarcely got a mention. \u201cI still blush to think of the off-hand way I treated him at … Continue reading Jeeves Was Scarcely Mentioned<\/span>