To the eternity of laughter

“Jeeves,” I said at the breakfast table, “I’ve got spots on my chest.”
“Indeed, sir?”
“I don’t like them.”
“A very understandable prejudice, sir. Might I inquire if they itch?”
“Sort of.”
“I would not advocate scratching them.”
“I disagree with you. You have to take a firm line with spots…”
-The Catnappers

Pelham Grenville Wodehouse never did take a firm line with anything he wrote. In fact his writing had the smooth, languid flow of honey. The lines rolling luxuriously from his characters’ tongues and the laughter rising spontaneously to our lips.

Discovering Wodehouse for me was the beginning of many a lazy afternoon and many an endless train journey spent delightfully in his company. I fell in love with many of his characters, Bertie, the well meaning idiot, Jeeves, the soul of sagacity, Lord Emsworth, the darling amongst all fictional earls and of course Uncle Fred the sprightliest and jolliest of old men.

Though I have a soft spot for the Blanding Castle series and the Jeeves and Wooster series, I have never failed to enjoy the other Drones, Mulliner and golf stories. P.G Wodehouse has never been less than prolific. With more than 80 novels over a long period of time, it is amazing that the author has preserved such quality and such a fan base.

The remarkable thing about Wodehouse is the apparent eternity of his novel. I mean, I find it amazing that a book written in 1906 is being enjoyed so much and by so many in 2006. You may say however, that that is true of many authors, what about Shakespeare, Dickens, Conan Doyle, Christie. Well that is true, good writing leaves legacies and just to be mentioned in that league is enough evidence of his greatness. But in the case of Wodehouse, his longevity is more remarkable because of the otherwise ephemeral nature of humor. Humor is very topical at best and its nature generally shifts in time from raucous to polite to vulgar to witty. Wodehouse’s style of farcical humor has stood the test of time. And that in itself is a huge testimonial to this man.

To label Wodehousian literature as just funny, however will be a misnomer again. There is much subtlety and great complexity in a Wodehouse plot. There is a way to test this. Read any Wodehouse novel and then try and explain its plot to someone in your own words succinctly. It can’t be done! That will make you realize the layers and complex weaving of his stories.

Wodehouse is also one of the best sources for quotes. Random sentences taken from his work are just as funny as the whole.

It was a confusion of ideas between him and one of the lions he was hunting in Kenya that had caused A. B. Spottsworth to make the obituary column. He thought the lion was dead, and the lion thought it wasn't. Ring for Jeeves (1953)

I personally adore this man for just making me smile. To be lost in his work is to find peace. To be transported to an idyllic world where it all comes right in the end. Where insurmountable difficulties are surpassed, where laughter cures all and a good nature and a jolly disposition will guarantee you happiness.

I owe much of my fascination for the written word to him. I owe much of my admiration for the English language to the impeccability of his prose. I owe him a lot of happiness and I owe him many a belly laugh. I know that I am not the only one who is grateful that P.G Wodehouse lived and wrote.

So here’s to great literature and great writing. And here’s to the eternity of laughter