Beyond Wodehouse
‘The two twin souls gazed into each other’s eyes. There is no surer foundation for a beautiful friendship than a mutual taste in literature.’
P.G. Wodehouse
(Strychnine In The Soup) Continue reading P.G. Wodehouse recommends: A Reading List for World Book Day
‘The effect on her of a dark, keen-eyed man like Adrian Mulliner, who spoke well and easily of footprints, psychology and the underworld, must have been stupendous.’ ‘The Smile That Wins’ (Mulliner Nights) Great piece on Private Investigators in P.G. Wodehouse’s writing from The New Thrilling Detective blog. The Thrilling Detective Web Site By Rudyard Kennedy “Consider the case of Henry Pifield Rice… I must explain Henry early, to avoid disappointment. If I simply said he was a detective, and let it go at that, I should be obtaining the reader’s interest under false pretences. He was really only a sort … Continue reading P.G. Wodehouse: P.I. Writer
Originally posted on Robert Pimm: novels, short stories and more:
I need help. I need help from Wodehouse experts, or Kenner as we call them here in Austria. For years, I have been relishing my father’s Folio Society collection of Jeeves and Wooster stories. I have so far read 14 of them, as reported in my blogs Aunts aren’t gentlemen – 10 quotations, Jeeves and the feudal spirit: 20 delicious quotations, and Right ho, Jeeves – 14 fruity quotations (links in bold italics are to other posts on this site). When I started reading Wodehouse, as reported in my blog How to read P… Continue reading Reading Wodehouse: a plea for help
As you know, each February Plumtopia muses upon the romances of P.G. Wodehouse to mark the anniversary of his death on St Valentine’s Day 1975. This year, I’m on a quest to discover your favourite couples from the world of Wodehouse romance. Please help me by sharing your favourites via Plumtopia, Facebook and Twitter. And while we’re on the subject of romance, I’d like to draw your attention to a couple of recent pieces by romance writer and LibertaBooks blogger, Sophie Weston. Sophie clearly knows her stuff — about the romance genre, as well as Wodehouse In PGW and the … Continue reading Wodehouse and the Romantic Novelist (Sophie Weston)
Having apprised regular readers of certain facts about an upcoming Wodehouse exhibition at the British Library, the keen observer may have detected an absence of new material here at Plumtopia. But the world of Wodehouse has not suffered. Indeed, it has been buzzing along quite nicely. The P G Wodehouse Society dinner On 11 October, the P G Wodehouse Society (UK) held its biennial dinner. This is always a special occasion, and in 2018 included readings from Neil Pearson, Katy Reece, and Robert Daws. Daws is well known to Wodehouse fans for playing Tuppy Glossop in the Jeeves and Wooster … Continue reading P.G. Wodehouse in the news
If I were to construct a Plumtopian society according to my own specifications (which, regrettably, nobody has asked me to do) BBC Radio 4 would be one of the first things I’d bung into the package. In addition to producing high quality radio, the Radio 4 website is also well worth exploring. It contains, among other things, this little gem: Six reasons why P.G. Wodehouse is Stephen Fry’s hero Fry and Wodehouse are always an irresistible combination. For a second helping try the 2017 broadcast (currently available on repeat) of Stephen Fry on PG Wodehouse, as part of the BBC … Continue reading Six reasons why P.G. Wodehouse is Stephen Fry’s hero
One prefers, of course, on all occasions to be stainless and above reproach, but, failing that, the next best thing is unquestionably to have got rid of the body. P.G. Wodehouse (Joy in the Morning) Raymond Chandler was born on this day, 23 July 1888. Chandler wrote ‘hard-boiled’ detective fiction, including classics like The Big Sleep and The Long Goodbye. His fictional detective Philip Marlowe was famously played on screen by Humphrey Bogart. P.G. Wodehouse and Raymond Chandler were both educated at Dulwich College in London’s South, which today has libraries named after both authors. David Cannadine explored the connection between them … Continue reading Where Jeeves meets a hard-boiled detective: P.G. Wodehouse and Raymond Chandler
Agatha Christie’s novel Hallowe’en Party, the 39th outing for Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, was first published In November 1969. Christie dedicated it: To P. G. Wodehouse — whose books and stories have brightened my life for many years. Also, to show my pleasure in his having been kind enough to tell me he enjoyed my books. In February 2015, many of Agatha Christie’s letters were published to mark the 125th anniversary of her birth. They included a letter from P.G.Wodehouse, thanking Christie for the dedication. Wodehouse and Christie were mutual admirers of each other’s work, and had begun corresponding fifteen … Continue reading Agatha Christie’s Hallowe’en Party for P.G. Wodehouse
P.G. Wodehouse offers us so much as readers, but he’s an inspiration for writers too. I asked Auriel Roe, author of A Blindfellows Chronicle, about Wodehouse’s influence on her writing. How did you discover Wodehouse? Probably the Richard Briers and Michael Hordern radio version of Jeeves and Wooster. Dickens always intended his work to be read aloud and Wodehouse has just the right rhythms for this too, so that led me to read Wodehouse. Coming from a background in drama, I could tell instantly that Wodehouse’s characters and scenarios were theatrical. Do you have a favourite Wodehouse novel or story? Probably … Continue reading Writing under the influence of Wodehouse: A Blindefellows Chronicle by Auriel Roe
George Orwell was born on this day 1903. Best known as the author of dystopian classics 1984 and Animal Farm, Orwell also wrote a 1946 essay ‘In Defence of P.G. Wodehouse’. The background to this story has been covered in much detail elsewhere.* Before the start of the Second World War, P.G. Wodehouse was living in France. When the German Army invaded, he was among those captured and interned — in a succession of prison camps, from Belgium to Upper Silesia. He continued to write throughout his internment, and read his light-hearted camp diary aloud for the amusement of his … Continue reading On this day: George Orwell, who wrote in Defence of P.G. Wodehouse, was born (1903)
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