Tag: P.G. Wodehouse

P. G. Wodehouse’s Uncle Dynamite: Good Intentions Gone Awry

Fractad
Fractad Coolidge
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I’m a huge fan of P. G. Wodehouse. He is one of the funniest authors in the history of literature, while at the same time maintaining an extraordinarily high quality of writing. Very few writers can turn a phrase as cleverly or more beautifully than Wodehouse.

The uncle in Uncle Dynamite is Lord Frederick Ickenham, who has been featured in several Wodehouse tales along with his nephew, Pongo Twistleton. Traveling on a train to visit Pongo, Lord Ickenham meets Bill Oakshott and engages him in conversation. Bill is returning from South America, where he went to try to forget the love of his life, Hermione Bostock, the daughter of an annoying uncle of Bill’s who has moved in and made himself at home in Bill’s manor. The modest Bill confides in Fred how much he dislikes his uncle, but refrains from disclosing his affection for Hermione. Which is a good thing, since Fred casually mentions that his nephew Pongo has recently gotten engaged to a young woman named Hermione Bostock!

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P G Wodehouse’s Full Moon – More Fun at Blandings Castle

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Fractad Coolidge
56
 

Full Moon

Book number 43 of 2024

Whenever I need a restorative read, I turn to the master of comedy: P. G. Wodehouse. My favorite books of his are set at Blandings Castle, the ancestral home of the dotty Lord Clarence Emsworth, his gaggle of formidable sisters, and of course, The Empress of Blandings – Lord Emsworth’s prize-winning pig. His younger son, Freddie Threepwood usually shows up, and there are always interesting guests as well as lovestruck young couples facing insuperable hurdles to their happiness. I have already read and reviewed another Blandings Castle novel, Uncle Fred In The Springtime.

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Wodehouse’s Uncle Fred In The Springtime – Everything That Could Go Wrong…

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Fractad Coolidge
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P. G. Wodehouse’s Uncle Fred In The Springtime has all the elements that make his books so much fun: mistaken identities, potty Earls and Dukes, love-stricken young persons who face insurmountable odds to getting married, and endless plot complications that all manage to get solved. It is set in Blandings Castle, where Clarence, the Earl of Emsworth, only seeks peace and quiet to raise his prize-winning pig, The Empress of Blandings. Alas, peace and quiet are the last things he gets in this tale.

It begins with Pongo Twistleton (no one since Charles Dickens is as good at creating characters’ names as Wodehouse) visiting his friend, Horace Davenport, to touch him for 200 pounds. He has a bookie’s enforcer breathing down his neck, and he has to raise the funds to save it. Horace is engaged to Pongo’s sister, Valerie. Unfortunately, while she was vacationing in France, the jealous Horace hired a private investigator, Claude “Mustard” Pott, to tail her. She found out and was justifiably furious, breaking their engagement.

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P. G. Wodehouse for the Laughs

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Fractad Coolidge
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After the haunting and intense story of The Wager, I decided a little light reading was in order. For me, nothing fills that bill better than P. G. Wodehouse, who is probably most famous for his Jeeves and Wooster stories. I love those, and I like his Blandings Castle tales even better – it’s an Eden where ditsy lovers try to outwit killjoy aunts, and the only danger is from unscrupulous persons who covet the Empress of Blandings, the Earl’s prize-winning enormous pig.

Anyway, Delphi Classics has put together a huge collection of Wodehouse eBooks (31 novels, 10 short story collections, and 2 plays for a whopping $2.99!) and it’s been fun to discover some lesser-known titles of his. The Small Bachelor was first published in 1927, and like many of Wodehouse’s early novels, it is set in New York City.

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Quote of the Day: Masterful Character Sketching

CB Toder aka Mama Toad
CB Toder aka Mama Toad Coolidge
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“She sprang it on me before breakfast. There in seven words you have a complete character sketch of my Aunt Agatha.” — The opening lines of Educating Young Gussie by P.G. Wodehouse

Wodehouse is doubtless familiar to many Ricochetti, but perhaps there are some among us who have not yet encountered the magic of the master. With these opening words, Bertie Wooster’s Aunt Agatha is perfectly captured. Even readers who have just met her for the first time understand completely the kind of woman she is. Energetic. Firm. Early rising. Filled with plans for improvement that require instant and utter submission. In short, a horror.

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