I should have thought that P.G. Wodehouse created a true immortal with his Jeeves character. People from the time of Jyoti Basu till yours truly have been afficionados. Now, despite the fact that more people are learning English (after a fashion) all over India than ever before, few people read the Bertie Wooster books - and one of the reasons, so many of my pupils tell me, is that they find the English so 'difficult' that all the humour goes clean over their heads. Well, it is true that Wodehouse's English is incredibly sophisticated, what with its wealth of allusions, puns, innuendos, idioms and idiosyncratic turns of phrase - but if so many 'English-educated' people who have gone to the best schools (and are very snooty about their learning) cannot read what we in our day laughed ourselves to tears over, what price their education?
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11 comments:
I was unaware of such characters, I have downloaded a short story titled called "Jeeves and friends" and wish to get it over by the next couple of days.
On your lament, all I can say is that it is the negligence, the undue pride and somewhere the selfish motive of the teacher as well as the student, that has brought a day, when a student knows what to do while approaching a mathematics, but not why he has done that!
Your post pricks me!
Manoshij Banerjee
I have read quite a few Jeeves, Psmith and Blandings novels and I feel that PGW's style is far from being difficult to understand.
His understatements and the matter-of-factly and lugubrious way of describing hilarious situations have wooed many admirers over the decades.
Though many people of my generation are exposed to at-your-face, Americanized humor, I believe we need to appreciate PGW's style which is so distinctly British.
since I am not as well-read as many others, I would like to ask if there are any author(s) today who could hold a candle to Wodehouse's use of wit and humor.
Oh, I had no doubts about your tastes and abilities, Sayan: I only want the likes of you to reflect what a pretty pass we have come to when most so-called good students tell me these days either that they have never heard of Wodehouse, or they find him too difficult!
PGW was one of a kind. Good writers since his day there have been many, but in the field of rich and refined wit, none other who can be mentioned in the same breath - not in the whole vast domain of English literature. Says something about the world we live in, doesn't it?
Jeeves has not been forgotten, by this little boy without a sense of humour. Every time I visit College street, which is quite some number, I make it a point to pick up at least one Wodehouse.
A gentleman's gentleman as he is, Jeeves never ceases to amaze me with his acute knowledge and wisdom of and about er... everything! Be it literature or politics, Jeeves knows it all. And that inspite of his job, and other serious preoccupations-- getting Wooster and Gussie Fink-Nottle and other assorted chums of Gussie out of trouble every-time! The adventures of Jeeves and Bertie make for rather amusing and intelligent reading-- and provides me much relief when college professors bore me stiff with dry lectures on subjects they don't understand.
It should strike me as rather odd that some young-souls these days find Wodehouse to be 'difficult'. I'm not rather well-read myself, but Wodehouse is just so easy to 'get' and enjoy. And maybe I do dream, but am I wrong in finding a wee bit of satire (aimed at the Brit upper-classes) in Wodehouse?
Sayan da, have you read Douglas Adams? The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy makes for a delightful read: combining the wry humour of Wodehouse and some serious sci-fi on the lines of Asimov, or so someone has described!
Thinking of Gussie Fink-Nottle, the newt specialist and a "teetotal bachelor with a face like a fish" and of course Bertie, who, being a gentleman, needed a butler (‘a gentleman's private gentleman’ to look over both his private and gentlemanly needs), I'm often reminded of our own Bhabadulal Babu in Sukumar Roy's "Chalachitta Chanchari"; who would forget the title of the maiden book he is about to publish (shades of Bertie, just managing to forget to mention 'Eulalie' in 'The Code of the Woosters' at the right moment, which could have easily clinched the issue his way ) and his fetish with his Mamas (paternal uncles), Bodo Mama and Mejo Mama, who would put him to endless travails much like Bertie’s petulant aunts, Agatha and Dahlia.
Hey Suvro, a fantastic redeemer of your ‘self’! Fly it, flaunt it, if you can!
Love and Regards
Kaushik
Suvro da,
Keeping in mind what you said some months ago on your orkut community regarding conversations (possible/real) amongst the peeps of today: "I talk. He talk. Why you middle-talk?" - I can see why students would find Wodehouse's humour difficult. And reading more than a couple of the threads on some very "reputed" college communities does indeed make me see red.
I remember I was stubbornly resistant towards reading Wodehouse in school. I remember the reasons very clearly, but those don't need to be jotted down. The first time I read one was when a very good friend of mine, Gitanjali, literally shoved a Wodehouse into my hands, and told me to give it one shot instead of being so obstinate. I started reading it on the terrace and was very soon laughing my guts out. It was about the cow-creamer (Ring for Jeeves). I even tried very hard not to laugh (just to see whether I could) - but that was quite impossible. Because after a minute or two, I'd have to put the book down, clutch my stomach, and roll around laughing.
There was one time that I found Wodehouse extremely solemn and serious, so much so that had to put his book away...
Sudipto, while I have some friends who loved "The Hitchhikers Guide..." - I found it okay.
To end off: I remember someone who laughed at me in the recent past, for loving Wodehouse...the individual had some weird-hat, "feminist-faffle" that I scoffed at, dismissed, and seem to have clean forgotten.
P.S: I do remember something else I heard while in school: that you read out parts of Wodehouse much to the delight of your cherished audience, and that some members would have collapsed on the bed, and some from the bed onto the floor while in fits of laughter....
Sudipto,
Whoever mentioned Wodehouse and Asimov while commenting upon Hitchhiker... has neither read nor understood much of either Wodehouse or Asimov! It's pure sacrilege, that comment. Next thing I'll hear, someone composing for one of the contemporary Bangla bands is more or less comparable with Tagore, or that there's not much to differentiate between Stephen King and Shakespeare...
Sorry, the Hitchhiker recommendation was dropped in my lap (with just the comment I've written) just this tuesday by a college-mate, and without testing the book out, I just passed the recommendation over. Maybe the chap's use of hyperbole was a bit too much! No disrespect to titans like Asimov or Wodehouse. I should've hesitated before making such a comparison.
I don't really blame you, Sudipto. Once upon a time Hemingway-s got Pulitzers, now Jhumpa Lahiri-s get them (Jhumpa is a nice author, but not even remotely comparable...); once upon a time you had to make a Ben Hur to be showered with Oscars, these days it's enough to make a Titanic or even a Slumdog Millionaire (again, a nice movie, but most certainly not an unforgettable, life-changing experience)! I wonder whether the idea of standards makes any sense to people any more.
Sir, this is the first post I read of your new blog and well...Jeeves!!! You definitely managed to catch my attention! As a confirmed Jeeves fanatic and Bertram Wooster maniac, I propose anyone who has not laughed an idle winter afternoon off on PG Wodehouse has simply committed a cardinal sin - much like not tasting good scotch whisky or something to that effect.
Wodehouse's ability to use the nuances of the language for humour and conjure up absolutely the most complicated of insane situations could easily provide fodder for a hundred Priyadarshan movies and I wonder why so few people take him up. Because over the course of my school and college life, I've met very few who could appreciate the Wodehousian style. Along similar lines, I've met very few who could appreciate British sitcoms like Fawlty Towers, The Office and Coupling as much as they did their American counterparts like Friends et al. Something to do with the Stiff Upper Lip, I wonder?
Among my uncle, my father and us brothers, we have now accumulated a priceless collection of Asterix, Tintin and PG Wodehouse and I hope my children someday will appreciate that brand of humour. Along with Sukumar Ray's "Ho Jo Bo Ro Lo" I guess Wodehouse is the only other source of complete joy that can induce in me the heartiest of laughs in the most mundane of situations.
I still remember I chose a Wodehouse and a Miss Marple collection for my last diligence prize in Class X, the only time we were offered a choice in books. Thanks, Sir, for remembering Jeeves and I hope he continues to entertain future generations!
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