Jeeves&Wooster reboot?

[gentlepolinka.livejournal.com]

Hi guys!

I've just known that Sebastian Faulks' going to publish a new Jeeves&Wooster novel - "Jeeves and the Wedding Bells" on 4 November. He wrote that the new novel would "be faithful to the history and personality of Wodehouse's characters but by shining a different light on them will also show how robust, durable and lovable these creations are". Two opposite feelings fight in me. From the one side he may destroy our beautiful canon, from the other - engage new people to us.

What do you think about this?

Comments

[violetjimjams.livejournal.com]

I know about a dozen fanfic writers who should be published as the continuation of canon.

So it's doable. I've never read anything by this guy, so it's impossible to tell.

[gentlepolinka.livejournal.com]

me too. I discover that he exists only yestarday)) My friend said me that he wrote new novel about agent 007 (not good by her opinion) so obviously Faulks likes famous writers

[erynn999.livejournal.com]

I don't think it's going to destroy our canon (he isn't Wodehouse, after all) any more than any of our fic community writers will. Though, if he marries Bertie off to anyone other than Jeeves, there will be a reckoning... ;)

[derien.livejournal.com]

Someone ought to warn him, don't you think? There's thousands hundreds several rabid fangirls who might make things messy.

[erynn999.livejournal.com]

He might better be forewarned...

[gentlepolinka.livejournal.com]

If he will be good - his novel may be filmed! And we' ll see J&W on screen)

[haikitteh.livejournal.com]

I'd love to see a new J&W on screen! And now Hugh & Stephen are old enough to play some of the threatening characters like Sir Roderick Glossop.

[hazeltea.livejournal.com]

I think the people who will read this will probably already be Wodehouse fans. I hope it's a good read.

[gentlepolinka.livejournal.com]

Me too!

[chocolate-frapp.livejournal.com]

Depends on how good he is.

[gentlepolinka.livejournal.com]

I've heard some negative opinions about his previous novells, so I don't know what to think myself

[margi-lynn.livejournal.com]

I think it'll be interesting. He's not Wodehouse, so I'm not worried about canon, but I don't know anything about him. So he might be just as good as some of the fic writers here, but I don't know that yet ^u^

[gentlepolinka.livejournal.com]

Yeah! It is the right word - interesting

[derien.livejournal.com]

I seriously think it would have been to their best advantage to find a fic writer who's already shown that they can mimic the style well.

[gentlepolinka.livejournal.com]

Bu this guy makes hay, gets the permission from the Wodehouse' heir and now waits for money)

[haikitteh.livejournal.com]

I'm stunned by this news. Sebastian Faulks's style is vastly different from Wodehouse's style. I'll admit that the only novel I've read of his is "Birdsong," and he does have a real feel for period, but his style is angsty personal drama, not comedic at all.

On the other hand, "Birdsong" is a great novel, beautiful and intense and moving. I'd certainly be willing to read a Jeeves novel in that style -- I've read plenty of fanfiction in that style and am none the worse for it. Still, if you'd asked me to name the author who should be tapped to pen the next Jeeves novel, Faulks would not be the name that sprang to my lips.

I feel terribly hypocritical about my stance, though. I've avidly devoured loads of Jeevesian fanfiction and am still not sated. Some of it has blown me away with its brilliance. "Birdsong" blew me away, too, so...maybe it'll be great?

[gentlepolinka.livejournal.com]

I agree with you about beatiuful examples of Jooster fanfiction! But maybe this new book attracts new fans to our fandom)

[rathanylakan.livejournal.com]

I've read a few novel that where supposed to be new Sherlock Holmes novels, continuations of ACD's canon. The ones I read were all awful. I hope this is better. Though, I'd be more interested in an anthology of a couple different writers making short attempts than reading a novel.

[godsdaisiechain.livejournal.com]

I just hope it's better than the Jane Austen "reimaginings" I was peering at in the Branes and Nobel yesterday...

[ladykeane.livejournal.com]

I seem to remember reading somewhere that some fellow had already written a "new" J&W novel, in which Bertie married Bobbie Wickham (GASP!!!!) and inherited the title of Lord Yaxley from Uncle George. Does this ring a bell for anyone...?

Anyway, it's all just fanfic that someone got paid for as far as I'm concerned, and I mean every "official" adaption - from this new book to Lloyd Webber's musical to even the Fry & Laurie TV adaption. Doesn't mean it's not good or legitimate in its own right. But if Plum didn't pen it himself it's just not cricket canon.

[gentlepolinka.livejournal.com]

OMG no!

[annlarimer.livejournal.com]

That's wossname's 'biography' of Bertie Wooster.

[storyfan.livejournal.com]

Would have been fun to see Stephen and Hugh collaborate on a new novel.

[haikitteh.livejournal.com]

Now they would have gotten it right!

Did anyone read Hugh's book "The Gun Seller"? It's hilarious! (And action-packed, too.) And we all know how funny Fry's writings are from his several autobios.

[dogwoodblossom.livejournal.com]

I love The Gun Seller. It was amazing. I love Hugh Laurie as an actor, and I know he writes for TV pretty frequently, but the dude needs to bang out a couple more novels.

[with-rainfall.livejournal.com]

I had no idea Hugh Laurie had written a book!

[die-heitere.livejournal.com]

YES PLEASE.

[drunken-kurage.livejournal.com]

Oh, that would be wonderful.

[burntcopper.livejournal.com]

NO. Just.... NO.

[wotwotleigh.livejournal.com]

Hmm, not sure how I feel about this. He'd either have to get the style dead on (which is quite a feat!), or do something really new and different and not even attempt to mimic the Wodehouse voice. Either way, I hope he does his homework and reads all the source material first . . .

[schreckschraube.livejournal.com]

He can't destroy the canon. Canon is what Wodehouse wrote. Everything else is fanfiction.

So he's really doing the same thing as dozens of other writers on the internet. He's just lucky enough to get paid.

To be honest, I can't be arsed to give it a chance, but maybe that's just me.

[annlarimer.livejournal.com]

Nothing to worry about. Eoin Colfer's godawful And Another Thing couldn't destroy the memory of Douglas Adams, though it did its best.

We'll either get a nifty pastiche, or just be kinda depressed for a couple of hours and a lot of copies will go into Bookcrossing.