Was Wodehouse aware of how this sounded? Did he intend it that way?

[kakareen.livejournal.com]

Listen to the blissful fanmix put together by

ironicbees

, I can't help but be struck rather forcefully, as if by a quite sizable sledgehammer, but thankfully without the bruising and what-have-you, by the song "What is This Thing Called Love". It is a canon song, which Bertie offers to perform for Jeeves after they have 'broken up' over the banjolele. I had raised an eyebrow over this, and that eyebrow went a whole eighth of an inch higher after reading the lyrics. Having now heard the song, my expression has now escalated to Wooster levels. It is not bright, or cheery. It has not a bouncey beat. It is....melancholy, even. It is just the sort of song Bertie would not care for.
Nevermind Bertie wanting to seranade Jeeves with a love song. The fact that it is not Bertram's usual style of music really drives the point home. Is ever-cheery Wooster so put out that this song fits his mood? Or is he deliberately choosing a song he thinks Jeeves might enjoy, trying to meet him halfway?

Either way, it's all getting a bit ridiculous. As Giles said to Buffy, "I think the subtext is rapidly becoming....text."
I don't even NEED my rainbow-tinted lenses on for this. It's all specially printed for my special viewing needs already.

This is not the only instance of this. There is the well-known ending to "The Tie That Binds". There is the throw-away comment from Bingo that "Jeeves is the brains in the family, isn't he?". And so many others. I invite you to post your favorites.

Anyway, the point I am meandering to is: Was dear old Plum doing this on purpose?

Comments

[juliacarmen.livejournal.com]

Well, he did say in a letter once that he wished he had written about "homosexualism"...

[mxdp.livejournal.com]

But...but... he did! ;)

[georgeodowd.livejournal.com]

Just have to put a hesitant finger in the air on this one, as it's perhaps the most oft-misrepresented quote. Wodehouse did indeed say he wished he had tackled some of the darker literary subjects during his career, calling out, specifically, incest and homosexualism. However, I think, in the proper context, it was clear he was being very, very tongue-in-cheek. Nearly bordering on outright sarcasm. He was very fond of distinguishing his light and witty stories from the realism found in other sorts of literature.
(Now, how much of it was denial is an argument for another day...)

[antony-james-k.livejournal.com]

I fully believe so. I cannot say whether it was his intention from the beginning, but I feel that he was fully, *fully* aware of what they became.

[waqaychay.livejournal.com]

the tie that binds is just rife with things like that. if i didn't know better, i'd say wodehouse was, indeed, doing it on purpose. i've always said that if you read tttb sideways while squinting, it's just like reading gay porn. ;P

my favorite bit is when bertie is almost run over in the street and jeeves saves him. it's a very short line.

"Jeeves!" I ejaculated.

short, like i said. but he uses it quite often in that book, and i can't read it without dirty thoughts. ;)

[triedunture.livejournal.com]

*sporfle* I thought I was the only one with the mind of a 3rd grader when it came to that line. :D

[mxdp.livejournal.com]

I always fall for that line. XD

[kakareen.livejournal.com]

My favorite bit is:
Madeline: Bertie, have you gone straight?
I gave a laugh. One of my gay, debonair ones.

[ironicbees.livejournal.com]

And then later Jeeves brings him a drink and he says

“Mingled with the ecstasy which the sight of him aroused in my bosom was a certain surprise that he should be acting as cup-bearer…‘Hullo, Jeeves!’ I ejaculated.”

A rather interesting choice of words. XD

[storyfan.livejournal.com]

Neither can I.

[pipariperho.livejournal.com]

I KNEW IT! That's why I should read those books in English! I think it can't be translated that way in Finnish.

[hazeltea.livejournal.com]

This is so true! I've always been surprised that more people hadn't written about that angle.

[furius.livejournal.com]

I read somewhere that Wodehouse modeled parts of the Bertie&Jeeves dynamic after him and his wife....He sees himself as the Jeeves character, apparently XD

[affectedmangoo.livejournal.com]

I cannot stop staring at your icon, please send help.
step
step
step
step
...

Where is it going?

[ironicbees.livejournal.com]

I can’t imagine how Wodehouse could have been entirely ignorant of all the subtext in his stories. He has to have seen it – maybe not at first, but eventually.

One of my favourites is in Joy in the Morning, when they have to part after the cottage burns down, and Bertie refers to Jeeves as a gazelle. Jeeves quotes part of the Thomas Moore poem it came from (Lalla Rookh), which sounds slashy enough, but when you read the rest of it it’s even more so (http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/lalla-rookh/). Then there’s the Shakespeare (http://www.online-literature.com/shakespeare/merchant/20/) passage (http://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/merchant/section10.rhtml) Jeeves quotes later (“Look how the floor of heaven is thick inlaid with patines of bright gold…”).

Bertie compares Jeeves to a wife in “Jeeves and the Unbidden Guest”. And my new favourite, from the end of “Leave it to Jeeves” (http://wodehouse.ru/texts/pg/23_My_Man_Jeeves.txt) : “Of course, I know it’s as bad as being henpecked, but then Jeeves is always right.”

[random-nexus.livejournal.com]

Linky goodness to poemhunter seems to have something against me.
:(

[wemblee.livejournal.com]

Apparently the super-slashy ending of "Tie That Binds" was different originally and was changed for the American edition? Even still, sometimes I really do wonder if Plum, after a while, did intend a lot of their gay gay gayness. I mean... just... come on.

oops, almost forgot

[wemblee.livejournal.com]

And Junior Ganymede? COME ON.

[angieveep.livejournal.com]

I haven´t read yet about the banjolele incident (shame on me). In which novel can I find it?

[ironicbees.livejournal.com]

It's in "Thank You, Jeeves".

[random-nexus.livejournal.com]

Too, too many to count -- even if I had the memory to recall them all without assistance -- but I am firmly in the "yes, he bloody well DID know what he was doing and did it on purpose" camp. If he didn't know at the start, he HAD to know some way into the many stories he wrote, because... c'mon now. Really.

[charie-caphine.livejournal.com]

There's too much slash there for it to be coincidental. The question stands, though, whether PG was for real or poking fun (both, perchance?).

[georgeodowd.livejournal.com]

Ah, the $64M question!
I think, perhaps, the best grounding for an answer must come from a good deal of research. Having only done a smattering, I have a vague theory on this topic, but the best place to start, I think, is with Robert McCrum's biography. And then, as an immediate and balancing follow-up, this review of it: http://www.exile.ru/articles/detail.php?ARTICLE_ID=12841&IBLOCK_ID=35&PAGE=1

My personal take is that some awareness of what was going on persisted in Wodehouse's subconscious, but that it must certainly be viewed in light of the time period, during which homosexuality was allowable so long as it was (1) a gag or (2) being condemned. From Wodehouse's angle, I think the whole Wooster-Jeeves marriage was very much so a reoccurring gag, and thus, completely acceptable material. It is the emotional 'ecstasy' and highs and lows that J. can put B. through which speak of a deeper attachment that Wodehouse likely couldn't admit even to himself.
One of McCrum's most interesting arguments, in my opinion, is the sort of 'bromance' (if you will forgive the term) that Wodehouse was accustomed to as part of his schooling and distance from his parents. You see instances of extreme affection that parallel Bertie/Jeeves in his own life, sometimes to the point of personal embarrassment (cf the heavily edited letters between Wodehouse and Bill Townend that were far too 'intimate' for public consumption).
I tend to turn into a big windbag on this subject... perhaps not best suited for a single comment. I keep meaning to turn it all into one big post for open discussion. Perhaps someday!

[closetofheroes.livejournal.com]

Actually, I have two little theories.

1. I suspect that the whole issue of homosexuality was much less discussed back then, and therefore a chap would be a lot less worried about appearing 'gay'. Today, most heterosexual guys have a deep-seated awareness of homosexuality, and know how to avoid appearing thus. At a time when it was barely talked about (at least in the kind of circles in which Bertie moved) it was probably easy to romanticise one's friendships, comparing them to Damon and Pythias, say, without fear of being judged.

2. In a society where sexuality was a lot more restrained, where women are 'tender goddesses' on pedestals and there is little if any sexual activity before marriage, perhaps there was a far greater inclination to be affectionate towards one's friends - as a sort of innocent outlet, as it were.

For some reason I feel guilty posting a comment that is of a certain length - but since it's pertinent to the question of PGW's awareness of how slashy the Bertie/Jeeves relationship is, it seems like this is the place to post it. If there is some forum etiquette that I am ignorant of, please tell me!

[closetofheroes.livejournal.com]

When I was about 11 I read 'the Aunt and the Sluggard'. I hadn't even heard of homosexuality at the time (I rather lived under a rock as a child, oblivious of everything) but when I read that passage about how miserable he was without Jeeves, 'oh for the touch of a vanished hand', and especially how when Jeeves arrived with some of his clothes it was 'all so homelike that I nearly broke down', I distinctly remember going off into a little homoerotic h/c fantasy daydream. If I could see it (and I am pretty slow on the uptake, generally) at that tender age, surely...

I read a lovely one recently. It's at the end of Bingo and the Little Woman. Bertie was seriously annoyed at Jeeves. 'One thing I was jolly certain of, and that was that this was where Jeeves and I parted company.' But then he looks around his flat and sees everything in its right place and feels how everything is 'so bally right'. He is softened, and then Jeeves enters and he says 'there was something about the mere look of the man-'. He attempts to at least tick Jeeves off, but can't bring himself even to do that.

What with everything being so right and there being something about the mere look of the man, I had to wonder - gosh, did he realise how gay this sounds? All in the context of the time, I suppose.

Then of course there's

I felt most awfully braced. ... I felt like one of those birds in the novels who calls off the fight with his wife in the last chapter and decides to forget and forgive. I felt I wanted to do all sorts of other things to show Jeeves that I appreciated him.

Oh yes, Bertie? What sort of things, pray?

[mxdp.livejournal.com]

Dearbertiebwriting and georgeodowd ,
I have decided that you two should collaborate and make one giant post about this very interesting subject, asap.

Thank you.

[closetofheroes.livejournal.com]

Oh, oh, and one more - sorry. Jeeves and the Song of Songs. Loved it when Aunt D inquired, referencing Jeeves:

Does he talk to you like this when you're alone, Bertie?

Something about that really spoke to me. She knows what's going on...

[georgeodowd.livejournal.com]

Goodness, what was the context of that? Of course I want to imagine Jeeves saying something somewhat overly familiar or reprimanding Bertie in front of his elders, but I suspect it was simply him delivering one of his usual insightful lines. I can see I had better get around to finishing my tour of canon awfully soon.

[georgeodowd.livejournal.com]

Oh wait, I just found a quote to contribute to the general fray.

From Very Good, Jeeves!:

'He looked at me. A long, strange look.
"You aren't married, are you, Bertie?"
"You know I'm not."
"I should have guessed it, anyway."'

Oh, and has anyone read Wodehouse's poem, Damion and Pythias (A Romance)? The titling is rather interesting, and apt, as it's about two boys who fall for the same woman, but decide their friendship is more important and thus neither goes for her. Launches all sorts of clues about who would win in Woman's Love v. Man's Affection for Mr. W.