Jeeves story notes
Mar. 10th, 2011 08:09 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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indeedsir_backup*wipes sweat from brow* *curses Google docs*
Okay, so here are my notes for the short stories, and a rough chronology.
stories: https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1ITboJYvxpXxOyMvmFODWXWkmUwJnetE9JHXeX5hgaYw
chronology: https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=12C50OWigkpdcB5tTv6CSKNLxzQIHU7JBZMpnkRE2UrI
With the stories, I know all the contradictions and things can be explained by "Wodehouse forget/messed up", but where's the fun in that? :D You're welcome to start discussions on anything in these that interests you enough to do so, or contact me directly if you prefer.
Regarding the chronology, I ordered stories as best I could based on both internal dates and publication order. So, they're not all in the same order as they are in published collections.
What surprised me when I first put it together was that Jeeves & Bertie's association, from the first story through "The Tie That Binds", worked out to about 11 years. I'd always thought it was only about 6.
By the way, if anyone has read "Jeeves and the Greasy Bird", I'd appreciate anything you can tell me about it, at the very least so I can get an idea where it fits in the timeline. It's the one story I can't find anywhere. If you also have any dating clues to offer for the stories that don't appear to have any, please feel free to let me know.
Some other handy resources:
A list of all the stories, with publication dates, alternate titles, and what collections they're published in.
This site offers literary/cultural references for Wodehouse's stories, but it doesn't cover all the Jeeves stories yet. (The site's not coming up at the moment, but it was working earlier today.)
I'll be splitting the notes for the novels into two parts, and the first one will be up soon.
Are there any other sites/services like Google docs that allows you to publish docs online and share them privately, but that aren't so damn hard to use? After the trouble I had getting this prepared, I'm not looking forward to formatting what looks to be another 150+ pages in Google. >:(
ETA: I'm going to go ahead and unlock this for now. Hopefully all the quotes from the books don't exceed some legal limit. I'll probably lock it again in a week or two to be safe.
Okay, so here are my notes for the short stories, and a rough chronology.
stories: https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1ITboJYvxpXxOyMvmFODWXWkmUwJnetE9JHXeX5hgaYw
chronology: https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=12C50OWigkpdcB5tTv6CSKNLxzQIHU7JBZMpnkRE2UrI
With the stories, I know all the contradictions and things can be explained by "Wodehouse forget/messed up", but where's the fun in that? :D You're welcome to start discussions on anything in these that interests you enough to do so, or contact me directly if you prefer.
Regarding the chronology, I ordered stories as best I could based on both internal dates and publication order. So, they're not all in the same order as they are in published collections.
What surprised me when I first put it together was that Jeeves & Bertie's association, from the first story through "The Tie That Binds", worked out to about 11 years. I'd always thought it was only about 6.
By the way, if anyone has read "Jeeves and the Greasy Bird", I'd appreciate anything you can tell me about it, at the very least so I can get an idea where it fits in the timeline. It's the one story I can't find anywhere. If you also have any dating clues to offer for the stories that don't appear to have any, please feel free to let me know.
Some other handy resources:
A list of all the stories, with publication dates, alternate titles, and what collections they're published in.
This site offers literary/cultural references for Wodehouse's stories, but it doesn't cover all the Jeeves stories yet. (The site's not coming up at the moment, but it was working earlier today.)
I'll be splitting the notes for the novels into two parts, and the first one will be up soon.
Are there any other sites/services like Google docs that allows you to publish docs online and share them privately, but that aren't so damn hard to use? After the trouble I had getting this prepared, I'm not looking forward to formatting what looks to be another 150+ pages in Google. >:(
ETA: I'm going to go ahead and unlock this for now. Hopefully all the quotes from the books don't exceed some legal limit. I'll probably lock it again in a week or two to be safe.
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no subject
Date: 2011-03-11 04:23 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-03-11 07:33 am (UTC)I can't wait to dig in!
no subject
Date: 2011-03-11 07:55 am (UTC)I hope you enjoy! :)
no subject
Date: 2011-03-11 08:36 am (UTC)The Junior Ganymede club book is mentioned. Bertie mentions there being eleven pages about him in said book.
There is a chap named Blair Eggleston, an 'angry young novelist' as one of the central charcters. Aunt Dahlia has him writing a series on the Modern Girl for Milady's Boudoir. Bertie notes that "the little sheet has since been sold but at that time was still limping along and losing its bit of money each week."
Eggleston is in love with Honoria. Aunt Dahlia wants Bertie to play Santa Claus (yes, called that) at her children's Christmas party. Naturally, Bertie ends up accidentally engaged to Honoria. Again.
Catsmeat Potter-Pirbright shows up, "on the stage and now in considerable demand for what are called juvenile roles." Bertie goes to him in search of a faux-fiancee with which to put off Honoria. An actor's agent offers his niece,Trixie, as the necessary beazel. The actor's agent repeatedly calls Bertie "cocky."
Upon resolution of the crisis, Bertie offers to take Jeeves to Florida to fish for tarpon, of course.
no subject
Date: 2011-03-11 09:33 am (UTC)Are there any slashy quotes in the story?
no subject
Date: 2011-03-11 10:21 am (UTC)Greasy Bird pt 1
Date: 2011-03-12 12:38 am (UTC)In the first para, Bertie arrives home from a week visiting Roderick Glossop's Chuffnel Regis clinic to check on Aunt Dahlia's cousin Percy. "Jeeves was in the sitting-room messing about with holly, for we would soon be having Christmas at our throats and he is always a stickler for doing the right thing. I gave him a cheery greeting."
One wonders if there was also mistletoe?
Bertie is pondering how Jeeves was aware of Glossop's romantic difficulties. ""How do you know all this, Jeeves? Did he confer with you?" I said, for I knew how wide his consulting practice was. "Put it up to Jeeves," is so much the slogan in my circle of acquaintance that it might be that even Sir Roderick Glossop, finding himself on a sticky wicket, had decided to place his affairs in his hands. Jeeves is like Sherlock Holmes. The highest in the land come to him with their problems. For all I know, they may give him jewelled snuff boxes."
Bertie asks if Jeeves has extra-whatever-it's-called. Jeeves has, rather, been perusing the G section of the Club Book.
Bertie guards the fact that he has gained information from Jeeves via the book. ""He didn't tell me," I said guardedly. I always have to be very careful not to reveal my sources when Jeeves gives me information he has gleaned from the club book."
Aunt Dahlia asks Bertie to come out to Brinkley for Christmas with all the trimmings. Bertie inquires if there will be holly? And mistletoe? back to the mistletoe motif, I see
Jeeves agrees that Bertie was "fully justified, sir" in refusing to play Santa Claus for Aunt Dahlia.
"I must say I thought it pretty decent of him to give the young master the weight of his support like this, for though I haven't mentioned it before it was only a day or two since I had been compelled to thwart him as inflexibly as I had thwarted the recent aunt. He had been trying to get me to Florida after Christmas, handing out a lot of talk about how pleasant it would be for my many American friends, most of whom make a bee line for Hobe Sounds in the winter months, to have me with them again, but I recognized this, though specious, as merely the old oil. I knew what was the thought behind his words. He likes the fishing in Florida and yearns someday to catch a tarpon."
Bertie has put Jeeves off because he wanted to be in town for the Drones Club darts tournament, which takes place in February, and figured they wouldn't be back in time. Obviously, however, Bertie has indulged Jeeves in some Floridian fishing before, or he would not know whether Jeeves liked the fishing there or not. To continue:
"The point that I am making is that there was no dudgeon or umbrage or anything of that sort on his part, as there would have been if he had been a lesser man, which of course he isn't."
Bertie has Jeeves go buy some roses for Aunt Dahlia. "Jeeves brought the blooms while I was in my bath" -- one wonders if Jeeves brought Bertie flowers in addition to the ones he got for Dahlia...
After attempting a wheeze to get disengaged from Honoria, Bertie says "The only thing that kept the moment from being absolutely perfect was that Jeeves was not here to share my triumph. I toyed with the idea of ringing him up at the Junior Ganymede, but I didn't want to interrupt him when he was probably in the act of doubling six no trumps." Bertie calls Jeeves at his club to squee at him!
Jeeves and Dahlia come up with a plan to get Bertie out of the soup, said soup being a horrifying engagement to an actress via her agent "uncle" attempting to soak Bertie for ₤2,000.
""I shall attempt to reason with him, sir."
"The heart turned to lead in the bosom. I suppose I've become so used to having Jeeves wave his magic wand and knock the stuffing out of the stickiest crises that I expect him to produce something brilliant from the hat every time.""
""You do not think highly of my idea, sir?"
"Well, I don't want to hurt your feelings--"
"Not at all, sir."
"--but I wouldn't call it one of your top thoughts.""
Greasy Bird pt 2
Date: 2011-03-12 12:39 am (UTC)Jeeves asserts that Bertie is broke, and Jeeves is no longer his valet, but is acting as a broker's man and has taken possession of Bertie's flat for an unpaid debt to a wine merchant. In other words, he's living there and letting Bertie stay with him.
""You mean you're a broker's man?"
"Precisely, sir. I am sorry to say I have come down in the world and my present situation was the only one I could secure. But while not what I have been accustomed to, it has its compensations. Mr. Wooster is a very agreeable young gentleman and takes my intrusion in an amiable spirit. We have long and interesting conversations, and in the course of these he has confided his financial position to me. It appears that he is entirely dependent upon the bounty of his aunt, a Mrs. Travers, a lady of uncertain temper who has several times threatened unless he curbs his extravagance to cancel his allowance and send him to Canada to subsist on a small monthly remittance. She is of course under the impression that I am Mr. Wooster's personal attendant. Should she learn of my official status, I do not like to envisage the outcome, though if I may venture on a pleasantry, it would be a case of outgo rather than income for Mr. Wooster.""
So, as noted, Jeeves tells this guy that he has possession of the place and is still pretending to be Bertie's valet because he likes Bertie and doesn't want to see him banished to Canada.
Aunt Dahlia enters the scene and backs up Jeeves's story by threatening to send Bertie off, and his actress with him, which scares old Jas away, no more to darken Bertie's door.
"I was already emerging [from behind the piano], and my first act was to pay them both a marked tribute. Jeeves accepted it gracefully, Aunt Dahlia with another of those snorts."
Jeeves foists off the playing of Santa Claus onto Sir Roderick and sends Dahlia on her way.
"She buzzed off, and I turned to Jeeves, deeply moved. He had saved me from an ordeal at the thought of which the flesh crept, for I hadn't believed for a moment the aged r.'s story of the blaze in the curate's beard having been an accident. The younger element had probably sat up nights planning it out.
"Jeeves," I said, "you were saying something not long ago about going to Florida after Christmas."
"It was merely a suggestion, sir."
"You want to catch a tarpon, do you not?"
"I confess that it is my ambition, sir."
"I sighed. It wasn't so much that it pained me to think of some tarpon, perhaps a wife or mother, being jerked from the society of its loved ones on the end of a hook. What gashed me like a knife was the thought of missing the Drones Club Darts Tournament, for whichI would have been a snip this year. But what would you? I fought down my regret.
"Then you will be booking the tickets."
"Very good, sir."
"I struck a graver note.
"Heaven help the tarpon that tries to pit its feeble cunning against you, Jeeves," I said. "Its efforts will be bootless."
Re: Greasy Bird pt 2
Date: 2011-03-12 01:09 am (UTC)Do you mind if I copy-paste these quotes into the file, with credit to you for supplying them?
Re: Greasy Bird pt 2
Date: 2011-03-12 01:11 am (UTC)Re: Greasy Bird pt 2
Date: 2011-03-12 08:27 am (UTC)Re: Greasy Bird pt 2
Date: 2011-04-28 06:18 am (UTC)Re: Greasy Bird pt 2
Date: 2011-04-28 08:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-03-11 01:50 pm (UTC)For now, I'm wondering if Aunts Aren't Gentlemen ought perhaps to go in between The Ordeal of Young Tuppy and Thank You, Jeeves? Bertie's still willing to propose to girls at that point, and the trip to New York at the end could be the trip where he met Pauline. Only now that I think of it, Major Plank shows up in AAG, which would mean it would have to take place after Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves.
Part 1
Date: 2011-03-11 08:32 pm (UTC)-Edwin & Lady Florence were likely reasons for his leaving, too
Wouldn’t it just be the worst to be a servant at Lord Worplesdon’s place. What sort of reception would Jeeves get by the people he used to work with, when he shows up with Bertie, in this incredibly cushy position with the world’s most easygoing employer?
-”a few year later” Lord W went off to France, never to return to the bosom of his family”
-if it was pre-Joy in the Morning, why didn't B mention his return in the book?
-does this indicate that B began writing before the events of Joy, & that Lord W hadn't returned by whenever B started writing?
-seems unlikely that Aunt A would marry a man who'd suddenly abandoned his family, which argues for post-JitM
-he says the departure was permanent – did he just assume Lord W was “never to return” when he wrote this, but he came back some time after publication?
In my personal canon, this takes place post JitM. Florence and Edwin are bad enough, but add Thos. and Agatha, and the bosom of his family quickly becomes something anyone would flee from. IIRC, there are a couple of passages in JitM that could indicate his dissatisfaction with his marriage to Agatha. I don’t have the book on hand at the mo. But I will check on this later.
-”Florence was a dear girl, and, seen sideways, most awfully good-looking, but if she had a fault it was a tendency to be a bit imperious with the domestic staff.”
This line, to me, is the reason Florence is the worst of the fiancées, and not just because of my socialist tendencies. Bertie can put up with people being unkind to him, but I imagine watching her be unkind to others would make him feel completely rotten.
-J seems to be unusually interested in women’s fashion (see also “The Ties that Bind” ch.16, where he describes Mrs McCorkadale's dress in detail)
Maybe just interested in clothes in general?
-B asks J to prepare Miss Rockmetteller’s bed
-”He looked wounded.
'It is hardly my place, sir–'
'I know – I know. But do it as a personal favor to me.'”
So who would normally make up the beds?
-“I looked round the place. The moment of parting had come. I felt sad. The whole thing reminded me of one of those melodramas where they drive chappies out of the old homestead into the snow.
‘Good-bye, Jeeves’, I said.
‘Good-bye, sir.‘
And I staggered out.”
Bertie’s got rather a flair for the dramatic, doesn’t he?
-”As I stood in my lonely bedroom at the hotel, trying to tie my white tie myself, it struck me for the first time that there must be whole squads of chappies in the world who had to get along without a man to look after them...I mean to say, ever since then I've been able to appreciate the frightful privations the poor have to stick.”
This line makes me laugh every time. I suspect it should offend my socialist leanings, but it’s just too adorable.
Also, it doesn’t seem like many of Bertie’s friends do have a valet. The only one I can recall offhand is Biffy, and Chuffy briefly when he hires Jeeves.
Please someone WRITE THIS!!!
Date: 2011-03-11 09:23 pm (UTC)-Edwin & Lady Florence were likely reasons for his leaving, too
Wouldn’t it just be the worst to be a servant at Lord Worplesdon’s place. What sort of reception would Jeeves get by the people he used to work with, when he shows up with Bertie, in this incredibly cushy position with the world’s most easygoing employer?
Please someone - write this!!!!!!11111 I will beg, I will bribe. Cookies! Cake! There could be cake! Just tell me what you want.
Re: Part 1
Date: 2011-03-11 09:32 pm (UTC)He says she's "A wonderful woman" and doesn't know what he did without her, but he's also terrified of her. I'm not sure what to think of their marriage. On the one hand, it does seem like he's not too happy with her, but on the other, if he really didn't want to marry her he could presumably have had Jeeves think of a way to prevent the marriage.
This line, to me, is the reason Florence is the worst of the fiancées, and not just because of my socialist tendencies. Bertie can put up with people being unkind to him, but I imagine watching her be unkind to others would make him feel completely rotten.
Yeah. He says she was the worst of the lot because she tried to mould him, but I do think her unkindness to servants played a big part in his ranking her as his worst fiancée.
So who would normally make up the beds?
I think a housemaid. Servants were very particular about their duties, and they didn't think well of being asked to perform tasks that belonged to another servant.
Re: Part 1
Date: 2011-03-11 09:57 pm (UTC)Except Jeeves is Bertie's only servant, and he does other tasks, like dusting, that I would expect to be part of a housemaid's duties. Do we assume that they have a girl in to do the laundry and so forth?
Re: Part 1
Date: 2011-03-11 11:36 pm (UTC)Re: Part 1
Date: 2011-03-12 01:12 am (UTC)Re: Part 1
Date: 2011-03-12 01:15 am (UTC)The quote I was thinking of is when Lord Worplesdon tells Bertie, "Between ourselves, it was owing to the fact that I got thrown out of a Covent Garden ball and taken to the Vine Street Police Station in the company of a girl who, if memory serves me aright, was named Tottie that I escaped - that I had the misfortune not to marry your aunt thirty years earlier than I did."
Part 2
Date: 2011-03-11 08:34 pm (UTC)See, I can see why Bertie would think this, but I really do think that, quite apart from any affection Jeeves has for Bertie, and apart from the perks of working for Bertie, Jeeves just plain likes being a valet. He seems to have chosen his own career – he does have family in service, but he seems to have just as much family not in service, so he had options. He doesn’t strike me as being particularly ambitious – in fact, I think in his own way he enjoys the quiet life as much as Bertie does. He seems to get satisfaction out of his domestic tasks, and most importantly, the man cares quite a bit about clothes – this is a career that is relevant to his interests, which is something that plenty of people still can’t say about their jobs.
-B has better taste than is often supposed; he tends to like clothes that are very trendy, and a bit on the flashy side, but not downright hideous
Yes, yes, yes. I’ve been thinking this for awhile, and it’s nice to know someone else sees it.
-”The family...have always rather made a point of the fact that mine is a wasted life, and that, since I won the prize at my first school for the best collection of wild flowers made during the summer holidays, I haven't done a damn thing thing to land me on the nation's scroll of fame.”
Nothing intelligent to say here, just little Bertie with his wild flower collection makes me melt.
-did he know about the tie she gave Bingo? Is unlikely he'd still want her if he did (and is that why he never marries her – she tries to give him a hideous tie, too?)
Best explanation ever!
-C & E were at school w/B “in my last summer term”
Later we find out that:
-B’s about half a dozen years older than the twins, but they make him feel “in the grandfather class”
How long would someone normally be at Oxford? If the twins are six years younger than Bertie, I would expect he’d have already left before they joined, wouldn’t you? This information may support a certain theory I’m toying with.
-Harold the page-boy made an “opprobrious remark” about J’s appearance; J chased after him “’with the intention of fetching him a clip on the side of the head’”
I get the impression from canon that Jeeves generally doesn’t care for or even dislikes children. Most of the kids he interacts with are upper class though. Maybe he wishes he could fetch them a clip on the ear too, but only does so with Harold because Harold is also a servant?
-”I will say for Mr Wooster that, mentally negligible though he no doubt is, he has a name that suggests almost infinite possibilities.”
-the “no doubt” gives the impression that it's more J's opinion than an indisputable fact, and as B isn't actually mentally negligible, indicates that J doesn't know him that well yet
I’d have to check the book for this one, but I seem to recall that in Thank You, Jeeves, when Pauline tells Bertie that Jeeves called him mentally negligible, there’s an explanation that is actually more charitable than it just meaning “stupid”.
-B's talk “was an experience which I should be sorry to have missed.”
I think it’s safe to say that Jeeves enjoys watching Bertie squirm a bit.
-J refers to Aunt A as “Mrs Spenser” - isn't her name “Mrs (Spenser) Gregson”?
Could Spenser Gregson have an older brother who would be Mr Gregon, thereby making Spenser Mr Spenser Gregson. It’s still odd that Jeeves would refer to Agatha that way when there isn’t some risk of confusing the two, but it’s the most plausible explanation I can come up with.
Re: Part 2
Date: 2011-03-11 10:08 pm (UTC)I agree. He doesn't strike me as very ambitious, either. He's clearly pretty proud of what he does, and he gets offended when Comrade Rowbotham derides his position.
-B has better taste than is often supposed; he tends to like clothes that are very trendy, and a bit on the flashy side, but not downright hideous
Yes, yes, yes. I’ve been thinking this for awhile, and it’s nice to know someone else sees it.
I know it's funny to have him rhapsodizing over, say, a bright green tie with violet polka dots, but if he thinks a tie with little horseshoes is so awful that he'd threaten to punch even a kid for saying it suits him, then I hate to think what he'd do over some of the clothes he wears in fics! XD
Nothing intelligent to say here, just little Bertie with his wild flower collection makes me melt.
He must have been an adorable kid. ♥
I get the impression from canon that Jeeves generally doesn’t care for or even dislikes children. Most of the kids he interacts with are upper class though. Maybe he wishes he could fetch them a clip on the ear too, but only does so with Harold because Harold is also a servant?
Could be. I didn't consider that angle. *ponders* It's still strange, though, that he breaks his iron self-control over a remark on his appearance. He must be very sensitive over whatever it was Harold insulted. Agreed on him not being keen on kids in general, but he seems unusually sympathetic to Bertie's cousin Thomas. Not sure what's up with that.
I’d have to check the book for this one, but I seem to recall that in Thank You, Jeeves, when Pauline tells Bertie that Jeeves called him mentally negligible, there’s an explanation that is actually more charitable than it just meaning “stupid”.
Pauline tells him that Jeeves "'thinks a lot of you. I remember his very words. "Mr Wooster, miss”, he said, "is, perhaps, mentally somewhat negligible, but he has a heart of gold."'"
I think it’s safe to say that Jeeves enjoys watching Bertie squirm a bit.
Early on, at least, yes. He stops doing that sometime into the novels and tries hard to spare Bertie embarrassment.
Could Spenser Gregson have an older brother who would be Mr Gregon, thereby making Spenser Mr Spenser Gregson. It's still odd that Jeeves would refer to Agatha that way when there isn't some risk of confusing the two, but it's the most plausible explanation I can come up with.
That makes some sense. I certainly can't think of any better explanation.
Re: Part 2
Date: 2011-03-11 10:27 pm (UTC)Pauline tells him that Jeeves "'thinks a lot of you. I remember his very words. "Mr Wooster, miss”, he said, "is, perhaps, mentally somewhat negligible, but he has a heart of gold."'"
I've got my book with me now so I've found the bit I was thinking of. After she says that, Bertie asks, 'What the devil did he mean, "mentally negligible"?' To which Pauline replies, 'Oh, you know, Loopy.' I took that to mean more fluff-headed and loony than stupid, which still isn't nice, but could be argued to be more accurate.
Re: Part 2
Date: 2011-03-11 11:34 pm (UTC)Re: Part 2
Date: 2011-03-13 04:59 pm (UTC)Part 3
Date: 2011-03-11 08:36 pm (UTC)Given only the clues we have in canon, Mabel’s personality is extremely difficult to extrapolate. I’m trying to write her in a fic I’m working on,but even though I have some ideas, she’s proving damn elusive.
-would B disguise people's names? Not much point if their characters are easily recognizable
I’d almost think he’d have to, otherwise he’d be bandying women’s names, and that’s something Bertie just doesn’t do.
-Bingo rewarded J with £20, Aunt D with £25, Rosie with £10, Uncle Tom with £25, Uncle George with £10
-B gives J £5 – doesn't know why, but “everybody seemed to be doing it”
This is £95 – Does anyone know how that would compare to Jeeves’s ordinary wages?
-Bingo wants B to impersonate Rosie M. Banks again – needs his allowance restored & increased so he can marry
-Lord Bittlesham agrees to restore it; so if he can afford that, in addition to supporting his wife and buying a peerage & maintaining a racing stable, then his reasons for not raising Bingo's allowance in “No Wedding Bells for Bingo” prob. wasn't from inability to handle the expense, despite his saying he needed to save every penny
Maybe Lord Bittlesham suspected Bingo would gamble it away, as that seems to be what Bingo does whenever he has money.
-J says he has no ideas at the moment to help Bingo – is that true, or is he deliberately letting Bingo hang for a while?
I read this as deliberately letting Bingo hang.
-J thinks Bobbie's not a suitable mate for B, is “too volatile and frivolous”, says her husband would need “a commanding personality and considerable strength of character”
-”Wooster Proposes, Jeeves Disposes” p183-4 says J dislikes Bobbie so much because she & B are both practical jokers and she brings out B’s worst characteristics; if she married him, would be bringing that into the home, when it had previously been confined to the Drones, & disturb J & B’s peaceful existence
Bertie, a practical joker? While he doesn’t seem averse to a practical joke now and again, I would hardly consider it a huge part of his personality.
-‘You can’t go by that. My mother thought me intelligent…’”
Bertie’s parents must have been pretty fantastic, for Bertie to have turned out so well after being raised by Aunt Agatha and Aunt Dahlia after their deaths. It’s a pity his self-esteem didn’t last along with his decency.
-Aunt D demands B send for J – doesn't want to lose the bet & have to give up Anatole
-shows a disrespectful attitude, to expect someone else's servant to cut short his once-yearly vacation to fix a problem she foolishly got herself into
-”'Then send for him at once! What earthly use do you suppose you are without Jeeves, you poor ditherer?'
I drew myself up a trifle – in fact, to my full height. Nobody has a greater respect for Jeeves than I have, but the Wooster pride was stung.
‘Jeeves isn't the only one with brains', I said coldly. 'Leave this thing to me, Aunt Dahlia.'”
Aunt Dahlia seems to be quite popular in the fandom, but I’ve never really liked her, and this exchange is a pretty good illustration of why. More often than not when she wants something from Bertie, it’s to fix a problem she got herself into. She’s presumptuous – here she thinks she has the right to demand someone else’s servant cut their vacation short for her, other times she’ll sent Bertie a telegram and expect him to drop everything to come help her, she’s been known to march into his flat without so much as a by-your-leave. Plus she insults Bertie to his face, which, okay, everyone else does, but she’s supposed to be the good aunt. And that’s not to mention the fact that she throws things at him. Sure she shows him affection now and again, and sometimes feels guilty when she gets him in trouble, but it’s not enough for me to get over her absolute lack or respect for him.
Jeeves just picked up a year's income in cash.
Date: 2011-03-11 09:20 pm (UTC)-B gives J £5 – doesn't know why, but “everybody seemed to be doing it”
This is £95 – Does anyone know how that would compare to Jeeves’s ordinary wages?
Jeeves just picked up a year's income in cash.
Actually, it might be more than a years income - or perhaps slightly less - depending on year and salary negotiations ( a butler could make aprox £100, and while personal attendents like Jeeves are on the same 'level' the income could go down - or up a bit -depending on duties and the generosity/desperation of the employer. A schoolteacher would make something like £200 a year - if I recall ( does not want to go and check now).
OTOH - some expectation of 'tips' may be built in to the servants wages - much like resturant staff these days - and so the main wage may be lowered in comparison to the 'average expected compensation'.
Anyway - £95 is a nice bit of change.
BYW? *gigglesnort* - I have 'proven from text' that by the time Jeeves and Wooster get to NewYork Jeeves is viewing the Wooster account as 'community property'. He - in cannon - turns over a check to the artist that is worth ... I forget... exactly... but about enough to buy a small house. I mean - I like my boss and I like my bosses friends - but I don't like anyone that much except family.
Re: Jeeves just picked up a year's income in cash.
Date: 2011-03-11 10:41 pm (UTC)Isn't that just in TV episode? (The check was for $18,000). In "The Artistic Career of Corky", Corky's painting doesn't sell, but Jeeves convinces him to turn the subject of his painting (his uncle's baby) into the star of a comic, "The Adventures of Baby Blobbs".
Re: Part 3
Date: 2011-03-11 10:36 pm (UTC)I think the average salary of a valet was around £100 a year at most, so it's a pretty hefty sum.
Maybe Lord Bittlesham suspected Bingo would gamble it away, as that seems to be what Bingo does whenever he has money.
I wonder why he couldn't have just said that he didn't trust Bingo to use the money responsibly. He doesn't exactly try to hide his low opinion of Bingo in general, that I can recall.
Bertie, a practical joker? While he doesn’t seem averse to a practical joke now and again, I would hardly consider it a huge part of his personality.
Yeah, there are some things in that book that I disagree with, and that's one of them. Bertie can enjoy and even play the occasional harmless prank, but he's nothing like Bobbie or the twins.
Aunt Dahlia seems to be quite popular in the fandom, but I’ve never really liked her, and this exchange is a pretty good illustration of why. More often than not when she wants something from Bertie, it’s to fix a problem she got herself into. She’s presumptuous – here she thinks she has the right to demand someone else’s servant cut their vacation short for her, other times she’ll sent Bertie a telegram and expect him to drop everything to come help her, she’s been known to march into his flat without so much as a by-your-leave. Plus she insults Bertie to his face, which, okay, everyone else does, but she’s supposed to be the good aunt. And that’s not to mention the fact that she throws things at him. Sure she shows him affection now and again, and sometimes feels guilty when she gets him in trouble, but it’s not enough for me to get over her absolute lack or respect for him.
I agree completely about Aunt Dahlia. She may be the best of Bertie's aunts, but that's not saying much. To be fair, she does have a genuine affection for Bertie, and she did offer to give up Anatole in exchange for Bertie's freedom in the Code of the Woosters. But on the whole, she treats him pretty terribly. Like when she yelled at him to go drown himself, when he'd only been trying to help her. >:(
Re: Part 3
Date: 2011-03-12 03:07 pm (UTC)Eor also had a thought that the supposed "engagements" were actually Jeeves being engaged to perform certain miracles for the ladies involved, such as getting Bingo's Uncle to propose to the cook.
Re: Part 3
Date: 2011-03-12 04:32 pm (UTC)'She was on the stage. At least, sort of.'
'How do you mean, sort of?'
'Well, she had posed for artists and been a mannequin in a big dressmaker's and all that sort of thing, don't you know.'
(I'm working from the 2008 Arrow Books edition, if that makes a difference.)
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Date: 2011-03-11 09:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-03-11 11:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-03-12 10:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-03-11 05:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-03-11 07:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-03-11 08:40 pm (UTC)Thank you for posting this!
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Date: 2011-03-11 09:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-03-12 01:30 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-03-12 10:06 am (UTC)It's so much fun to think that Bertie was the actual author of the stories, and all the adventures are heavily influenced by Bertie's own point of view.
I remember that in some other discussion post someone said that B was probably very modest person, and therefore wrote himself as a lot dimmer man than he actually was. After all, he was a very good and clever writer :D
I add my own comments when I'll have a spot of time!
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Date: 2011-03-12 10:44 am (UTC)Bertie seems to grow in intelligence as the series progresses, but I think that's primarily due to Jeeves influencing and encouraging him to use his brain, plus the wisdom of age/life experience. I do think he's pretty smart in general, he just has low self-esteem and, as you say, he's modest. And yeah, he's a lot like Watson, purposely playing down his own intelligence. :D
I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts!
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Date: 2011-03-13 08:56 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-03-13 09:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-03-14 01:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-03-22 09:57 pm (UTC)There is a small problem, in that Bertie claims that he calls Sir Roderick "Roddy" and Sir Roderick calls him "Bertie", which would place this after "Jeeves in the Offing", since that's when they invite each other to use first names, but that's impossible, since Aunt Dahlia still owns her magazine here, and rather too much time would have passed. I think I'm going to have to chalk it up to Bertie exaggerating.
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Date: 2011-03-23 03:52 am (UTC)Does the mention of the club book occur in the narration, or the dialogue?
I wonder how long Sir Roderick had been engaged to "Myrtle in Thank You, Jeeves". It sounds recent, but how recent?
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Date: 2011-03-23 11:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-03-23 08:06 pm (UTC)