A brief review of Jeeves: A Gentleman's Personal Gentleman

[erynn999.livejournal.com]

I don't know where I saw mention of it (probably here somewhere in one of the comments, as that is the way of these things), but I picked up a copy recently of C. Northcote Parkinson's Jeeves: A Gentleman's Personal Gentleman, a "biography" of our own dear Reginald Jeeves.

I was uncertain what to expect, given how different people tend to view the characters. The book has some very charming moments in it, and some quite amusing anecdotes, including a mystery set in France that involved not just Hercule Poirot, but Lord Peter Wimsey and Father Brown, if you can imagine such a thing. Parkinson's Jeeves has traveled extensively in Europe and in North and South America, mostly before he met Bertie. I can certainly see Jeeves as a world traveler.

There were, however, a number of things that simply didn't ring true for me. In the first chapter, examining Jeeves's childhood, Parkinson notes that Jeeves was an only child and orphaned at an early age, yet he doesn't explain how Jeeves later acquires Mabel as a niece. His relationship with Charlie Silversmith seems much rockier than what Bertie presents in his accounts. The author also has Jeeves working for Lord Worplesdon twice, which I just don't see any evidence for in canon. He's also attempted to shoehorn Jeeves into the lives of nearly every Wodehouse character going. Sadly, it was things like this that didn't let me really enjoy the book very much.

Thankfully, I didn't pay too terribly much for the book (hardbound, 1979, St. Martin's Press). If you're a completist, it might be worth a look, but I wouldn't really recommend it beyond the fact that it presents one author's view of how Jeeves had become the man we got to know through Bertie Wooster. Quite honestly, a lot of the fic in this community is far better written and much more entertaining.

I am so glad I know all of you wonderful writers and artists!

Comments

[hazeltea.livejournal.com]

I didn't know about this! Thanks for the review. I guess I would think of it as an AU.

[erynn999.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's pretty much what I was thinking when I was reading through it. Definitely an AU Jeeves.

[trista-zevkia.livejournal.com]

I was thinking it sounded like an early attempt at fanfiction, before the internet. Writer has a huge crush on Jeeves and is trying to write it so Bertie isn't that important and he can get all Marty-Sue on Jeeves.

Though, I might be influenced by that being what most fanfiction writers think of all the Star Trek books that have been published. I didn't think that until I got flamed for recommending one of those books for being exactly what the requester was looking for. I still keep the good ones as head canon, now I just don't tell anybody;)

[erynn999.livejournal.com]

That's the thing, though. He has Jeeves completely unattached to anyone. Ever. Even the couple of canon "understandings" Bertie writes about go entirely unmentioned. Jeeves apparently retires a virgin, if one believes this guy. I can't see any Marty Stu going on here, just a completely unlikely lifelong celibacy for a guy who knew rather a bit about women (and didn't trust them as far as he could fling them, from what I can tell) and was quite the dancer ("he swings a dashed efficient shoe"), if Bertie's friends are to be believed.

[trista-zevkia.livejournal.com]

authorial wish fulfillment? He's celibate so his favorite literary character is too? Or maybe he just thinks' Jeeves is above all that unpleasantness that comes with the baser instincts of the flesh?
Maybe the book was good, I'm just not seeing that it's particularly in character, and applying fanfiction reasons for that. I hate when people post stuff that's 'slightly out of character'. In that case, you'd better have a good reason for it, instead of you just wanted to write Spock as emo or whatever.

[erynn999.livejournal.com]

No, the book wasn't particularly good. As I noted initially, there were a few amusing incidents, but overall it didn't seem like the sort of thing I could really believe. There was so much that was out of character for both of them that I couldn't haul out the belief suspenders.

[ironicbees.livejournal.com]

I've never heard of this book. Thanks for sharing about it. :) Sounds interesting, but not something I'd want to spend money on.

Does Parkinson have anything to say about Jeeves's relationship with Bertie? And how much of Jeeves' life does he cover, timeline-wise?

[erynn999.livejournal.com]

I would say borrow it from a library if it's available and you want to read it.

Bertie figures prominently in two chapters and slightly more peripherally in the final two, totaling a little over a third of the book. Bertie is obviously a huge presence in Jeeves's life, as one might expect from how much Bertie wrote about him. Parkinson has Jeeves working for Lord Worplesdon (and Aunt Agatha) after he's worked for Bertie, which I honestly can't see, given how Agatha dislikes him so much. I can't see Percy hiring him under those circs at all.

The book covers Jeeves from his birth -- with a bit on his family prior to that -- to his retirement (he is still alive while the author was writing, and planning to write his own autobiography at some point, so no, he will not share his detailed diaries, thank you very much). The author has him taking over the Angler's Rest Pub/Inn from Mr. Mulliner, as Mulliner wants to retire, and Bertie owns the place as part of his holdings as the 9th Earl of Yaxley. Parkinson also has Bertie marrying Bobbie Wickham, of all people.

Parkinson notes that Bertie and Jeeves pretty much gradually "drifted apart," probably in order to justify making way for the events of The Return of Jeeves, wherein Bertie is no more than a background presence.

He doesn't attempt to really create a timeline for Bertie and Jeeves's adventures together. He does list a dozen women with whom Bertie was romantically involved over the years.

[wotwotleigh.livejournal.com]

Huh, interesting. I can't say any of that seems particularly plausible to me either. I had also assumed that the separation in The Return of Jeeves happened somewhere in the middle of Jeeves and Bertie's canonical adventures, but I suppose the WWII setting does suggest that it actually takes place later. In any case, the implication in the story is that it's only temporary.

[erynn999.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that was the impression I'd got from what has been said here since I've been reading the comm. Instead, Parkinson has him going from Return of Jeeves directly to Percy and Agatha, and he never works directly for Bertie again. I honestly couldn't see Jeeves ever leaving Bertie permanently, even without slash-colored glasses welded over my eyes.

This is obviously some twisted AU. Twisted, I tell you.

[ironicbees.livejournal.com]

Their "drifting apart" doesn't sound at all plausible to me after the events of "The Ties that Bind".

And Bertie marrying Bobbie? Did he forget that Bertie came to view that prospect with horror? And that she was happily engaged to his friend Kipper?

(As for the whole Lord Yaxley thing, everybody takes it as a given that Bertie will inherit the title, but how can we be sure that it's not just a life peerage? Is there something I'm missing?)

[trista-zevkia.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure I know the difference between Lord Yaxley thing and a life peerage, if you'd care to explain?
But other than that, totally sounds like the author is a mary sue to me.

[ironicbees.livejournal.com]

I think in a hereditary peerage, your heirs inherit the title upon your death, while with a life peerage the title dies with the holder.

[trista-zevkia.livejournal.com]

Doesn't canon have Bertie inheriting from his uncle? So it would be a hereditary and not life?

[erynn999.livejournal.com]

Parkinson has Kipper coming to Bertie about Bobbie breaking up with him, and Bertie running into Bobbie later that day, where he pretty much proposes on the spot. Really, really not what one would expect from him, though in this, Bertie says she's mellowed considerably. Parkinson's Bertie voice doesn't generally ring particularly true anyway, sad to say.

An excerpt from said scene, Bertie's speaking to Bobbie over lunch:

"You know, Bobbie, I have always loved you. But you were such a danger to the public that I was half afraid of you. Why were you such a horror, darling?"

As you can see, not Bertie at the top of his form.

I don't know anything about the nature of the whole Lord Yaxley thing. One might assume that the title came into the family either with Sieur de Wooster, or sometime when the Woosters were biffing off to the crusades and the like. It could easily have been an hereditary title. Bertie does constantly refer to himself as the "last of the Woosters" despite the existence of Claude and Eustace. One wonders about this.

I definitely take The Ties That Bind as a forever kinda thing, particularly with Jeeves destroying Bertie's section in the club book. One doesn't violate the sacred trust of the Junior Ganymede lightly! The implication was certainly that Bertie would never need another valet and that Jeeves was signing on permanently.

[ladymoondancer.livejournal.com]

"You know, Bobbie, I have always loved you. But you were such a danger to the public that I was half afraid of you. Why were you such a horror, darling?"

Um, yuck. D:

Bertie does constantly refer to himself as the "last of the Woosters" despite the existence of Claude and Eustace. One wonders about this.

I've always wondered about this too. Of course, Wodehouse was known to change his canon whenever he felt like it, as evidenced by Bertie originally being "Bertie Mannering-Phipps". (And Brinkley morphing into "Bingley" . . . That one always mystified me.)

[erynn999.livejournal.com]

Yeah, you see what I mean regarding the Bertie voice here.

I have to wonder if the Brinkley/Bingley thing wasn't more about getting the person mixed up with Brinkley Court or something? Wodehouse reuses names like nobody's business. Agreed about Wodehouse changing canon whenever he felt like it. Which is always why I don't worry too much about things like actual timelines and/or shifting things a little when I write fic in this fandom. I tend to see it as forgivable, considering canon is so flexible.

[cosmosmariner.livejournal.com]

I definitely take The Ties That Bind as a forever kinda thing, particularly with Jeeves destroying Bertie's section in the club book. One doesn't violate the sacred trust of the Junior Ganymede lightly! The implication was certainly that Bertie would never need another valet and that Jeeves was signing on permanently.

THIS! This so much. I mean, Jeeves has always done his level best to stay within Bertie's atmosphere. Even when they had that unfortunate misunderstanding re: the banjolele, Jeeves went with Chuffy. And you will never, ever convince me that Jeeves didn't know that Bertie wasn't going to rent that cottage from Chuffy and manoeuvre his way into that situation so that he could stay around Bertie. Plus, even while he was Chuffy's servant, he spent more time with Bertie than with anyone else. (Sorry, I think I'm infesting this thread with my own head canon... I'll just biff off toward the lurker shadows now...)

[ladymoondancer.livejournal.com]

Well, Bobbie is probably one of the less horrible of Bertie's many, varied fiancees as is one of the few who probably wouldn't try to "mold" him.

That said, I really do think she is too "larky" for him; Bertie may enjoy stealing an annual policeman's helmet, but he also enjoys peace and tranquility between his revels.

I really can't see Jeeves and Bertie drifting apart. Honestly, it's hard for me to even conceive of Jeeves without Bertie.

[erynn999.livejournal.com]

I really can't see Jeeves and Bertie drifting apart. Honestly, it's hard for me to even conceive of Jeeves without Bertie.


You and pretty much everyone else here. ;)

[damigella-314.livejournal.com]

it's hard for me to even conceive of Jeeves without Bertie.
Funny, I have trouble imagining Bertie going one day without Jeeves. We're probably both right ;).
(relurks)

[hazeltea.livejournal.com]

Bobbie married her boxer (the ewe lamb!), anyway! Too much disregard for canon for me.

[erynn999.livejournal.com]

Yes, exactly. There was blatant disregard for canon in this book. Magically appearing nieces when one has no siblings and one's parents are too dead and buried to produce a new one just doesn't do it for me.

[ladymoondancer.livejournal.com]

The twist is that the niece is really BERTIE'S MOTHER who has TRAVELED BACK IN TIME. In the TARDIS. Or SOMETHING.

I DON'T EVEN KNOW.

But a J&W / Dr. Who crossover would be delightful!

[chocolate-frapp.livejournal.com]

I'm insane. when i first read that i thought you meant her dog.