indeedsir_backup | A brief review of Jeeves: A Gentleman's Personal Gentleman (Reply)

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!