#the inimitable jeeves

[my-pal-bertie]

Announcing a new Jeeves and Wooster Email Project - My Pal Bertie

Remember the good old days, when we were waiting for letters from our friend Jonathan (via Dracula Daily)? Prepare to experience the thrill again…

From 1st March onwards this substack will send regular updates from P.G Wodehouse’s novel, The Inimitable Jeeves.

Bertie Wooster, the hero and narrator, writes in a friendly first person style that will soon feel like missives from an old and chatty friend.

Subscribe below to get your first letter from your new pal Bertie!

Subscribe Here

[sanguinarysanguinity]

“Oh, I don’t know, you know, don’t you know!” I said.

Bertram Wooster, demonstrating his ability to talk himself out of a tight spot.

(from P.G. Wodehouse, The Inimitable Jeeves)

[shoesallinaline]

This is a one-two punch of “Bertie is obviously is love with Jeeves and considers him family” for me, personally — I can’t speak for the rest of you nerds.

[yeah-thats-probably-it]

Plot summary of The Inimitable Jeeves (1923)

[dickensianenglishbulldog]

I’m a top P. G. Wodehouse blog! What an honour!

[itspileofgoodthings]

She had on a plain dress, and her hair was plain, and her face was sort of mild and saint-like. I don’t pretend to be a Sherlock Holmes or anything of that order, but the moment I looked at her, I said to myself, “The girl plays the organ in a village church!”

The Inimitable Jeeves, PG Wodehouse

[chekhov-and-chill]

“Oh, well, tra-la-la” - “precisely, sir” I love them

[tilundsetning]

Hope everyone’s feeling about as cheerio as is possible under the circs!

[teachingmycattoread]

New episode is up! Alternative titles include: “Aunts: Just Say No”, “Area Man Needs Better Friends”, and “That’s It! You’re Going In The Soup!”

Spotify   Apple Podcasts

[afullygrownflowerboy]

JEEVES SQUIDDD!!!

YOO HAS ANYONE IN THE J&W FANDOM SEEN ME IN SPLATOON??!!♥️♥️

[my-pal-bertie]

Considering signing up for the My Pal Bertie project but don't actually know anything about the Jeeves and Wooster novels?

Feel free to ask anything you like in the comments and myself (and other Jeeves and Wooster fans) will do our best to answer...

... and you can read the Q&A here!

[shoesallinaline]

“Oh Jeeves, it’s only…I’m so, so upset that I needed to knock on your door in the dead of night to plead for some emotional support, even though I know we’re having a bit of a tiff over my terrible taste in menswear (in a manner that isn’t even slightly romantic of course).”

[lettersregardingjeeves]

My Man Jeeves vs. Carry On, Jeeves: A Choice On the Basis of Charm

So as I was having a go at putting the letters together with Mr. Wooster, I realized that the versions of the early New York saga on Standard eBooks, where I sourced the text, were taken from the 1919 collection My Man Jeeves, rather than Carry On, Jeeves - the latter being how I presume the majority of fans read the stories. Naturally, I figured that I really ought to get the most recent public domain versions of the stories, to best represent the current nature of the series. So I had a look at Carry On, Jeeves, curious about the differences therein. And the ones I found were... kind of disappointing.

So, if you haven't read the stories, or just aren't bally interested, then I'll just say that I think the versions present in My Man Jeeves are an awful lot more fun than their rewrites, and am making the executive decision as Woosterian Substack Secretary to use the old instead of the new. For those who are bally interested, I'll chat a bit more under the cut.

All in all, the differences aren't extreme. None of the plot elements have changed, most of the lines haven't changed, and really, if you know one version of the story, you won't have trouble conversing with someone who knows the other. But I find the changes made in the nature of baffling. Some are very tiny changes, but odd nonetheless. Here's Bicky in "Hard-Boiled Egg", talking about why he doesn't want to go in for ranching, in the original My Man Jeeves.

And here's the same passage in Carry On, Jeeves.

Why cut the line about Bicky hating horses because they bite? It gives a more interesting context to why he doesn't want to ranch than the one in Carry On, Jeeves. He doesn't just not want to do the work out of laziness - he's afraid of horses! It's an unexpected and interesting thing for him to say, and it builds a sort of unique speech pattern of short, snappy sentences that fire one after another. It's such a tiny thing that I'm not even sure why it was deemed necessary to cut, unless there were length requirements, but it sands Bicky down a bit.

However, some of the other changes are much more considerable. Take the intro to "The Aunt and the Sluggard" in My Man Jeeves...

...and compare it to the intro in Carry On, Jeeves.

Not even close! What possessed anyone - Wodehouse or editors - to make this sort of cut? On some level I suppose I could understand it if it were purely for the sake of not needing to introduce the character partway through a book, when you'd certainly need to in a magazine, but clearly My Man Jeeves didn't see a problem with having Bertie repeatedly introduce Jeeves this way - and as a reader, neither did I! It's a very charming paragraph full of Bertieisms, and the nervous sort of hesitation upon wishing to call him a friend is even more endearing. Sure, the "guide, philosopher, and friend" quote is later used in the first chapter of 1923's The Inimitable Jeeves, so I can see why Wodehouse and/or editors might have thought the sentiment too repetitive to stick in a collection published afterwards, but the two are subtly different. Here, Bertie is unsure that he can call Jeeves a friend, but in The Inimitable Jeeves below, he says it with surety.

It's especially sweet with the knowledge that My Man Jeeves was published before The Inimitable Jeeves, because that shows this as growth! He's more willing to let himself acknowledge their friendship, and that's a wonderful thing! And even without that linearity, it's just so much weaker of a start. You aren't as drawn in by the significant blander intro as you are by the acquainted birds of poet Johnnies, or the "guide, don't you know" that Bertie relies on at every turn. It's more conversational, engaging, and just plain fun.

But that's not even really the most egregious removal. No, the biggest difference is the excising of the entire intro to "Leave It to Jeeves".

This whole section, which later segues into a sum-up of the events of "Extricating Young Gussie" and a description of New York, is just plain gone in "The Artistic Career of Corky", which this story has been renamed in Carry On, Jeeves. No "Melonsquashville, Tennesee", no horses named Banana Fritter, no Bertie trying to give Jeeves racing tips because he's fond of him. It's peak Bertie silliness, and I remember that I really loved reading it. And yes, again, maybe it was cut just because it follows "Jeeves Takes Charge", which already introduces the character, but I certainly don't see a reason why none of it could be kept - especially since the conceit of the series tends to read as if being told aloud to someone else, and thus it makes sense to repeatedly introduce the character in such a way to new listeners and audiences. Instead, we are given this by way of introduction.

This goes straight into the "Gussie" sum-up and the description of New York, as well as the subsequent description of Corky. All that fun before, reduced to a paltry bit of introductory exposition before the exposition that already happened in the original. Was it cut merely for length? Why else could this possibly have happened? Why remove all that delightful humor and prose in favor of something so much weaker and less interesting? It boggles the mind - boggles it.

In short, I've decided to keep the My Man Jeeves versions of these stories as they are. While some of the changes I saw weren't bad - saying that Rocky's poem went on for "three more verses" got a chuckle out of me, I will say, and the connective tissue with the other stories wasn't bad, either - it was not enough to sacrifice all this. Bertie's narration is always a delight, and I think that delight should be preserved. But if anyone has rebuttals as to why they think the Carry On, Jeeves versions should be used instead, I'd honestly love to hear them!

Thank you for reading!

[brotheralyosha]

"You know, the longer I live, the more clearly I see that half the trouble in this bally world is caused by the light-hearted and thoughtless way in which chappies dash off letters of introduction and hand them to other chappies to deliver to chappies of the third part. It's one of those things that make you wish you were living in the Stone Age. What I mean to say is, if a fellow in those days wanted to give anyone a letter of introduction, he had to spend a month or so carving it on large-sized boulder, and the chances were that the other chappie got so sick of lugging the thing round in the hot sun that he dropped it after the first mile. But nowadays it's so easy to write letters of introduction that everybody does it without a second thought, with the result that some perfectly harmless cove like myself gets in the soup."

The Inimitable Jeeves, by P.G. Wodehouse

[doyouwanttoseeabug]

Do you like Merlin? Do you like comedies of errors? Have you ever read the Jeeves and Wooster books? If not, would you like to read a story of a rich party boy and his life-saving valet attempting to not get married in the 1920s? Do you think that Morgana and Gwaine could have kinda had a toxic sexy thing going on? Do you like Leon? If the answer to any of these questions is "Yes", then do I have a fic for you!

Merlin, as Arthur suspected, turned out to be a truly terrible valet. Really, a creature less inclined to service had never crawled out of the primordial bog. His sirs did indeed contain many shades of meaning, from watch out, Morgana’s coming round the corner to yes I’ve seen the terrible hat that Lobelia Harrumph is wearing but for pity’s sake don’t mention it. Several of Arthur’s more exciting ties and waistcoats became victims of the fireplace, though Merlin would swear, all blue-eyed innocence, that Arthur had developed a terrible habit of burning the things himself while too tight to remember. He was a tyrant in the matter of cutlery. His hangover restorative tasted of rat-meat and gunpowder, and their effectiveness only increased Arthur’s irritation. He frequently quoted things, occasionally in Latin or French (barely tolerable) and twice in German (which Arthur had quickly informed him was beyond the pale). He flung open curtains with all the cheer and verve of a music-hall dancer removing her blouse. The ears, tragically, remained.  He had also, in the year he’d spent in Arthur’s employ, facilitated two longed-for engagements, broken off three loathed ones (one of which was Arthur’s), successfully repressed a rather cack-handed attempt at blackmailing Gwaine, and fished Leon, quite literally, out of the Thames. There didn’t seem to be a job title that encompassed all that, so Arthur supposed that valet would have to do. 

[eirinstiva]

Season of love

¡Ha llegado carta! A new letter regarding Jeeves

What ho, readers! Now, some time ago I went on and published a dollop of these stories in a collection called The Inimitable Jeeves. Published them in several collections, really, but this one’s important because I’d chopped them up a bit for it and added some nice connective tissue. This bit of yarn you’re giving the eyeball is the version from that collection, except it’s been rather un-chopped - but when chopped it still remained, the two bits of chop were titled "Jeeves Exerts the Old Cerebellum" and "No Wedding Bells for Bingo". So if any old bird refers to them by either, well. It’s the same old story but in bits.

Best note ever.

Most fellows, no doubt, are all for having their valets confine their activities to creasing trousers and whatnot without trying to run the home; but it’s different with Jeeves. Right from the first day he came to me, I have looked on him as a sort of guide, philosopher, and friend.

Jeeves should add "fashion advisor" to his resume. Jeeves and Wooster are back in the UK, and their relationship is well established but Bertie insists on not following Jeeves' fashion advice before buying clothes. It would be a funny activity for both of them.

This time we had the chance to meet Bingo Little, and I'm sure he is another unique man.

So that it was a bit of an anticlimax when I merely ran into young Bingo Little, looking perfectly foul in a crimson satin tie decorated with horseshoes.

Something like this? btw this is a dog collar:

For I realised now that poor old Bingo was going through it once again. Ever since I have known him⁠—and we were at school together⁠—he has been perpetually falling in love with someone, generally in the spring, which seems to act on him like magic. 

I know at least three men that fits this description: a new girlfriend each spring, but at least none of them ask for advice to their friend who is "not much of a ladies’ man".

Side note:

Happy International Asexuality Day ♠ (April 6th)

Back into business:

Bingo fell in love with a waitress he met on a dance, same place where Jeeves went to have a good time and show how the floats on the dancefloor. Nice!

“What I wish you would do is to put the whole thing to that fellow Jeeves of yours, and see what he suggests. You’ve often told me that he has helped other pals of yours out of messes. From what you tell me, he’s by way of being the brains of the family.”

I just find fun that everybody in Wooster' social circle knows how smart is Jeeves. Bertie likes to show off his valet. Also, Jeeves has experience in the matters of heart ♥:

“I am on terms of some intimacy with the elder Mr. Little’s cook, sir. In fact, there is an understanding.” I’m bound to say that this gave me a bit of a start. Somehow I’d never thought of Jeeves going in for that sort of thing. “Do you mean you’re engaged?” “It may be said to amount to that, sir.” “Well, well!”

And, as always, Jeeves has a interesting strategy:

“The method which I advocate is what, I believe, the advertisers call Direct Suggestion, sir, consisting as it does of driving an idea home by constant repetition. You may have had experience of the system?” “You mean they keep on telling you that some soap or other is the best, and after a bit you come under the influence and charge round the corner and buy a cake?” “Exactly, sir. The same method was the basis of all the most valuable propaganda during the recent war.

Which war? You know, that war (waves hand vaguely).

Will the power of romantic books win? I don't know, let's see what happens in the next letter.