Then not, Jeeves

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Then not, Jeeves (original title: Right Ho, Jeeves ) is the second novel by PG Wodehouse with the protagonist Bertie Wooster and his valet Jeeves . The novel appeared between December 23, 1933 and January 27, 1934, initially as a serial in the American Saturday Evening Post , in Great Britain in Grand Magazine from April to September 1934. The novel was first published in book form on October 5, 1934 in the UK and on October 15 under the amended title Brinkley Manor . PG Wodehouse was planning the novel while he was still working on Bertie in Wild Anticipation , the first novel about Bertie Wooster and valet Jeeves. The novel finds its continuation in Alter Adel Rustet nicht , in which Bertie is again in danger of having to lead Madeline Bassett to the altar.

Stephen Fry and literary historian Richard Usborne both point out that the two chapters in Then Just Not, Jeeves , which describe the awarding of prizes to elementary school students by the drunken Gussie Fink-Nottle, are among the funniest written down in English literary history. The chapters are therefore often included in anthologies. Stephen Fry argues, however, that a reader cannot truly appreciate the masterly quality of these two chapters until he reads the entire novel. Even John le Carré has recorded in a published newspaper article in 1996 that any collection of books must contain this novel and tells him to his favorite novel.

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Bertie Woosters returns to London after a few weeks vacation in Cannes . In Cannes he kept his aunt Dahlia and her daughter Angela company. Jeeves has not accompanied him and confesses to his employer that in his absence he advised Bertie's old school friend Augustus 'Gussie' Fink-Nottle . Gussie has fallen in love with the naive and sentimental Madeline Bassett, but his shyness has so far prevented him from admitting his love to Madeline. Bertie is a little irritated that his old school friend prefers to get advice from Jeeves instead of him. Bertie tells Jeeves that he will take care of the shy Gussie in the future. Jeeves' very cautious reaction to Bertie's white dinner jacket, which earned him so many compliments in Cannes, upsets him a little.

Aunt Dahlia is urgently looking for someone who can do the awarding of the award at the local elementary school, Bertie plans to transfer this task and therefore orders him by telegram to Brinkley Court, the country estate of her and her husband Tom Travers country estate. At the same time, Angela's friend Madeline Bassett, the young woman Gussie fell in love with, is also a guest there.

Bertie has already had a comparable award and has no pleasant memory of the same. Bertie persuades Gussie to take over the award ceremony, which gives him a reason to travel to Brinkley Court and meet Madeline again. Bertie, too, is leaving for Brinkley Court: His cousin Angela has broken off her engagement to Tuppy Glossop because of a difference of opinion. At Brinkley Court it turns out that Bertie has to console Aunt Dahlia not only because of the broken engagement. She is the editor of Mylady's Boulevard , a magazine she believes is on the verge of finally going into the black. However, she is still dependent on regular subsidies from her husband. In fact, he gave her another £ 500 to pay for her printers, but Aunt Dahlia gambled away that money in Cannes. She has to ask her husband Tom again for a subsidy, but he is not in a good mood because of his last income tax payment and - despite his considerable wealth - the family's financial ruin is already looming.

Bertie is again irritated that everyone around him is looking for advice from Jeeves: Gussie wants to know how he can win Madeline over, Aunt Dahlia seeks advice from Jeeves on how to appease her husband Tom, Angela and Tuppy ask for support on how they put their so carelessly jeopardized relationship back on track. Bertie ends all of this by instructing Jeeves not to advise anyone any longer. You should contact him, Bertie, instead. He advises Aunt Dahlia to attract attention this evening due to loss of appetite. Tom Travers will then notice something bothering them and, relieved that it is something as small as an additional £ 500, willingly fund the magazine one more time. He advises Gussie, Angela and Tuppy similarly: If Gussie lets his dinner go back untouched, Madeline will notice how much he is in love. When Tuppy sits in front of his plate without appetite, Angela will notice how much the other is suffering from the breach of the engagement. The plan is carried out; four people let the dinner prepared by celebrity chef Anatole go back one course after the other. The hoped-for effect does not materialize, however: Madeline and Tom Travers notice nothing of the self-imposed sacrifice of Gussie and Aunt Dahlia. Angela feels Tuppy's reluctance only to make sharp remarks about his weight. Worse still: celebrity chef Anatole takes the pristine plates personally - he no longer sees his culinary art being appreciated, pouting back in his room and is determined to quit. The fact that Tom Travers and his daughter found three hungry people in the pantry that night trying to get Anatole's meat pie does nothing to ease the situation. For Aunt Dahlia it is clear who is to blame for the so bad evening: Bertie Wooster and his unfortunate advice.

The next morning, Bertie presents his friend Gussie with a new plan for how he could get rid of his shyness. Bertie will take Madeline for a walk in the park, carefully prepare her so that there is someone on Brinkley Court who has deeper feelings for her, and then Gussie, carefully prepared for his performance, will join her and confess his love to her. This plan also fails: Madeline believes that Bertie is in love with her and tells him that she unfortunately has to reject him because she loves Gussie. The arriving Gussie also messes up his performance. In his excitement, it only occurs to him to talk about his hobby, researching newts, until even Madeline withdraws, bored.

Bertie thinks she found the cause of Gussie's shyness. Gussie refuses to drink any alcohol and prefers orange juice to all other drinks. Bertie decides, against Jeeves' firm advice, to spice up Gussie's orange juice with some alcohol. This plan also fails; Gussie consumes much more alcohol than planned, with the result that Gussie leaves completely intoxicated for the award ceremony at the elementary school. At least he makes a marriage proposal to Madeline, which she also accepts. Afterwards, however, there was a memorable award ceremony, at which, to the delight of the pupil, Gussie insulted the school principal and accused winners of the Bible competition of fraud. After this event, Madeline decides that Gussie is no longer an option for her as a partner. She will now sacrifice herself and marry Bertie. The prospect of having sentimental Madeline as a wife is terrible for Bertie. As a gentleman, Bertie doesn't dare to tell Madeline about her misunderstanding. The rejected by Madeline Gussie now wants revenge on Madeline and makes Angela a marriage proposal, which Angela accepts to annoy Tuppy. Tuppy reacts extremely jealous and chases under the threat that he will beat him up, Gussie through the entire country estate.

In view of the complications that have been created, Bertie Jeeves admits that he no longer had any advice and asks Jeeves to come up with something. What Jeeves proposed several days earlier is now being implemented: While almost all servants at Kingham Manor, a country estate in the neighborhood, are celebrating at a servants' ball, a midnight fire alarm goes off on Brinkley Court. All those present gather on the lawn in front of the country estate, but find all the doors back into the house locked when the alarm turns out to be a false alarm. Bertie, who is credited with the false alarm, is forced on an 18-mile nightly bike ride to collect the keys from Seppings, Brinkley Court's butler at Kingham Manor. The journey in the dark turns into an adventure, during which Bertie is repeatedly in danger of ending up in the ditch and he even thinks he recognizes his terrifying aunt Agatha in the nightly ghostly figures . When he arrived at Kingham Manor, butler Seppings told him that he had entrusted the keys to Jeeves' country estate. Returning to Brinkley Court, he finds everyone who stayed there united over a midnight meal of eggs, bacon and champagne. Angela and Tuppy are reconciled just as Gussie and Madeline are engaged to each other. And Aunt Dahlia received the much needed 500 pounds from her husband Tom a second time. Jeeves explains to his employer why the nightly bike ride was necessary. He has observed in the past that the common anger towards one person would smoothen the dissatisfaction between quarreled people. It was therefore necessary for Bertie to act as a scapegoat. The last thing Jeeves Bertie admits is that he has had a little mishap. The white dinner jacket suffered irreparable burn marks during ironing. Bertie is magnanimous and the novel ends with Bertie asking for an omelette and half a bottle of champagne.

literature

  • Frances Donaldson: PG Wodehouse: A Biography . London 1982, ISBN 0-297-78105-7 .
  • Richard Usborne: Plum Sauce. A PG Wodehouse Companion. Overlook, Woodstock / NY 2003, ISBN 1-58567-441-9 .

Web links

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  1. ↑ E. McIlvaine, LS Sherby, JH Heineman: PG Wodehouse: A comprehensive bibliography and checklist . James H. Heineman, New York, 1990, ISBN 0-87008-125-X . Pp. 66-68.
  2. ↑ Stephen Fry: What ho, My hero PG Wodehouse , The Independent, January 18, 2000 ( Memento of the original from August 19, 2002 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed April 24, 2016 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.drones.com
  3. ↑ Usborne: Plum Sauce. A PG Wodehouse Companion. P. 170.
  4. ↑ John le Carré; Personal Best: Right Ho, Jeeves , Salon. September 30, 1996 , accessed April 24, 2016.