The incomparable Jeeves
The incomparable Jeeves (original title: The inimitable Jeeves) is a cheerful collection of short stories by the British-American writer PG Wodehouse , which is also marketed as a novel because of its plot loosely related to the recurring protagonist Bingo Little. The protagonists, however, are the British dandy Bertie Wooster and his valet Jeeves and it is the second collection of short stories with these characters to be published after My Man Jeeves (1919). In addition to Bertie and Jeeves, Bertie's formidable Aunt Agatha and Roderick Glossop and his daughter Honoria also play a role in the stories.
The British first publication of the short story collection took place on May 17, 1923 by the publisher Herbert Jenkins Ltd. On September 28, 1923, the collection was also launched in the United States under the title Jeeves .
First publication of the individual short stories
The collection combines 11 previously published stories, with the first six and the last story being divided into two chapters each, so that a book with a total of 18 chapters was created. In the UK, all of the short stories had previously appeared in Strand Magazine .
Apart from the short story "Jeeves and the Chump Cyril", the short stories appeared in the UK between December 1921 and November 1922 in Strand Magazine . "Jeeves and the Chump Cyril" had already appeared in August 1918 in this paper. In the United States, this short story appeared in the Saturday Evening Post in June 1918 .
action
In seven of the original 11 short stories, Bingo Little is the main protagonist, who successively falls in love with the waitress in a café, with Roderick Glossop's daughter Honoria, with Daphne Braythwayt, with the politically active Charlotte Corday Rowbotham, Lady Cynthia Wickhammersley and Mary Burgess, and finally with the last one Chapter Rosie M. Banks marries, the hugely successful writer of sentimental women's novels. However, it is not only the love affairs of Bingo Little that play a role in the stories: Bertie Wooster is ordered to Roville-sur-mer after Aunt Agatha met a young woman there who she is convinced that she is a suitable spouse for Bertie would give. The young woman turns out to be a con artist and only Jeeves' targeted intervention prevents her from stealing Aunt Agatha's precious pearls. A little later, Honoria Glossop is firmly convinced that Bertie Wooster is in love with her. As later with Florence Craye ( Jeeves takes the helm , Without me, Jeeves! ) And Madeline Bassett ( Then not, Jeeves , old nobility doesn't rust ) Bertie Wooster is unable to explain to Honoria that she is subject to a misjudgment here. As always, Jeeves intervenes to deal with this problem: When Sir Roderick is invited to lunch at Bertie Wooster's, the weighty neurologist comes to the conclusion that it is about because of the dozens of cats and the fish head in Bertie's bedroom Bertie's frame of mind is not in the best. This is also the end of Honoria's marriage intentions.
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
- Felicitas von Lovenberg: Jeeves had a wooden expression on his face . Review of Woodhouse's work on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of his first novel, Frankfurter Allgemeine, September 17, 2002
- Stephen Fry: What ho, My hero PG Wodehouse , The Independent, January 18, 2000
Single receipts
- ↑ McIlvaine, E., Sherby, LS and Heineman, JH (1990) PG Wodehouse: A comprehensive bibliography and checklist . New York: James H. Heineman, ISBN 087008125X . Pp. 41-42.