Lord Emsworth

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Lord Emsworth , actually Clarence Threepwood, 9th Earl of Emsworth , is a recurring fictional character in the stories and novels of the British writer PG Wodehouse and, along with Bertie Wooster and his valet Jeeves, is one of the most famous protagonists in Wodehouse's work.

Lord Emsworth lives on his country estate at Blandings Castle in Shropshire and is not only hard of hearing, but is also considered to be slightly moronic and absent-minded among his family members. He devotes most of his free time to raising pigs, with his breeding sow, the Empress of Blandings , already receiving awards at the Shropshire Agricultural Show. Nothing makes him happier than walking among his flowers undisturbed by his relatives. Even so, he is busy pursuing the duties his tyrannical sisters set for him and / or banishing the recurring impostors from Blandings Castle. The literary critic Richard Usborne called Lord Emsworth one of the most likable lords in English literary history.

origin

PG Wodehouse repeatedly named the protagonists of his novels and stories after places with which he was familiar. Lord Emsworth is named after the small town of Emsworth in the English county of Hampshire , which lies directly on the south coast of the British Isles. Wodehouse spent some time there in 1903 and later rented a small house called "Threepwood Cottage". Lord Emsworth's family name is derived from this.

Blandings, the country house, on the play most of the stories of Lord Emsworth, leans on the mansion Corsham Court, Corsham in the county of Wiltshire in. It is located there in the city center. An Elizabethan mansion was first built in 1582 on the site of an Anglo-Saxon royal castle. Since 1745 it has been part of the lands of Baron Methuen. PG Wodehouse spent part of his school holidays there as a child with an uncle and was regularly taken to ice-skating at the nearby Corsham pond.

characterization

Lord Emsworth is briefly mentioned for the first time in the short story The Matrimonial Sweepstake , which appeared in the US Cosmopolitan in February 1910 . In Old Fresh , the absent-mindedness and forgetfulness of Lord Emsworth is an essential motif of the plot: he accidentally puts an extremely valuable scarab in his pocket as the story progresses . PG Wodehouse introduces the reader to the Lord's absent-mindedness very early in the novel:

Lord Emsworth dines in his club, the following conversation ensues with the head waiter, to whom the lord is a trusted guest:

"Tell me Adams, did I already have my cheese?"

“Not yet, your lordship. I was just about to send the waiter for it. "

"Let it. Tell him to pay me the bill instead. It just occurred to me that I have an appointment and shouldn't be late. "

"Shall I take the fork, your lordship?"

"The fork?"

"Your lordship accidentally put the fork in your jacket pocket."

Lord Emsworth felt in the indicated pocket, and with the expression of an inexperienced magician, whose feat succeeded against his own expectations, he pulled out a silver-plated fork.

Frances Donaldson also quotes this little scene in her biography of Wodehouse as an example of PG Wodehouse's masterful narrative style. In order to make the novel readable for the reader, it is important that at the crucial scene - namely that of the accidental theft of the scarab - he is already familiar with Lord Emsworth's distraction doing such things.

In the novels and short stories that feature Lord Emsworth, he is consistently portrayed as someone just under 60, regardless of the year of publication. Richard Usborne points out, however, that PG Wodehouse, who mostly set his stories in an Edwardian fantasy world that was not precisely anchored in time , mentioned comparatively early in his narrative career in one of his Blandings novels that Lord Emsworth was a student in the 1860s Eton was. Aside from the fact that Lord Emsworth never seems to get any older, he is bald and long and thin. His clothing is usually a bit neglected. He prefers to wear an old tweed jacket and trousers that are already baggy at the knees. His pince-nez hangs on a string that he wears around his neck and still loses regularly. He hates being forced to wear more formal clothes, giving a speech and having to go to London when the sun is shining. One of his most surprising skills is that he is excellent at making salad.

Lord Emsworth was one of the students of Eton College , but as a student whose limited mental powers were already clearly recognizable, he was already nicknamed "Fool" there. Wodehouse introduces him as a protagonist whose leisurely way of thinking has already become proverbial in his environment. Lord Emsworth also tends to be easily distracted and misunderstood. Basically, however, he is characterized by a lovable nature. However, in the novel In Old Freshness he also keeps a revolver under his pillow, with which he may conclude that there is a burglar or his patient private secretary Rupert Baxter. His simple worldview allows him to sleep soundly and it is said that he has enjoyed at least eight hours of sleep in the last twenty years and that he often manages to spend 10 hours in bed.

family members

Lord Emsworth comes from a family whose members have proven to be extremely long-lived unless disaster struck them first. His father, as mentioned in the novel A Pelican in the Castle , first published in 1969 , was killed in a hunting accident. His uncle Robert was almost ninety, his cousin Claude 84 and by no means died peacefully in bed: he broke his neck trying to jump over a gate on horseback.

His extensive family includes nine sisters still alive and the Honorable Galahad 'Gally' Threepwood , the only remaining brother who has a pronounced sense for the more reckless things in life. According to the Threepwood sisters, who do not have a good opinion of any of their brothers, Galahad is the eyesore of an otherwise proud family. One of the sisters is Lady Constance Keeble, who is a constant threat to the peaceful life of Lord Emsworth. Not only does she intend to retire Lord Emsworth's Butler Beach, but she is also keen to find his private secretaries for him. His numerous nieces, on the other hand, are characterized by steadfastness and a pragmatic approach to life. Usually you succeed in thwarting the marriage plans that your aunt Lady Constance made for you and marry the nice young man you have chosen.

Lord Emsworth has two sons and - here Wodehouse remains somewhat vague - at least one daughter. He wants nothing more than marriage for his youngest son, Freddie, because he hopes that he will no longer get into trouble. In Herr auf Schloss Blandings (first published in 1935), Freddie's marital happiness is tangible. His chosen one is the daughter of a wealthy manufacturer of dog biscuits and as a dowry, Freddie will get a secure and well-paid job in his factory.

"For Lord Emsworth it remained advisable what added value Freddie should create in a dog biscuit factory, unless they employed him as a taster"

Freddie, however, becomes a worthy, hard-working son-in-law of the dog biscuit maker.

Servants

Blandings Castle's butler is Sebastian Beach , whose appearance suggests he is on the verge of suffering a stroke. PG Wodehouse compares his voice to that of Tawny-Port , who has become audible. His health is not going well: he has corns , ingrown toenails, swollen joints, nervous headaches, a weak stomach and weak eyes. Besides that, he fears few things as much as socialism. But he has the best collection of crime novels there is in Shropshire. Similar to Wodehouse's famous valet Jeeves , Beach is a solid stone for his employer, who reliably ensures that all entanglements end well. But while Jeeves floats so silently "like a healing zephyr " through Bertie Wooster's apartment, Butler Beach cannot be ignored:

"Outside booming noises could be heard, caused by a stout butler who scores a good time in the tiled corridor"

In addition to Butler Beach, Mrs. Twemlow is the housekeeper, the second butler Meridew and the servants James and Alfred are employed at Blandings Castle. In addition, Blandings Castle has the numerous servants that characterized a very wealthy Edwardian household: kitchen maids, laundresses, maids, housemaids, chauffeurs, shoeshine boys and stable boys. The person who is entrusted with the care of Lord Emsworth's favorite pig, the Empress of Blandings, plays an important role. Unfortunately, there are always dramatic changes in the pigkeepers: George Cyril Wellbeloved is lured away by Lord Emsworth's opponent Parsloe, the “gnomish, capable owl” named Pott, who followed him, wins the football pool and returns his official seal. He is followed by Monica Simmons, a tall, young woman who looks like a freestyle wrestler, is the daughter of a country pastor and disrespectfully describes the precious animal entrusted to her as a marzipan pig . Her employment is solely due to the intrigues of Lord Emsworth's sister Cornelia, and it leads to deep entanglements when it is revealed that she is the cousin of Lord Emsworth's adversary Parsloe.

Lady Constanze is responsible for the fact that the staff at Blandings Castle also includes a constantly changing secretary. In their view, such a man is needed to ensure that Lord Emsworth keeps his affairs under control.

Opponent

Lord Emsworth's most important opponent is Sir Gregory Parsloe-Parsloe , whom Lord Emsworth and his brother Galahad regularly wrongly suspect of harming the pigs on Blandings or the pumpkins intended for the award ceremony.

“There was a snake in his Garden of Eden, a dead leaf on his rose bed, a grain of sand in the spinach of his mind. He enjoyed excellent health ..., a large income and a first class inherited property with gravel paths in idyllic parkland and with all modern conveniences, but all that blessing was nullified by the clean air of the district in which he lived the presence of a man like Sir Gregory Parsloe was poisoned - a man who, he was convinced, planned evil against that glorious pig, the Empress of Blandings. "

Sir Gregory's sins of the past are only two, however: in a bet with Galahad, whose dog could kill the most rats, the young Gregory overfed his opponent's dog with roast beef, putting the dog out of action. Sir Gregory has also succeeded in luring Lord Emsworth's pigkeeper, George Cyril Wellbeloved, who once looked after Lord Emsworth's favorite pig, the Empress of Blandings, into his service with the prospect of a higher salary. Otherwise, Sir Gregory today is only guilty of a penchant for overeating.

Novels by PG Wodehouse starring Lord Emsworth

  • Something Fresh (1915); German title: In old freshness
  • Summer Lightning (1929); German title: Sommerliches Schlossgewitter
  • Heavy Weather (1933); German title: His Lordship and the Pig (translated by Christiane Trabant-Rommel); Be and pig
  • Uncle Fred in the Springtime ; German title: Schloss Blandings in the storm of feelings
    • New edition: Onkels Erwachen , newly translated by Thomas Schlachter, Edition Epoca, Zurich 2010 ISBN 978-3-905513-53-0
  • Lord Emsworth and the Girl Friend
  • Full moon ; German title: Full moon over Blandings Castle
  • Uncle Dynamite ; German title: Onkel Dynamit
  • Pigs Have Wings (1952); German title: Schwein oder nichtschwein
  • Service with a Smile (1961); German title: Always at your service
  • Galahad at Blandings (1965); German title: Wealth does not protect against love
  • A Pelican at Blandings (1969); German title: A pelican in the castle
  • Sunset at Blandings
  • Blandings Castle and Elsewhere (1935); German title Herr auf Schloß Blandings
  • Leave It to Psmith (1923); German title Psmith macht alles ; A lord in need

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 .

Single receipts

  1. ↑ a b Usborne: Plum Sauce. A PG Wodehouse Companion. P. 42.
  2. ^ A b Norman Murphy: In Search of Blandings . Secker & Warburg , London 1986, ISBN 0-436-29720-5 .
  3. ↑ Usborne: Plum Sauce. A PG Wodehouse Companion. P. 37
  4. ↑ PG Wodehouse: Something fresh . 3rd chapter
  5. ^ Donaldson: PG Wodehouse: A Biography . P. 20 and p. 21.
  6. ↑ a b c Usborne: Plum Sauce. A PG Wodehouse Companion. P. 41.
  7. ↑ PG Wodehouse: Pig or not pig . P. 97
  8. ↑ PG Wodehouse: Pig or not pig , p. 71.
  9. ↑ PG Wodehouse: Blandings and Elsewhere . Chapter 1. The original quote is: Lord Emsworth could conceive of no way in which Freddie could be of value to a dog-biscuit firm, except possibly as a taster.
  10. ↑ a b PG Wodehouse: In old freshness .
  11. ↑ Usborne: Plum Sauce. A PG Wodehouse Companion. P. 43.
  12. ↑ PG Wodehouse: Jeeves takes the helm
  13. ↑ PG Wodehouse: Pig or not pig , p. 47.
  14. ↑ PG Wodehouse: Pig or not pig , p. 46.
  15. ↑ PG Wodehouse: Pig or not pig , p. 12.
  16. ↑ PG Wodehouse: Pig or not pig . P. 6