Uncle's awakening

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Uncle's Awakening , English original title Uncle Fred in the Springtime , is a cheerful novel by the British-American writer PG Wodehouse from the Blandings Castle saga . The novel was first published in the United States on August 18, 1939, with the British publication following a week later on August 25. The main location of the action is London and Blandings Castle , the residence of the shabby Lord Emsworth, who must fear that the Empress of Blandings , his beloved Berkshire pig, will be put on diet by the Duke of Dunstable. Since this time he cannot count on the proven help of his younger brother Galahad Threepwood , this time he has to enlist the help of Lord Ickenham .

action

Two friends are in trouble: Pongo Twistleton has gambling debts and his friend Horace Pendlebury-Davenport has fallen out with his girlfriend Valerie, who is also Pongo's sister. The reason for the dispute is Horace's idea of ​​hiring the private detective Claude “Mustard” Pott to watch Valerie spend a weekend in the French seaside resort of Le Touquet that she is spending time with friends. However, Detective Pott wasn't too inconspicuous as he thought - Valerie broke off the engagement because of this breach of trust. It doesn't stop at this dispute: Horace also gets into an argument with his friend Ricky Gilpin, the nephew of the Duke of Dunstable, who of all people got engaged to Polly, the daughter of detective Pott. Pongo decides to turn to his uncle Fred, the fifth earl of Ickenham, to help resolve this mess.

At the same time, the Duke of Dunstable, feared because of his temper outbursts and his unpredictable behavior, invited himself to Blandings Castle. While Lady Constance is pleased about the visitor, with whom she had a quarrel in her youth, Lord Emsworth sees the plump roundness of his beloved Empress von Blandings , with whom he has won the winner's medal for his eternal competitor Sir Gregory several times at the agricultural exhibition in Shrewsbury, increasingly endangered Parsloe-Parsloe has snatched away. The Duke of Dunstable got it into his head that the pig is too fat and needs a fitness regimen. Doubts about the Duke of Dunstable's sanity are triggered, however, when he pelts whistling gardeners with eggs from his guest room. Assigned by his sister to discretely persuade the neurologist Sir Roderick Glossop to visit Blandings Castle in London, he fails. Lord Emsworth recognizes "pickled herring" in him, one of his classmates, and the two of them quarrel, so that Sir Roderick initially refuses to visit Blandings Castle. Usually it is Lord Emsworth's younger brother Galahad who has advice in such situations - but this is indispensable and so Lord Emsworth turns to Lord Ickenham, his old friend.

Lord Ickenham's solution is simple. He will travel to Blandings Castle as the alleged Roderick Glossop. This solves several difficulties at the same time: Without his wife knowing about it, who has strictly forbidden him to travel, Lord Ickenham can spend a few days at Blandings Castle. He will take Polly with him as his supposed daughter Gwendoline, who will thus have the chance to convince Horace of her qualities. And he will take Pongo with him as his supposed secretary, who can thus escape the people with whom he has gambling debts and at the same time has the chance to raise money.

The first difficulties arise during the train ride to Blandings Castle. In the compartment they meet Roderick Glossop, who has changed his mind after receiving an urgent letter from Lady Constance. He wants to briefly get an impression of the state of mind of the Duke of Dunstable at Blandings Castle and then quickly return to London to attend a conference there. The quick-witted Lord Ickenham persuades him that the Duke of Dunstable is in the next compartment. In fact, it is Rupert Baxter, the Duke's secretary who stayed in London for a few days longer against the wishes of his employer, and who is now also traveling to Blandings Castle. After a short interview, Roderick Glossop comes to the conclusion that the state of mind of the alleged Duke of Dunstable is beyond doubt. At the next stop, Roderick Glossop leaves the train to return to London.

The next obstacle awaits the three travelers at the abandoned train station in Market Blandings. Lord Bosham, Lord Emsworth's eldest son, who is supposed to pick her up at the station, has met Lord Ickenham before under questionable circumstances. It takes Lord Ickenham's self-assured demeanor to convince Lord Bosham that he is really dealing with the famous nerve specialist Glossop. Rupert Baxter, on the other hand, does not fall for the charade: Lord Emsworth tries to convince him that the man Baxter talked to in the train compartment was in fact a patient who often poses as a different person . However, Baxter knows Sir Roderick Glossop from previous encounters. Lord Ickenham, however, has information that Baxter initially quieted. He knows that Baxter used his extended stay in London to attend a masquerade ball. If his current employer, the Duke of Dunstable, finds out, he will be fired. However, Baxter is not to be completely immobilized. He discreetly confides in Lady Constance, who suspects jewel thieves in the three alleged impostors who have gathered at Blandings Castle. She hires a private detective and decides in favor of Claude “Mustard” Pott, Polly's father.

The Duke of Dunstable still wishes to get the Empress of Blandings into their possession. To do this, he now hires his financially tight nephew Ricky Gilpin. But the Duke does not comply with his request to lend him 250 pounds so that he can buy a soup bar in London and find a living that allows him to marry Polly. An argument breaks out and Ricky refuses to help the Duke kidnap the pig. Meanwhile, Detective Pott wins £ 250 playing cards with the naive Lord Bosham. Lord Ickenham ties the money back from the private investigator, which was not quite honestly won, on the grounds that it allows Polly to marry the wealthy Horace. Ultimately, however, the money ends up with Pongo, who can use it to pay off his betting debts.

Detective Pott is persuaded to play a card game with the Duke of Dunstable in order to exclude him from the card game. However, the shrewd Duke is not as easy to defeat as the naive Lord Bosham and wins £ 300 from the pot. He's also now the owner of the pig - Baxter helped him move it from the sty to the bathroom in Dunstable's guest room. Lord Ickenham thinks the most sensible solution is to simply steal the fortune from the duke's room. An anesthetic is used to evade the watchful Baxter and give Lord Ickenham access to the guest room that the Duke lives in. Meanwhile, Pongo distracts the Duke by whistling " The Bonnie Banks of Loch Lomond " in front of his window , a song the Duke particularly hates. As was to be expected, a chase ensues in the park between the Duke and Pongo. However, Lord Ickenham is caught by the armed Bosham and locked in a closet, Butler Beach is placed to guard him.

At that moment Valerie arrives at Blandings Castle, who has made up with Horace. She confirms that the alleged Roderick Glossop is Lord Ickenham. Lord Ickenham is now pulling out of the affair by claiming that he was at Blandings Castle only to end an unfortunate affair between Lord Emsworth and Polly. His story sounds so convincing that he gets the £ 300 from Dunstable to pay Polly off. He makes it clear to everyone involved that his visit must remain a secret if they want to protect the family honor. Then he leaves for London - he now has enough money so that Ricky Gilpin can buy his soup bar and marry Polly and there is still enough money left for Lord Ickenham to spend a few happy days in London.

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

Single receipts

  1. McIlvaine, E., Sherby, LS and Heineman, JH (1990) PG Wodehouse: A comprehensive bibliography and checklist . New York: James H. Heineman, pp. 76 and 77. ISBN 087008125X