A
Wodehouse Handbook Volume 2: The Words of
Wodehouse
Did people really speak like Bertie Wooster? Who was
the celebrated Maisie? What does a Jubilee watering
trough look like? Where is Loose Chippings? What was
"Just Like Mother Makes"? Where does "the exile from
home splendour dazzles in vain" come from? What was a
gazeka? Why was Bertie Wooster more to be pitied than
censured? When did young men-about-town start saying
"What"? How did Bosher Street get its name?
While P.G. Wodehouse's way with words has long set a
standard for literary humour, much in his writing
puzzles the modern reader. Volume Two of A
Wodehouse Handbook answers many of the questions
that arise when reading Wodehouse - especially the
constant flow of quotations and deliberate
misquotations that he used so skilfully. These range
from the Bible and the Greek and Latin writers he knew
so well, through Geoffrey Chaucer to writers like
Ogden Nash and Mickey Spillane. Often he incorporated
them into his stories so cunningly that the reader
sometimes does not recognise them as quotations at
all. Wodehouse also made a point of being up to date.
From his first book in 1902 to his last in 1975, there
are topical jokes, catchphrases, advertisements of the
time and extracts from popular songs which everyone
recognised when the books were published.
In this volume, Norman Murphy explains the many
references to people, places, and events that were
appreciated by contemporary readers but are often
mystifying today. He also identifies for us the myriad
quotations that abound in Wodehouse's books and the
songs, advertisements and long-forgotten catchphrases
that Wodehouse used over seventy-five years. His
findings, covering an extraordinary range of language
and usage, from Aristotle to Variety magazine,
will be of interest to all book-lovers and add to
their appreciation and enjoyment of Wodehouse's superb
writing.
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~ Reviews ~
"...these two stout volumes contain
some of the most dedicated sleuthing in the history
of literary detective work."
- David Twiston-Davies, The Telegraph
"A Wodehouse Handbook offers devotees of one
of our great prose stylists more invaluable
background to the characters and institutions that
are the lifeblood of his novels and musicals." -
Jonathan Bouquet, The Observer
"We may know what Wodehouse meant when he wrote that
a noise sounded like GK Chesterton falling on a
sheet of tin; and we get the point about Roderick
Spode and his Black Shorts. But NTP Murphy, the
author of In Search of Blandings, has teased
out every last meaning from such passages."
-Nicholas Clee, The Guardian
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