May 01, 2006
Mr. Woo and Plummy, Too
Basil Seal delivers up a couple of posts on humor in the hands of Evelyn Waugh and P.G. Wodehouse. I think the latter essay, which looks at Wodehouse's humor from a Christian perspective, may lay it on a wee bit thick. But I think the general notion of Plum depicting a World before the Fall, as it were, is legitimate. That's certainly the way Waugh viewed his writing.
Wodehouse himself once said:
"I believe there are two ways of writing novels. One is mine, making a sort of musical comedy without music and ignoring real life altogether; the other is going right deep down into life and not caring a damn ...."I don't recall ever seeing any commentary by Wodehouse on Waugh's work, but one could argue that Plum's second alternative for novel writing could be said to describe Waugh's style. In this sense, I'd like to think of the two of them looking across the void at each other, each appreciating the other's work from a distance. Then again, I may just be romanticising here - I am a great fan of Waugh not only for his own novels, but also for the fact that he took such a public stance in defense of Wodehouse after the whole Nazi internment kerfluffle.
I won't bother recommending that you click over. If you like this sort of thing, you'll do it anyway, I'm sure.
Posted by Robert at May 1, 2006 03:58 PM | TrackBackWaugh did meet Wodehouse once while in NYC. He was dissapointed because he discovered that PGW, in person, was not funny (many other people remarked on this odd fact) Waugh complained that all he wanted to talk about was cricket and the income tax...
Posted by: Basil Seal at May 1, 2006 09:15 PM
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