Category: Psmith

The World of Mike and Psmith

Guest Posts, Psmith, The Great Romances10 Comments

A note on the Psmith-Halliday romance by K.V.K. Murthy

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This February’s Great Wodehouse romances series continues with another guest author, K.V.K. Murthy, known to Facebook friends as James Joyce.  His piece takes us on a walk through romantic literary history with Psmith and Eve Halliday (Leave it to Psmith). A note on the Psmith-Halliday romance by K.V.K. Murthy The question of favourites is mostly subjective, and Wodehouse’s vast canvas of miniature romances doubtless provides for each taste. The Gussie-Bassett, Tuppy-Angela, Bingo-Banks and others too numerous to mention are all miniatures :a concatenation (to use Jeeves’ word) of comical situation, Edwardian silly-assness and a bit of fat-headedness thrown in for seasoning. They … Continue reading A note on the Psmith-Halliday romance by K.V.K. Murthy

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Blandings, Golfing Stories (The Oldest Member), Hidden Gems, Jeeves & Wooster, Mr Mulliner, Novels, Psmith, School Stories, Short stories, Ukridge, Uncle Fred33 Comments

P.G. Wodehouse reading guide

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So you’d like to give P.G. Wodehouse a try, but don’t know where to start. Or perhaps you’ve read the Jeeves stories and want to explore Wodehouse’s wonderful wider world. 

You’ve come to the right place. Continue reading P.G. Wodehouse reading guide

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Mr Mulliner, Psmith, School Stories, World of Wodehouse, Writers33 Comments

The birth of P.G. Wodehouse and Sherlock Holmes

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PGW quoted this famous character from his third book up to his ninety-third and had a tremendous admiration for Arthur Conan Doyle. N.T.P. Murphy, A Wodehouse Handbook On the 15th of October, 1881, P.G. Wodehouse was born in Guildford , England. Coincidentally, 1881 was also the year in which Dr. John Watson first met Sherlock Holmes. Their meeting was recounted by Arthur Conan Doyle in the first Sherlock Holmes story, A Study in Scarlet (1887). Some years later, the young Wodehouse became an avid reader of these stories, and his early work is littered with Holmesian references.  In The Adventure … Continue reading The birth of P.G. Wodehouse and Sherlock Holmes

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Psmith, Reviews, Writers, Writers & Writing7 Comments

Bulldog Drummond

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Derring don’t!  I started Bulldog Drummond keenly,  anticipating a good, old-fashioned adventure with lashings of `derring do’. I’m a big fan of the genre, with John Buchan‘s The Thirty-Nine Steps and G.K. Chesterton‘s The Man Who Was Thursday among my favourites. As a further enticement, P.G. Wodehouse borrowed from the plot in one of my favourite novels, Leave it to Psmith. When a reader embarks on a novel with as much good-will as I did, one is prepared to overlook minor issues of style, plot and characterisation. In the first chapter, I made `allowances’ for the patronising, simpleton dialogue given … Continue reading Bulldog Drummond

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Psmith, Ukridge11 Comments

Bank Manager Training

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…a vacancy had been got for him in that flourishing institution, the New Asiatic Bank, and he was to enter upon his duties, whatever they might be, on the Tuesday of the following week. It was short notice, but banks have a habit of swallowing their victims rather abruptly. Psmith in the City P.G. Wodehouse experienced the world of banking at close range as a reluctant employee of The Hongkong and Shanghai Bank between 1900-1902.  Some insight into Wodehouse’s experiences at the bank can be gleaned from Psmith in the City, in which young Mike Jackson, like Wodehouse himself,  is … Continue reading Bank Manager Training

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