Ukridge
(P.G. Wodehouse)
This is the first Ukridge book, a small part of Wodehouse's sardonic little neighbourhood of 30s London and New York. Ten rounds of lexical boxing, the occasional aunt, a medley of engagements, cancellations, crazy schemes and even crazier names, punctuated by stories of Battling Billson. Ukridge starts a college for performing dogs, unprofitably defrauds an insurance firm, and sets himself up as a boxing promoter, amongst other things. He is something like an anti-jeeves, for it always falls to the narrator, Ukridge's bosom buddy, to shoulder the bulk of the burden of Ukridge's mad folly.
The suburbs of Wodehouse's cynically grotesque stately-home world are no less sumptuously furnished (than their richer counterparts) with nutball antics dressed up in smart attire, with a full dose of stiffened lips and close scrapes. And indeed Ukridge's world does indeed overlap a bit more than the world of Wooster does with the suburbs. Ever on the run from his aunt in Wimbledon, Ukridge conspires to find a hundred and one ways to make a killing but kills very little other than the narrator's time.
Unlike the Jeeves-related stories and indeed those of Psmith, there is no strong hand of some trustworthy comedic superhero to see things through, so the world of Ukridge has its own unique perspective. Things do always get sorted out, but Ukridge, unlike Wooster, gets more of the luck of the Prophet Job than that of say David out of David and Goliath (it was Jeeves who handed David the wee stone, presumably).
There are few known cures for the common cold. Wodehouse books number among them. To say that because Wodehouse does not really compare to Jerome K Jerome or to H H Munro, his works belong in the realm of populist tripe would be far far too harsh a thing to do to something which is such a reliable source of mirth. I would see Wodehouse as being more like the Mr Men whilst Saki and Jerome K Jerome, Oscar Wilde and so on represent things like South Park and Monkeydust. Mr Men rocks. It's satirical in a domestic little way, nothing deadly or revolutionary, but very healthy for the young uns.
Resumos Relacionados
- Continuer, Jeeves : 8 Histoires Complètes
- You Can Win
- Sigue, Jeeves : Ocho Historias Completas
- See How They Run
- Continuar, Jeeves: 8 Histórias Completas (continuer, Jeeves : 8 Histoires Complètes)
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