Psmith, whom we first met in Mike and subsequently in Psmith in the City is in New York. Here he becomes a journalist, using a cosy magazine to crusade against poor housing. Unfortunately, this lands him on the wrong side of a corrupt politician who hires a gang to do Psmith in.
The comedy depends on the dialogue. The improbable and farcical situations are disguised as New York slang is contrasted with Psmith's, or the author's whimsy, For example, when Pugsy reflects on his girlfriend ("Aw, she's a kid ... She ain't a bad mutt,' added the ardent swain. 'I'm her steady'."; Ch 25) it is the contrast between the 'ardent swain' and the 'bad mutt' that makes the comedy. Or when Psmith and his editor are on a tenement block roof with would-be assassins below and rival gang members at the door:
"Leave those stiffs on de roof. Let Sam wait here with his canister, and den dey can't get down, 'cos Sam'll pump dem full of lead while dey're beatin' it t'roo de trap-door. Sure'
Psmith nodded reflectively.
'There is certainly something in what the bright boy says.' he murmured. 'It seems to me the grand rescue scene in the third act has sprung a leak.'"
There is a huge reliance on irony, particularly litotes, such as here: "Psmith rose to his feet and dusted his clothes ruefully. For the first time he realised the horrors of war. His hat had gone forever. His trousers could never be the same again after their close acquaintance with the pavement." (Ch 16)
It is a testament to the genius of PGW that he can carry this off for a whole book, though I found it did get a little wearing after a while. Perhaps the charm of Mike, in which Psmith first appears, is that Psmith is much diluted by a 'normal' story; when he is given unbridled rein he exhausts one. One the other hand, Bertie Wooster is fundamentally Psmith in the first person, and that seems to work (although Wooster was often confined to short stories).
Nevertheless, Psmith, Journalist is a refreshingly amusing book.
There is a description of a boxing match which seems to prophesy Ali's 'rope-a-dope' strategy when fighting Foreman for the World Heavyweight championship in Zaire.
Warning: this book contains racial slurs reflective of the period it was written in.
Selected quotes:
- "One crowded hour of glorious life is worth an age without a name." (Ch 5)
- "My idea is that 'Cosy Moments' should become red-hot stuff. I could wish its tone to be such that the public will wonder why we do not print it on asbestos." (Ch 5)
- "Your 'Moments of Mirth' ... have frequently reconciled me to the toothache." (Ch 8)
- "Work, the what's-its-name of the thingummy and the thing-um-a-bob of the what-d'you-call-it." (Ch 25) This echoes two similarly structured reflections on work in the previous book, Psmith in the City.
- "I understand. I am a man of few words myself. All great men are like that." (Ch 25) This is hugely ironic, Psmith's distinguishing characteristic being that he always talks at great length about the most trivial situations.
A farcical plot and classic Wodehouse characters and dialogue. November 202; 221 words
The sequel, Leave it to Psmith, is set in Blandings Castle
Other books by P G Wodehouse reviewed in this blog can be found here.
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