Dave's Book Blog: "Leave it to Psmith" by P G Wodehouse

Sunday, 2 January 2022

"Leave it to Psmith" by P G Wodehouse

The fourth and last of the Psmith books and the second of the Blandings Castle series. As usual, Blandings Castle, the stately home of the vague Earl of Emsworth, is infested with imposters, including Psmith who is pretending to be Canadian poet Ralston McTodd, in order to stay at the Castle to have an opportunity of stealing the necklace of Lady Constance, sister of Lord Emsworth, at the behest of her husband as relayed through Lord Emsworth's son Freddy Threepwood. Add to this mix at least one other imposter and at least three other potential jewel thieves, not to mention the suspicions of Lord Emsworth's secretary, the Efficient Baxter, and we have the ingredients for a classic farce.

The plot is ingenious, if ridiculous; the characters are unfailingly innocent (even the crooks) and eccentric. But the joy of the novel is the language. Psmith, as in his previous books, rabbits on endlessly about very little.

The book being written in 1926, it has the ability for the characters to own revolvers and Freddy frequently quotes the caption cards from the silent movies he watches. There are other topical references:

"The sun, taken in as usual by the never-failing practical joke of the Daylight Saving Act, had only just set." (7.3)

PGW does recycle material he has used in previous books, for example:

"Of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these. 'it might have been'." (3.1) In Mike, chapter 33, Psmith is also speaking thus: “Of all sad words of tongue or pen,” said he, “the saddest are these: ‘It might have been.’" (C 33)
He tells the story of a traveller who, falling asleep over an acorn, wakes up to find himself in the topost branches of a tree and decides "I cannot ... adapt circumstance to my will: therefore I shall adapt my will to circumstances." I(11.3) n Mike chapter 22, Psmith says: “if I cannot compel circumstances to my will, I can at least adapt my will to circumstances."

I think the secret of PGW is that he takes things to extremes. There is never just one imposter, nor is there a single jewel thief. And when he employs a common phrase, he embellishes and ornaments it. For example:

A character doesn't just 'stiffen', she isn't 'petrified' or 'turned to stone': "The name Jackson had apparently turned her to marble. It was like the Pygmalion and Galatea business working the wrong way round. She was presumably breathing, but there was no sign of it." (1.2)
"That low moaning sound you hear is the wolf bivouacked outside my door." (2.1)
"Miss Clarkson, unless firmly checked, would pirouette round and round the point for minutes without ever touching it." (2.2)
"It is a sad but indisputable fact that in this imperfect world Genius is too often condemned to walk alone - if the earthier members of the community see it coming and have time to duck." (10.1)

Selected quotes:

"These gatherings of old girls'-school chums are not the sort of function your man of affairs wants to get lugged into. ... the conversation would have dealt exclusively with reminiscences of the dear old school, of tales of surreptitious cocoa-drinking in the dormitories and what the deportment mistress said when Angela was found chewing tobacco in the shrubbery." (2.1)
"Those sudden showers which are such a delightfully piquant feature of the English summer." (3.1)
"The sun was shining again in that half blustering, half apologetic manner which it affects on its reappearance after a summer shower." (3.1)
"These trousers may sit well, but, if they do, it is because the pockets are empty." (6.2)
"Always pop across streets. It is the secret of a happy and successful life." (6.5)
"It was Psmith's guiding rule in life always to avoid explanations." (6.5)
"In these modern days when poets are so plentiful ... it is almost impossible to fling a brick in any public place without damaging some stern younger singer." (6.5)
"She was the sort of woman who tells a man who is propping his eyes open with his fingers and endeavouring to correct a headache with strong tea, that she was up at six watching the dew fade off the grass, and didn't he think that those wisps of morning mist were the elves' bridal-veils." (7.3)
"The fact that he possessed a brain like a buzzsaw ... renedered the Efficient Baxter a bad sleeper." (11. 2)
"The Hon. Freddie belonged to that unfortunate type of humanity which automatically gets blamed for everything in moments of stress." (13.2)
"You never knew with rats. They pretended not to be there just to lure you on, and then came out and whizzed about your ankles." (13.2)