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JEEVES WOULD CARRY ON WITH BEN SHOTT
The author, who attempts to revive the Wodehouse universe 137 years after the humorist’s birth, finds it a daunting task
On the birthday of PG Wodehouse, one of the most respected humourists of the 20th century, Ben Schott, who paid tribute to the author with his prose, says one shouldn’t try to ‘re-create’ the Wodehouse magic. In an e-mail interview, Schott, author of Jeeves and the King Clubs: A Novel in Homage to PG Wodehouse, talks about his novel in which Jeeves, the most competitive butler, will be a spy. Excerpts from the interview:
What is your favorite PG Wodehouse story and why?
The very first Wodehouse story I read – or, rather, which was read to me – was Carry On, Jeeves, a Decalogue of short stories first published in 1925. It remained a favourite, not only for the pleasure of its stories, but for revealing an empire of linguistic genius on which the sun has never set.
How difficult is it to deal with the pressure of recreating the magic of PG Wodehouse, who had his signature wit and language skills?
Being entrusted with Jeeves and Wooster by the Wodehouse Estate was like being handed the Crown Jewels – you’d be mad not to tremble at the responsibility. That said, I am happy to report that following in the patent-leather footsteps of Wodehouse is the most fun a writer can have with words.
When it comes to re-creating Wodehouse, the only honest answer is that you can’t … and you probably shouldn’t try. No one can pirouette linguistically as Plum could, and to write “like” Wodehouse would be to descend into pastiche, caricature or, parody.
The trick, if there is one, is to write in parallel with The Master: respecting the rhythm and rhyme of his text, deploying the tonal and linguistic ticks of his characters, and following the iron-clad rules of his style.
For pages and pages, Jeeves might say little more than a few respectful words of response – but there is a world of difference between “Sir” and “Sir?”. The decanter should wobble when Jeeves replies to a pronouncement with “Indeed, sir?”
Equally, Bertie is not a monocle-wearing fool constantly declaring everything “spiffing” or “tophole” – the man went to Eton and Oxford after all and, let us not forget, won the Malvern House prize for Scripture Knowledge.
Every Wodehouse character – from Aunt Dahlia to Roderick Spode, Madeline Bassett to Anatole the Chef – has a highly distinct cadence of speech and vocabulary of choice.
The key is in the words… literally, in each and every word one selects. There are questions of anachronism – naturally – but also neologism: Wodehouse has 1,525 quotations in the Oxford English Dictionary, from “Aberdonian” to “Zowie” and he is cited as the “first quotation” for 26 words, including “Crispish”, “Cuppa” and “Oojah-cum-spiff”. Each of these has been smuggled into the book, along with dozens of other private jokes and Wodehousian sallies.
No other English writer pulls off such amazing feats of language like The Master– which made writing “Jeeves & The King of Clubs” akin to solving a thousand crossword clues a day.
Jeeves is now a generic term and even an entry in the Oxford English Dictionary. What was your biggest challenge when reimagining the character?
The Jeeves in Jeeves & The King of Clubs is not reimagined. He is the same cool, collected, wise old owl that he has been since 1915.
What I have done is to tilt his world five degrees to starboard, giving a new slant to his wisdom and the meaning of his club for butlers and valets, the Junior Ganymede.
It’s true that in this new book, Jeeves is a little more loquacious, Bertie a little less buffoonish, and there is a sassy new female lead – but aficionados of The Master will feel utterly at home in its pages.
The pitch of the book: “the Junior Ganymede Club is revealed to be an arm of the British intelligence service” — reminded me of the film Kingsman. What inspired you to give Jeeves this twist?
Unlikely as it may seem, Jeeves & The King of Clubs was inspired by Donald Trump. Or, rather, by Trump’s former butler who, in 2016, suggested former US President Barack Obama be assassinated. It’s not often butlers hit the headlines and my first thought was: What would Jeeves say?
This inspired me to write a story in which Trump arrives as a guest at Brinkley Court and Bertie has to play him at croquet and deliberately throw the match.
The response to this whimsical jeu d’esprit, published in The Spectator, was unexpectedly positive, and it set the old noggin whirring: Might there be an appetite for a new Jeeves and Wooster book? To my amazement and delight, the Wodehouse Estate – headed by Sir Edward Cazalet, PGW’s step-grandson – agreed and bestowed on the endeavour their blessing.
One has to inhabit the world of Wodehouse to write Jeeves. What did you find in that world?
In Wodehouse’s perpetual Eden, the sun is always warm, the drinks are always chilled, and nothing can ruffle the soul save, perhaps, for a minor misunderstanding concerning a pair of purloined alabaster earrings. Jeeves and Wooster are the perfect antidote to the snake-bite of reality. Have we needed such an antidote more?