The Swoop!, or How Clarence saved England: A Tale of the Great Invasion

by P.G. Wodehouse

Pre Great War satire of invasion literature.

Genres: Humor, Fiction, Classics, Comedy, Audiobook, Historical Fiction, Satire

56 pages, ebook

First published April 16, 1909

About the author

Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, KBE, was a comic writer who enjoyed enormous popular success during a career of more than seventy years and continues to be widely read over 40 years after his death. Despite the political and social upheavals that occurred during his life, much of which was spent in France and the United States, Wodehouse's main canvas remained that of prewar English upper-class society, reflecting his birth, education, and youthful writing career.

An acknowledged master of English prose, Wodehouse has been admired both by contemporaries such as Hilaire Belloc, Evelyn Waugh and Rudyard Kipling and by more recent writers such as Douglas Adams, Salman Rushdie and Terry Pratchett. Sean O'Casey famously called him "English literature's performing flea", a description that Wodehouse used as the title of a collection of his letters to a friend, Bill Townend.

Best known today for the Jeeves and Blandings Castle novels and short stories, Wodehouse was also a talented playwright and lyricist who was part author and writer of fifteen plays and of 250 lyrics for some thirty musical comedies. He worked with Cole Porter on the musical Anything Goes (1934) and frequently collaborated with Jerome Kern and Guy Bolton. He wrote the lyrics for the hit song Bill in Kern's Show Boat (1927), wrote the lyrics for the Gershwin/Romberg musical Rosalie (1928), and collaborated with Rudolf Friml on a musical version of The Three Musketeers (1928).

Reviews

[Pramod Nair · Rating 3 out of 5]

"England was not merely beneath the heel of the invader. It was beneath the heels of nine invaders. There was barely standing-room."

The Swoop!, or How Clarence Saved England is a very funny and quick to read satire on the Invasion of England by not one or two invaders; but nine simultaneous invading forces - the Russians under Grand Duke Vodkakoff, the Germans under Prince Otto of Saxe-Pfennig, the Swiss Navy, the Monegasques, a band of Moroccan brigands led by Raisuli, the Young Turks, the Mad Mullah from Somaliland, the Chinese under Prince Ping Pong Pang, and the Bollygollans in their war canoes.

The invasion and its initial aftermath are narrated with great humor and descriptions of the reaction from the English press and general public to the invading armies exploits will leave the reader in a glow of delight that is signature of all Wodehouse tales.

The invasion happens during a time when the entire military of England was disbanded except for Boy Scouts. The only hope for England is ‘Clarence Chugwater’ an epitome of a boy scout who decides to expel the invaders with his resolute character and brilliant strategies, which lead to more absurd, funny scenarios. An invasion is usually not a theme suitable for humor, yet Wodehouse makes the accounts of invasion delightful to the reader through absolutely silly plot developments and funny dialogs.

Some of the dialogs from the book are incredibly funny with their inane humor and makes this parody of a book enjoyable. An excerpt taken from the scenario where Clarence overcomes the German camp is a perfect example for this ridiculous yet funny dialog making:

"Resistance is useless," said Clarence. "The moment I have plotted and planned for has come. Your troops, worn out with fighting, mere shadows of themselves, have fallen an easy prey. An hour ago your camp was silently surrounded by patrols of Boy Scouts, armed with catapults and hockey-sticks. One rush and the battle was over. Your entire army, like yourself, are prisoners."

Written by Wodehouse during the early days of his career, in 1909, The Swoop! is a brief yet amusing novel written with a preposterous plot and makes a perfect caricature of the then popular ‘invasion literature’. This is not a book, which is recommended for a reader who is not yet exposed to works from Wodehouse as it may take a bit of time to get acquainted with his style of narrative; but for a Wodehouse enthusiast this is an absolute delight. For those who are first time Wodehouse readers, The Swoop! will be better enjoyed after some dosage of other Wodehouse titles like the Jeeves and Wooster series or Blandings Castle series.

[Noah Goats · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love P.G. Wodehouse. Not only was he the funniest novelist of the 20th century, he was also one of the era’s greatest prose stylists. He did not, however, become one of the greats over night. He didn’t pop out of the box like Joseph Heller, John Kennedy Toole, or Harper Lee, and write a classic on his first attempt. In fact, his earliest books are duds. When he wrote The Swoop he hadn’t quite found his finished style yet (although you see flashes), nor his ability to create unforgettable characters, nor his knack for perfectly wacky plots. This novel, unfortunately, is a flop. Even more unfortunately, there are some dated race based jokes in here. These jokes were never funny, and they’re outright offensive to modern sensibilities (this book is 110 years old though, and Wodehouse should be cut some slack). Also, this is a comedy about war with Germany, and the specter of the real war that broke out 5 years after it’s publication throws cold water on any potential laughs.

It’s an interesting failure at least. If you’re a Wodehouse aficionado it’s kind of worth it see him write invasion fiction, which was a trendy genre at the time. If you aren’t already a Wodehouse fan you should go read one of the Jeeves books instead of this dreck.

Also, for what it’s worth, I read the free kindle version of this book and it included massive formatting issues.

[Marty Reeder · Rating 3 out of 5]

Because I was working up at Scout camp, and because I knew about this story that P.G. Wodehouse had written about the boy who had saved England, who was a Boy Scout, I figured that this would be a great read for me. And it was. Silly, overarching, fun, ruthless in its parodies, The Swoop! was a blast. As far as how it compares with the rest of Wodehouse's works, I think this one was just thrown together, expanded from a short story to a novel and then sent to the press, so it is a bit disjointed, meanders at times, and ends quickly, if not anti-climatically. But it is Wodehouse. So even if it has all of these perceived faults, it is still quite entertaining. Another thing to consider is that the whole book is a spoof on invasion stories, which were apparently quite popular at the time, but Wodehouse's spoofing genius could not be fully appreciated, because I have never read an invasion story. Similarly, Wodehouse's several page parody of Bart Kennedy's writing would have fallen on an ignorant reader had I not found some of said author's out-of-date writings on-line and could giggle fiercely at Wodehouse's spot on impression of Kennedy's over-serious writing. So The Swoop! was quick and dated, but it was definitely fun, and matched my needs perfectly.

A special thanks to my mom, who printed and bound a copy of the book from Project Gutenburg after I had lost it in a very un-Scout-like manner and sent it to me from the throes of civilization. And now, I will end with one of my favorite quotes from the story: "Terrible in their wrath, the Boy Scouts never forget kindness." So true ... so true.

[Hákon Gunnarsson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think this may be the first Wodehouse book that is more interesting, than actually funny. Wodehouse is one of my all time favorite humorist, but this is not among my favorite Wodehouse books.

It's interesting as an example of a satire of the invasion genre that was quite popular around that time. There are references to contemporary people, some that I would have to look up, others that I know. The whole set up, with multiple invaders at the same time, is an interesting idea.

Maybe it is because I like the stories about Wooster, Jeeves, and others so much, but I just couldn't get into this one. Don't get me wrong, it is amusing, but just not quite as funny as I've come to expect from Wodehouse. So reading this short book wasn't a waste of time, but I doubt I will go through it again.

[Illiterate · Rating 3 out of 5]

I believe it was the postcolonial critic Ed Wrote who argued Wodehouse constructed the figure of the lost Oriental as the inverse of plucky English Boy Scout.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Huh. Imagine the future people of 2109 sitting down to read a short, punchy novel about John McCain's failed presidential bid and this thing called Netflix where you make a queue on a website and they mail the DVDs to you. In 2109, the gently glowing super-intelligent post-human beings will get the sense that this must have been topical and funny one hundred years ago and might retain a quaint charm in its dated humor, like good old P.G. Wodehouse's 1909 novel Swoop!, which is over a hundred years old here in 2022.

In Phyllis Rose's excellent The Shelf, she encounters a novel from approximately 1909 by a man who was a top bestselling superstar author in the 1900s and '10s whom nobody ever reads anymore, a man who wrote an oodle of books about how the sneaky Germans were going to invade England. His fictional books were popular enough to influence public policy (remember after 9/11 when Tom Clancy was interviewed like he was an expert on terrorism?). There were Germans everywhere! Did they act like they were going to invade? No, because they are sneaky. Now they're acting even less like they're going to invade. That means they are being extra-sneaky. This pop novelist eventually did provoke the Germans into starting two world wars, probably, but before that, P.G. Wodehouse wrote a book satirizing the dude.

Clarence is a Boy Scout, back when Boy Scouts were old enough to be good at Boy Scouting. And there is a secret network of Boy Scouts across the backbone of England, because England has no army anymore for reasons of limpidness. Nine armies invade England on the same day, all of whom are stereotypes ranging from the Germans whom we're allowed to make fun of to an exceedingly problematic representation of an African nation. Hoo boy. Most of the armies give up, leaving England occupied by comical representations of Germany and Imperial Russia, because we're back in the day here. Clarence foils the generals using the music hall press. There is a grand elegy about this being the time of the music hall, and none of those people in 2109 will be able to truly appreciate a statement about how this is the golden age of streaming services either. The Swoop! is an earlier Wodehouse novel and maybe he doesn't quite go hard enough either. He could have made more Boy Scout jokes, maybe.

[Poornima · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a super spoof about invasion, very different from other works of Wodehouse . England is under attack by nine invaders... all at the same time! Prince Otto of Germany, general of Monaco, Prince Ping Pong Pang of China, Young Turks, King of Bollygolla, Grand Duke Vodkakoff of Russia, Mad Mulla of Somaliland, Swiss Navy, Raisuli of Moroccan brigand had all landed on the England soil.

There are ramifications for both the invaded and the invaders. Can England, essentially the land of the sight-seers, shoppers, sports-lovers, music and theatre enthusiasts and without an active army defend herself? Will the Boy Scouts save the day for England? This is a short and easy read and there are some laugh-out-loud moments - to be read in the spirit of the cheeky, goofy tale its meant to be.

[Ian Wood · Rating 1 out of 5]

‘The Swoop’ is without doubt the worst book P G Wodehouse suffered to publish. It is a childish satire on England been invaded by various foreign armies and parodies various political figures that at the time of publishing would have been well known. The invasions are thwarted by Clarence Chugwater and his band of Boy Scouts.

At the time this book was written it no doubt brought joy to countless readers but over a hundred years later it serves only as a lesson that even the greatest writers have to learn there craft. Anyone no familiar with the later works of P G Wodehouse would be forgiven for writing him off if this was there first introduction to the master. Only to opened once the Chronicles of Jeeves, Wooster, Blanding’s et al have been previously consumed.

[Tommy Verhaegen · Rating 5 out of 5]

In 1909 P.G. Wodehouse wrote a visionary book that is much funnier (in a very sarcastic way) than the reality which will follow a few years later and is known today as World War I.
Some visionary points: England is not prepared in case of war, all will depend on coïncidence, England will rally when it is too late but will eventually come through...
Of course it is Wodehouse: making fun of politicians is not hard, not then and not today. The people of England focus on cricket and other sports. Great is how the defence of England because of budget cuts and bickering finally comes down to the Boy Scouts.
England doesn't just get invaded, it gets invaded by 9 hostile armies simultaneously. Much of the book is about the flegmatic Britons that bring seats and popcorn to watch the invasion, theater manager that book generals to perform a life-act but mostly the tale of the Chinese that landed in Wales. Just imagining their language issues is hilareous just thinking about it.
A not very likeable boy-scout comes through as the hero of the hour, when the invaders have been fighting each other and only a few survivors remain - to be captured by Clarence, head boy-scout and his men.

[Aline Biazoli · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, this one aged badly, didn't it?! Some extremely racist and prejudiced remarks make for a very uncomfortable reading. Just skip this book and go read one about Jeeves or Blandings Castle, you'll be better off.

The only reason I'm giving it 2 stars is because of this paragraph:

"(...) The Supercilious Stare unnerved them. There is nothing so terrible to the highly-strung foreigner as the cold, contemptuous, patronising gaze of the Englisheman. It gave the invaders a perpetual feeling of doing the wrong thing. They felt like men who had been found travelling in a first-class carriage with a third-class ticket. They became conscious of the size of their hands and feet. As they marched through the Metropolis they felt their ears growing hot and red. Beneath the chilly stare of the populace they experienced all the sensations of a man who had come to a strange dinner-party in a tweed suit when everybody else was dressed. They felt warm and prickly."

Which, to the best of my knowledge, remains absolutely true.

[May · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoroughly ridiculous and hilarious, and short.

[Nicholas Whyte]

"http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/1350578.html[return][return]Michael Moorcock describes this as a ""funny, futuristic"" book, but it is really a parody of the invasion scare sub-genre. Moorcock is, however, correct to describe it as funny, despite the incomprehensible contemporary cultural references and unpleasant racial stereotypes (which as far as I remember are largely absent from later Wodehouse). England is invaded by nine different armies, ranging from the Germans and Russians down to the forces of Monaco and the Mad Mullah of Somaliland (the latter driven to further derangement by a meeting with Irish Nationalist leader John Dillon). The occupied English grumble about the disruption to cricket and the theatre caused by the invaders, but this is resolved when the German and Russian commanders agree to appear as music-hall acts. [return][return]Clarence Chugwater, the somewhat nerdy Boy Scout who is Wodehouse's comic hero, manages to sow dissension between the German and Russian leaders by way of his day-job at an entertainment weekly. The two armies come close to wiping each other out, the Boy Scouts capture the survivors, and England is saved. Hurrah! (In the unlikely event that anyone feels I have spoiled the ending for them, I would point out that all is revealed in the very first chapter.)[return][return]This is not a good starting place for reading Wodehouse's works. (Indeed, it wasn't even a very good starting place foir writing Wodehouse's works.) But it is an interesting intersection of the fringes of the sf genre with his rather different genius when both were at an early stage of development."

[Milo · Rating 3 out of 5]

An English indolence so profound that invasion itself cannot shake it. Nine simultaneous invasions. This is the state of the British Empire. This is where the Boers got us fast. This is why the future’s dashed to nothing. We’d let the Jerry walk all over us if we gave him the chance. Little odds we wouldn’t pay him double for the music hall stage. But this is, after all, a fiction. It cannot be wholly real. Mr Wodehouse applies in his work the geopolitical dictum of swooping whereby the sudden appearance of an enemy military force renders itself unstoppable and, therefore, ensures the immediate defeat of an unprepared, flabby, unpatriotic nation. It is only the righteous young chaps of Baden-Powell who prove their best breeding in resisting the multiple-invaders, showing the like of which good British stock can do. The Lad Clarence had them gripping their muskets in foggy defeat, or at least that is the measure of the story. In him is a fine understanding of conviction, of colonial ambition, of the mating cycle of arthropods. All of which essential to the survival and proliferation of our grand Roman gesture, so long as we are to keep the thing more grand and less Roman. Whether Wodehouse has a control on the finer details of authorial manipulation is of course a question for a man not bedecked in the imperial brass of our national army, though I have been told – by those of some authority – that this work is evidently that of a junior quality. It is certain that Wodehouse will prove himself in future volumes. I am willing to provide him an outline. In the next book, Clarence, now a swarthy fifteen, shall bring the fight to Jerry’s doorstep. A salvo of rare birdsong will confuse those migrant Huns and clear the stage for an English rectification of European aggression. Clarence could twerp that Hohenzollern right on the nose, confiscate his dreadnaughts, and remind the world why we English are not to be trifled with.

[Julesmarie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was looking for a quick, light read and that's what this delivered. It's not Wodehouse at his best, and the racism was extreme, but there were some moments of satirical brilliance.

My favorite were all the impossible sounds the Boy Scouts used to identify themselves to one another: He could low like a bull. He could gurgle like a wood-pigeon. He could imitate the cry of the turnip in order to deceive rabbits.

The whistle of a Striped Iguanodon

the plaintive note of a zebra calling to its mate

the faint note of a tarantula singing to its young

the deep snarl of a sand-eel surprised while bathing

Over-the-top silly fun, if you don't look too closely.

Favorite Quote:
"The fact is, Mr. Jugwater," resumed the prince, "we are not here on a holiday."
"Quite so, quite so. Business before pleasure."
The prince pulled at his moustache.... "We are invaders."
"Not at all, not at all," protested Mr. Chugwater.

[Joe Stevens · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lovely idea and a few bits of humor. Otherwise it reads like a 100 year old gag book written in a single weekend after the author had just finished writing a musical comedy, seen half a dozen variety shows, chatted with several of the acts about their horrible agents and the even worse theater owners over a pint and decided to come up with some jolly good jokes abut the showbiz world of England in 1908. Waking up hung over he went for a walk and as he was about to cross a busy street several boy scouts gave up their sporing practice to help him across the the road. One introduced himself as Clarence and said they were preparing for invasions such as they had been reading about in the popular press.

The author promptly raced back across the busy street and up to his flat. He hammered out the book that weekend and wanting to finish it before he slept Sunday night he finished the last 5000 words in 30 minutes. It was sent round to the publishers next morning.

[JamieS · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of Plums throwaway projects for the 'railway-bookstall trade', and written in 5 days, this is an interesting piece. Lots of people give this book two or three stars, and that's about where I would put it.
Do not read this as your first Wodehouse novel, it is not representative of the genius that made him famous. It is, however, an amusing diversion.
Swoop is a short satire of invasion-lit that was popular at the time.It has shades of Monty Python in it, a ridiculous plot of the Boy Scouts cunningly repelling multiple invading foreign armies all coming at once.
The more sensitive reviewers are put off by what are today regarded as racial slurs - don't be. It's literally a handful of words, and times were different - no lost points there.
Not sure it was a big seller in the UK in 1909, but imagine the different take the Americans had on it when it was first published there.... in 1915!

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short, humorous satire of "Invasion Literature". Though I have never read a book of said genre, I still quite enjoyed this satire. It has a certain kind of ridiculous humour that I like, but is certainly not everyone's British cup of tea.

The first half especially stood out to me; gave me many a laugh. If the seond had been up to par it would have easily been a four star rating. Still a good read (or listen).

Listened to the LibriVox recording and still unsure whether the narrator's tone perfectly enhances the humour by sounding like one of the very unimpressed adults during the invasion, or if it is simply devoid of any humour. Currently going for the former.

[Bookosaurus (A book a day keeps reality away)]

I can't believe I'm saying this, but this book was a drab. I just couldn't make it past thirty percent, and decided to abandon it. But I don't think it's the author's fault here. The problem with satire is that you must understand the context and the things that are being satirized. I don't know much about the present-day Britain, and even less about the Britain from a century ago, so it's fair to say that I'm finding myself hopelessly lost here. Having said that, I did get a few chuckles out of the few things that I did understand. Can't say it's a bad book. Your mileage may vary.

[Simon Mcleish · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very short spoof comic novel from 1909 describing the defeat of nine armies invading Britain by a boy scout. Much more reminiscent of GK Chesterton (especially The Napoleon of Notting Hill) than most of Wodehouse's output. The date is important because I don't think it would have been funny after if written 1914. It's quite fun if you bear the date in mind, but easily the poorest of the PG Wodehouse I've read (about 3/4 of his huge output).

[Pseudonymous d'Elder · Rating 1 out of 5]

Anyone who hates dogs and babies can’t be all bad. _________________________________
I love all of the Jeeves and the Blandings books. Wodehouse wrote dozens and dozens of hilarious tales. This volume, however, howls in the night. It is a real dog, a thoroughbred mutt. And it shed on my couch, drooled in my slippers, and humped the legs of all my guests. Don't let this happen to you.

[Rex Libris · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Germans and the Russians both invade England, and it is to boy scout Clarence Chugwater to save it. The victorious generals go on the talk circuit, and resourceful Clarence finds out their is a disparity in remuneration between the two. He uses this information to set the two invading armies against one another. The remaining soldiers are easily cleared away by the Scouts and their handy staves.

[Peter Baran · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dashed silly bit of fluff from Wodehouse which reads as juvenilia, though he was 21 at the time (apparently he submitted a version to Punch when he was fifteen and that makes sense). Riffing on the popular UK invasion genre, he arranges eight invasions to happen at the same time, there being very little noticeable effect and the eventual solution being due to jealousy between the various camps over who is being paid what on the public speaking music hall circuit.

[Vintagebooklvr · Rating 2 out of 5]

There is a sense of the absurd here. I like the illustrations. But for some reason I didn't find it that amusing. Maybe it is may sense of humor is a little blunted at the moment or it isn't as amusing to today's audience.

[Brian G · Rating 3 out of 5]

A novella
A short tale about how England was invaded buy various armies and a plucky boy scout manages to defeat them.
Told in a whimsical manner set in the music halls of London - English Culture is lampooned in this short story - entertaining but nothing special

3 stars

[William · Rating 4 out of 5]

OK 👌listening

Another will written thriller adventure novella by P. G. Wodehouse about the invasion of England and how the British people deal with the situation. I would recommend this novella to readers looking for something different. Enjoy 2021 🏰👑

[Joe Collins · Rating 5 out of 5]

I hadn’t enjoyed a work of fiction like this in a long time. I hadn’t read PG Wodehouse before, other than watching the TV series, Jeeves and Wooster, back in the early’90s, which I know was based on his works. Now, I am going to have to read some more of his works.

[Shannon (That's So Poe) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another one of Wodehouse's completely ridiculous stories that is just a fun romp. This one was quite focused on the theater and some really absurd characters, which was nice, but the dated parts of the story I could have done without.

[Steven · Rating 2 out of 5]

A silly piece that seems a lot longer than it needed to be. I'm sure it would have been more funny to me if I knew more than half the cultural references he was skewering. But when one finds oneself checking more than five or ten times how much of the book remains, it's not a good sign.

[Seth Nelson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good!

[Trish · Rating 2 out of 5]

I listened to the free audio version and was not impressed. Maybe need to read it myself instead because I usually love Wodehouse.