Status Updates From Summer Lightning (Blandings...

‘Of course I think so. Have you forgotten what I told you the other day?’
‘Yes,’ said Lord Emsworth. He always forgot what people told him the other day.


Wodehouse is such a balm.

M rxn of W crying surpasses generations: "Hugo was alarmed. He was now practically certain that this girl was going to cry, and if there was one thing he disliked it was being with crying girls in a public spot. He would not readily forget the time when a female named Yvonne Something had given way to a sudden twinge of neuralgia in his company not far from Piccadilly Circus, and an old lady had stopped and said..."

WR study: for the resolution to the encounter (ie rising action and thus anticipation built from rising aftion); because Wodehouse built the scene from different angles (and not just main cast but also un-named one-offs!), he also uses these to build resolution to create dimension, a fuller scope/view for the audience (pay-off)

WR study: the sequence; a pivotal encounter that reader is anticipating, coming into a head via perspective of different characters. Wodehouse switches POV and it's like characters flow in and out of thie scene until the pivotal encounter. When characters meet and anticipation peaks, it's as if the camera pans as Wodehouse describes the emotions and states each. WHILE playing on the recurring gag "room in balcony"

"‘I refuse to allow you to call the Empress a blasted pig! Good heavens!’ cried Lord Emsworth passionately. ‘Can none of my family appreciate the fact that she is the most remarkable animal in Great Britain? No pig in the whole annals of the Shropshire Agricultural Show has ever won the silver medal two years in succession. ..."

Lord Emsworth has always been one of my faves & this book is confirms that

‘You never do. That’s what’s the trouble with you. Pig-farm!’ said Lord Emsworth vehemently, his voice soaring into the upper register. ‘You couldn’t manage a pig-farm. You aren’t fit to manage a pig-farm. You aren’t worthy to manage a pig-farm. If I had to select somebody out of the whole world to manage a pig-farm, I would choose you last.’

What a tangled web we weave!