From the Shelves of the Paco Library

It is far more worthwhile to simply read and enjoy P.G. Wodehouse than to analyze his humor, but I will take the liberty of making a few points. Wodehouse understood that the essence of comedy is the ability to see clearly the great yawning gap between man as he thinks he is, and man as he actually is, and that the best way to highlight the difference is to place the big, slippery banana peel of chance in his path. Also, as William F. Buckley, Jr. once noted, Wodehouse possessed the gift of being able to create at least one entirely original metaphor or simile for practically every page of his books and stories.

This latter facility, particularly, is admirably displayed in Wodehouse Nuggets, a collection of phrases (sometimes entire paragraphs) from the Master’s many novels and short stories, selected by Richard Usborne. Faced with such an embarrassment of riches, Usborne had his work cut out for him, but he did a wonderful job picking out the best of the best. Helpfully organized by theme (“Aunts and Uncles”, “Butlers, Valets and Other Menservants”, “Insults and Other Hints of Disapproval”, to name a few) the book is one of the greatest browsers I’ve ever come across, a chest full of literary jewels that never fails to bring a smile to my face (and frequently uncontrollable laughter, which makes this another one of those books that you have to be careful about when reading it in public).

Herewith, the merest sample:

“Words like ‘marmiton de Domage’, ‘pigneuf’, ‘hurluberlu’ and ’roustisseur’ were fluttering from Anatole the chef like bats out of a barn.” ( Right Ho, Jeeves, 1934)

“Spinks the butler withdrew, gracefully and sinuously, with a touch of the smugness of an ambassador who is pluming himself on having delivered the important despatches without dropping them.” (Spring Fever, 1948)

“Our views on each other, Spode’s and mine, were definite. His was that what England needed if it was to become a land fit for heroes to live in was fewer and better Woosters, while I had always felt that there was nothing wrong with England that a ton of bricks falling from a height on Spode’s head wouldn’t cure.” (Much Obliged, Jeeves, 1971)

“Too often, when you introduce a ringer into a gaggle of Pekes, there ensues a scrap like New Year’s Eve in Madrid; but tonight, after a certain amount of tentative sniffing, the home team issued their OK, and he left them all curled up in their baskets like so many members of the Athenaeum.” (“Bingo and the Peke Crisis”, from Eggs, Beans and Crumpets, 1940)

“A false beard and spectacles shielded his identity from the public eye. If you had asked him, he would have said he was a Scotch business man. As a matter of fact, he looked far more like a motor-car coming through a haystack.” (“Bill the Bloodhound”, from The Man with Two Left Feet, 1917)

“He gazed at the girl like an ostrich goggling at a brass doorknob.” (Uncle Fred in the Springtime, 1939)

Whether you’re taking a 30-minute ride on the metro, or trying to keep your mind off of a sore tooth while waiting in the dentist’s office, or feeling the need for a palate cleanser between finishing up War and Peace and commencing The Brothers Karamazov, this is a joyful little volume that will leave you laughing.