The Saturday Morning Post (No. 14)

In this post we come to the final installment of P G Wodehouse's Blandings Castle Saga, with two complete novels, one short story, and the incomplete first draft of Wodehouse's final novel, the story he was working on when he died in 1972, some 57 years after the first Blandings Castle story was published.

My reviewer criteria. I like light, entertaining novels. I like smaller scale stories rather than epics. I like character focused novels featuring pleasant characters, with a minimum number of unpleasant ones. I greatly value clever and witty writing. I like first person, or close third person narratives. I dislike a lot of "head jumping" between POVs and flashbacks. I want a story, not a puzzle. While I am not opposed to violence, I dislike gore for the sake of gore. I find long and elaborate fight, action, and battle sequences tedious. Plot holes and things that happen for the convenience of the author annoy me. And I fear I'm a born critic in that I don't mind pointing out what I don't like in a story. However, I lay no claim to be the final arbitrator of style and taste, you need to decide for yourself what you like or dislike in a book.

Your opinions are always welcome. Comment below.

Galahad at Blandings by P G Wodehouse  B

This story sees the return of Tipton, who we first met in Full Moon. You may recall that he is the young American who inherited the chain store, who had last visited Blandings to dry out, and ended up getting engaged to Lord Elmsworh's sister Hermione's daughter, the air headed Veronica. The story opens with Tipton briefly back in New York before his wedding in jail along with a friend in jail for disorderly conduct without any money for bail. Tipton, remembering that Lord Elmsworth is also in London for the marriage of his sister Connie to an American Millionaire we met in the last entry, uses his one telephone call to call Lord Elmswoth in the middle of the night, for the loan of $20 to get he and his friend out on bail, explaining that he has no money on him to raise bail. Lord Elmswoth obliges, and when he returns to Blandings mentions to his sister Hermione that Tipton touched him for $20 because he had no money. She jumps to the conclusion that Tipton's fortune has gone belly up- the story seems set around the time of the stock market crash - and rushes off to London to get Veronica to write a letter cancelling the wedding, as landing a rich husband for her is her prime objective. And when they find out, that wasn't the case... why would they believe anything the absent minded Lord Elmworth says... she and her husband need Galahad's help to get ahold of that letter to avert disaster.

There's another love story entangled with this one, with the usual brace of imposters. Looked from a distance, all these stories look more or less the same. The enjoyment is in the the witty writing, the bright, brisk, inventive turn of a phrase.

"Sticky Wicket at Blandings" in Plum Pie By P G Wodehouse  C

A short story. In order to make a sale for Donaldson's Dog Joy biscuits, Freddie gives his wife's dog to a pretty potential customer, while she's in France for a couple of months, thinking that the can replace the dog. She telegraphs saying that she's returning to Blandings in a few days... A rather thin story this time around.

A Pelican at Blandings by P G  Wodehouse  B

Lord Elmsworth had been enjoying life at Blandings since all of this sisters are elsewhere, until Aunt Connie returns, along with her new step-daughter. To make matters worse, the Duke of Dunstable invites himself for an extended visit, bring along with him a painting of a naked lady that he hopes to sell for twice the price he paid for it to a millionaire who had intended to buy it because it reminded him of his last former wife. One of Galahad's godsons need his help to reconcile with his (former) fiancée who he had to cross examine as a witness to a car crash that he was the barrister for, and how resented how he handled the questing, buy getting him invited to Blandings where his ex-fiancée is staying. And there are imposters... There are always imposters. 

This is a story from 1969. My impression, mostly from the Bertie Wooster stories is that as time went on, Wodehouse's stories grew more ornate, with lots of familiar phrases, and less original. At least in the Blandings Saga, I think they've gotten better as time has gone on. Of course the set up is always more or less the same, but I think the writing is crisper and the stories are well paced. The characters are not deep, and many are interchangeable, but that doesn't matter to those of us who love P G's writing. It his wit and turn of a phrase that we read these stories for. 

Sunset at Blandings by P G Wodehouse  C

This is the partial (untitled) first draft of the Blandings Castle Saga that Wodehouse was working on in the hospital until his death. As such, it is only half written, and though readable, you can see that the story is somewhat sketched in. I gather that after World War ll, the Saturday Evening Post did not run serial novels, so that he had to trim his novels that appeared in that magazine down to 25,000 words, and that this story reads like one of those cut down versions. The story involves another of Lord Emsworth and Galahad's sisters - in this book they are said to have 10 of them, including one nice one, Diana, a widow who the an old friend of Galahad, now the Chancellor of the Exchequer was and still is in love with. Besides the first draft, there are extensive notes by Wodehouse on the remainder of the book, including photostats of his handwritten notes so that you can see how he wrote his stories. From these notes it was clear that this was still a work in progress, with alternative actions going forward. The notes also include some plot notes for another Blandings Novel, one that would have had Bertie Wooster and Jeeves making their appearance. In addition there are the drawings of and floor plans for Blandings Castle and a map of the estate, along with a discussion of how these drawings were drawn from the stories. And a discussion of the train service to London. 

While the story is only half complete and nowhere near as polished as a completed novel, it is all the background information that makes this book nearly indispensable to fans of the Blandings Castle Saga.

Final thoughts

If you have read my reviews, such as they are, it will be clear that these stories all share a more or less standard plot, though the plots can be very elaborate with many moving parts. They are also variations on a common theme; young people needing money for one reason or another, furthering or mending relationships between lovers by bringing one of the parties, usually under an assumed name in close proximity at Blandings Castle, plus a few side plots, usually involving the Empress of Blandings. The characters in these stories are pretty much cardboard characters, but corrugated cardboard; the regulars of Blandings Castle have a little depth to them, but most of the rogues and loving couples who appear as guests at Blandings Castle are interchangeable. 

With my second reading of them, I have come to appreciate them more than I did in my first reading, in large part for Wodehouse's turn of a phrase, i.e. how he writes the story rather than for the story itself. I will say that I think that his Bertie Wooster and Jeeves stories are still my favorites. Being first person narratives, a reader gets to know Bertie far better than any of the Blandings Castle characters. Bertie is a deeper, more authentic character, though still far from a real life character. But then that's his charm. Still, these novels are perfect examples of what Wodehouse was trying to write; musical comedies without music. They are evergreen stories of a timeless age; it is always summer at Blandings Castle set in the lush, old-world countryside of a never-never England of the early 20th century. Just as there is a platform at Kings Cross for a train that takes you to Hogworts, there's a platform at Paddington that will take you to Blandings Castle. These books are your tickets.