Sydney M. Williams
Burrowing into Books
Reviews of Selective
Readings
March 9, 2019
“Uncle Dynamite”
P.G. Wodehouse
“He looked pleased with himself, and who shall blame him? A man whose
mission is to spread sweetness and light and
to bring the young folk together may
surely be forgiven a touch of complacency when
happy endings start going off like
crackers all around him and he sees the young
folk coming together in droves.”
P.G.
Wodehouse (1881-1975)
Uncle
Dynamite, 1948
Wodehouse
published his first book, The Pothunters, in 1902, when he was
twenty-one – his last, an unfinished novel, Sunset at Blandings, two
years after his death at age 93, in 1977. In between were almost a hundred
books – novels, short stories, collections and memoirs. He also teamed up with
Guy Bolton and Jerome Kern writing lyrics for a number of Broadway musicals,
including “Sitting Pretty,” “Have a Heart” and “Oh, Lady! Lady!”. He was busy.
Shortly before he died, Wodehouse sat for an interview with “The Paris Review: “I know I
was writing stories when I was five. I don’t remember what I did before that.
Just loafed, I suppose.”
Uncle Dynamite is, in reality, Pongo
Twistleton’s Uncle Fred, a sixtyish gentleman whose full name is Frederick
Altamont Cornwallis, Fifth Earl of Ickenham. He is a terror to his pleasant but
witless and docile nephew, getting him into and then out of scrapes. Uncle Fred
is described: “A tall, slim distinguished
looking man…with a jaunty grey moustache and a bright enterprising eye, whose
air was that of one who had lived life to the full every minute of an enjoyable
life and intends to go on doing so till further notice. His hat was on the side
of his head, and he bore his cigar like a banner.” His mission, as the
rubric declares, is to spread sweetness and light.
Besides his unparalleled mastery of
the English language, Wodehouse’s genius was his ability to create plots beyond
the imagination of the most visionary reader. He then employs a character with
the brains of a Jeeves or the impish resourcefulness of an Uncle Fred to unwind
what had appeared to be a skein of knotted yarn. And he does so in a surprising
and humorous fashion. This is the third of five books in which Uncle Fred plays
the principal character. As a reader you will wish for ten times that number.
Wodehouse’s ‘bon mots’ are inimitable
and they are found on almost every page: “A
sort of writhing movement behind the moustache showed that Sir Aylmer was
smiling.” “It frequently happens that
prospective sons-in-laws come as a rather painful shock to their prospective
mothers-in-law.” “She is taking a
trip to the West Indies.” Jamaica?”
“No, she went of her own free will.”
“A thing I’ve noticed all my life is that
the nicest girls always have the ghastliest brothers.” “’H’ar yer?’ roared Sir Aylmer like a lion
which just received an ounce of small shot in the rear quarters.”
In this story Uncle Fred is confronted
with three young couples – one not paired as he believes they should be, two
individuals are estranged and a third couple has the male is in need of the
moxie to pledge his troth. The situation, to the reader, seems impossible to resolve.
As Uncle Fred goes to work, Pongo (and the reader) become convinced Uncle Fred
should be institutionalized. But resolutely and confidently he leads us down the
path only he can see. In the final pages webs of intrigue and mayhem are
untangled. Sweetness and light prevail.
So,
tomorrow, forget your favorite newspaper about some self-serving, hypocritical
politician written by a snot-nosed, sanctimonious reporter; rather, pick up a
Wodehouse. Instead of being depressed by the state of affairs in the country
and the world, you will find yourself in the make-believe world of Edwardian
England. A smile will chase away the frowns, laughter will replace tears of
despair. You will be happier and so will your family and friends.
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