P.G. Wodehouse was the greatest English humorist of the twentieth century. His prolific writing career spanned seven decades and produced dozens of unforgettable characters, the most famous being hapless young bachelor Bertie Wooster and his faithful servant, Jeeves.
Through Bertie Wooster’s narrative Wodehouse was able to show off his own keen eye for men’s style. He had an amazing way with words, especially when it came to matters of the cloth. A running theme throughout the Jeeves stories is Jeeves’s unfailing defence of good taste in the face of Bertie’s dire sartorial habits:
Jeeves lugged my purple socks out of the drawer as if he were a vegetarian fishing a caterpillar out of his salad.
- The Inimitable Jeeves (1923)‘Pardon me, your tie.’
‘What’s wrong with it?’
‘Everything, sir. If you will allow me.’
‘All right, go ahead. But I can’t help asking myself if ties really matter at a time like this.’
‘There is no time when ties do not matter, sir.’
- Much Obliged, Jeeves (1971)‘There are moments, Jeeves, when one asks oneself, “Do trousers matter?”‘
‘The mood will pass, sir.’
- The Code of the Woosters (1938)
Arrow Books reissued the Jeeves books in 2008. If you haven’t read any of them before I recommend you start, right now, with the first collection of Jeeves short stories, The Inimitable Jeeves.
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