The Book of Write-On: Day Three

 I've almost finished FUNNY HA HA.  I'm at W for Wodehouse.  I read one of P.G. Wodehouse's Jeeves and Wooster books years ago and it didn't make a huge impression on me.  I can't even remember which one it was.  Sometimes comedy classics misfire when it's not quite your humour and I thought it would be the case for this one.  I thought I'd plough through it anyway.  Page 568: The Spot of Art. 

It really is a masterpiece.  I was so, so impressed with it.  It's simple, it's exceptionally well-paced.  Some of the best stories just feel right and I eased into this one like I was sliding into a warm bath.  And the dialogue.  My Lord, the dialogue really zings.  I didn't want it to end and I'm a restless reader at the best of times.  

Here's an extract to give you an idea of the quality.  A bit of backstory: Wooster has set his sights on Miss Pendlebury, an artist who has just painted his portrait.  She returns to the house to inspect the portrait while Wooster is out.  When he returns, he finds out that ‘Miss Pendlebury had the misfortune to run over a gentleman in her car almost immediately opposite this building.  He sustained a slight fracture of the leg.’  Now the injured man – a Mr Pim – is convalescing in Wooster’s spare bedroom.  Wooster immediately recognises that this Mr Pim might turn into something of a love rival. 

I headed for the spare bedroom.  I was perturbed to a degree.  I don’t know if you have ever loved and been handicapped in your wooing by a wavy-haired rival, but one of the things you don’t want in such circs is the rival parking himself on the premises with a broken leg.  Apart from anything else, the advantage the position gives him is obviously terrific.  There he is, sitting up and toying with a grape and looking pale and interesting, the object of the girl’s pity and concern, and where do you get off, bounding about the place in morning costume and spats and with the rude flush of health on the cheek?  It seemed to me that things were beginning to look pretty mouldy. 

Firstly, my boss has used the term ‘pale and interesting’ to describe me, and given that he’s a big P.G. Wodehouse fan, I now know where it comes from.  He was also the one who put me onto Saki.  And he was the one to train me up and give me a profession so I’ve got a lot to thank him for. 

Secondly, the Jeeves and Wooster stories are a lesson in simplicity.  Not necessarily simplicity in storytelling, but in concept.  You’ve got a rich man and his butler and various external (and maybe internal, I don’t know - I haven’t read enough of them) forces that threatens to upset the equilibrium of an exceptionally comfortable lifestyle.  You can derive a lot of comedy from that anyway.  I guess that’s how situational comedies work.  But the real beauty of this story is how it is being said.  It’s eccentric, it’s poetic and it’s self-aware in the best way. And the rhythm of it is beautiful. 

Another set of short stories I was impressed by began on Page 195.  The first story by Italian writer Giovanni Guareschi is called A Sin Confessed.  He wrote 347 stories set in the “small world” of rural Italy after the war, featuring Don Camillo – a stalwart Italian priest – and his nemises Peppone – the hot-headed communist mayor.  In the three stories that appear in this book, there is one other recurring character: a certain Jesus Christ whom the priest calls on and has dialogue with when he’s faced with a moral dilemma.  I was so charmed by these stories.  Sometimes three characters is all you need.  Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. 

Apart from this blog post and some rhyming couplets just to keep my hand in the poetry game, no writing done today. I’ve been visiting friends in Oxford.  I thought I’d be back in time to stop in at a pub to do some writing but Man United (my team) were playing Arsenal (Andy’s team)  and we didn’t sit down to eat until about 7:30.  Arsenal won 3-1, scoring two goals in extra time.  Their big signing Declan Rice got his first goal.  Andy was absolutely delighted.    

I listened to Taylor Swift’s album Lover on the way home.  I love a good pop song and this album’s full of them.  How lucky we are to have Taylor Swift in our world. 

It really is go-time tomorrow.  I'm going to set myself a writing target and knock it right out of the park.