h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: The Jeeves and Wooster Stories by PG Wodehouse - A6627927
Author: 42donpanic - U1779623

Hi. It isn't really finished quite yet, and there is more stuff that I'll probably think of to add , and it could probably use a little more detail in some bits, but I would appreciate people's opinion, but be nice. Or, well, you don't have to. You can be mean if you like, but still.

Hello!

I don't need to be nice - this is realy good! I read some of the J&W stories when I was younger, and enjoyed the TV adaptation.

I've got a few (constructive) comments for you...

"He was revered as one of the greatest figures in twentieth century literature."

I think this is a bit of an overstatement. His books are certainly much loved, but I'm not sure he's quite one of the greatest figures, though maybe others disagree.

There are a couple of other entries that you could link to - A155891 is a very old edited guide entry on Wodehouse, which doesn't conform to the current guidelines and could do with rewriting. Also, A1047917 has some information about search engines, which you could link the bit about Ask Jeeves to if you wanted.

The TV adaptation with Fry and Laurie was on ITV and not the BBC - it's currently being repeated on ITV3 in the UK. It might be worth mentioning that it wasn't the first TV adaptation - see
http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/guide/articles/j/jeevesandwooster_1299001699.shtml
for more info.

A touchy topic with regard to Wodehouse is his wartime broadcasts on German radio after he was interned by the Germans after the surrender of France which led to his being denounced as a Nazi sympathiser and as a traitor. Many now think he was just naive, and that the text of his broadcasts are just typical Wodehouse satire about being interned, largely at the expense of the German guards. As this is an entry about J&W, you can probably avoid mentioning it (I think) if you don't want to.

This is a great first draft, and I'm sure a polished version of this would do very well in peer review!

OK, I made the changes that you suggested, but I don't think I'll bother with the last one about being accused of Nazi sympithizing, like you said, since it's focused on J&W, there's no real need to go into super detail about those sorts of things.
Thanks!

Darn it, this one was on my ever-growing possible entries list!

But you've done a good job with it. And I agree that it's not really necessary to include the bits about Wodehouse's outside life in a J&W entry.

Aww, I'm sorry....

That's all right. Now I'm thinking about updating the Wodehouse one - but who knows if I'll ever get around to it!

Now that I've actually given some deep thought to your entry, I think that before you get into the characters you might want to explain the premise of the series. Explain that the books often follow a similar plot format: Bertie Wooster, a wealthy gentleman who lives in London, is always being extricated from tight spots by his valet, Jeeves. And give a few more sentences of explanation, perhaps, detailing the sorts of things they get up to.

This is not particularly on-topic, but I once read this article in which Hugh Laurie says that when his school English teacher informed him that real life in the 20s wasn't quite the way that Wodehouse portrayed it, it was rather like learning that Santa Claus doesn't really exist.

Yes, like I said, I'm meaning to add a little more detail in some parts.

What? Santa doesn't exist?

What? I'm serious!

Sorry, I'm fading from the point.

AFAIK, 42, Santa does not exist.

I was just kidding.

I thought so.

Anyone else have any comments?

I repeat my comment that, before this can be moved into Peer Review, it needs an introduction into what the stories are generally about before you can introduce the characters.

Yes, yes, yes....I'll work on that today or tomorrow....I have to think about it for a while and figure out how I'm going to do it.

Can I use some actual excerpts from the stories? Because it seems that to get the reader to understand just what bertie is like, and how the stories are writtin, and that sort of thing, I need a small example of his speech and the way he talks...you know what I mean? because I can't think of a desciption that really does him justice....

OK, I have another idea. No matter what, my description keeps coming out incredibly vague and stupid sounding, like, 'the typical Jeeves and Wooster story usually starts with...' and then excessive ands, ors, ////s, etc.s and all that sort of junk, so I was thinking it would be easier to just do a sort of summary of an actual novel or story. Would that be acceptable?

That would be acceptable precisely because they're all pretty formulaic! So if you start summarising one of the stories (in fact, it would be great if you could have summaries for some of the more well-known ones) you'll find that you've got a general plot down pretty well.

Actual quotes would make a *superb* addition to this entry - for many, the charm of Jeeves & Wooster rests entirely in the prose style. You could even have a whole section of particularly cool lines.

My favourite is "... aunt calling to aunt, like mastodons bellowing across the primordial wilderness", or something very close to that.