[.ca] Damsel in Distress, a (ISBN 1841591246)

Screwball Comedy Wodehouse Style:
Just today I was making a list of the best-written bits in Wodehouse, and Damsel in Distress topped the list. Gracie Allen of Burns and Allen fame starred in an old black-and-white film based from this book and cast in the Billy Wilder screwball comedy vein. Arguably this book may not top the PGW cannon--nearly everyone would have a Jeeves, Mulliner or Drones book at the pinnacle of great reading--but it does contain some of the most delightful passages in Wodehouse. The movie falls far short of the book simply because it was made when "All Singing, All Dancing"--(and no plot) was considered a good review for a movie. Any number of PGW novels critique and lampoon his experiences in Hollywood, but seeing the film first and then reading the book, one might be pleasantly surprised. For me, this novel holds up as one of the best non-Jeeves stories, others being French Leave and The Girl On the Boat.

Plaisir d'amour:
The course of true love never did run smooth with the "Damsel in Distress", naturally. Love may not care if time totters, light droops, and all measures bend. The problem, of course, in this boy loves girl and vice versa romance, the respective love-light is shining at the wrong object d'amour. This merry mix-up is further complicated by the differences in class ("blood"). In this delightful comic tale, Wodehouse reminds us once again the universal truth mused by e.e. cummings: love's function is to fabricate unknownness. That known is being wishless, but love, is all of wishing. Wodehouse's "Damsel in Distress", like all his other works, is framed in the Edwardian Era. In contrast to the acme of vulgarity of this prosaic age, no one could write like he did, nor would want to. His large collection of works is held like an extinct specimen in the amber of the moment - capturing the bubbling gaiety and the insouciance of the Gilded Age. Life does move on. Once a while though, it's pleasing and reassuring to hold and peer with appreciation inside the polished resin that was Wodehouse - knowing that the English language is still at its zenith, and few has mastered it.

Love feast:
George Bevan, burgeoning young american musical composer, fancies himself a knight-in-shining-armor when in the middle of Piccadily Circus a fair maiden flings herself into his cab to escape the obese pursuit of the dragon - her brother Percy, heir to the family title and vigilant protector of the family name. Our hero's fair lady Maud does indeed live trapped within the tower of Castle Belpher to which he repairs in swift pursuit of happiness. George will face grim prospects in scheming servants, an evil aunt, a kindly but aunt-dominated Lord Marshmoreton and worst of all the fact that Maud is in love with another. The whole setting has obvious similarities to Blandings for those familiar with the Lord Emsworth stories. I wasn't roaring with laughter, but I was attached to the characters and couldn't put the book down. It is hard to say which book is a good introduction to Wodehouse because they are all so good!

Classic Early Wodehouse:
"A Damsel in Distress" was published in 1919, and it is a splendid example of early Wodehouse. This edition is part of The Collector's Wodehouse series being released by The Overlook Press (in the U.K. it is The Everyman's Wodehouse series from Everyman's Library). As with many Wodehouse classics, this one includes a collection of colorful characters, a complex love story involving many characters, and of course the happy ending where everything works out. It is the story of an American Composer, George Bevan, who falls in love with Maud (The Earl of Marshmoreton's daughter). Maud is already in love with another American, Geoffrey Raymond, who she met in Wales the previous year. Her brother and aunt, Lord Belpher and Lady Caroline Byng oppose her getting involved with the American and want her to marry someone from her social class. There are more characters as well, including some servants, Lady Caroline's son Reggie, Lord Marshmoreton's secretary Alice Faraday, and an acquaintance of George's Billie Dore who is in the Chorus of George's latest musical comedy. As with most Wodehouse stories, the plot is very complicated, and attempts to describe it in detail would fail to do it justice. It does involve mistaken identity, a pool among the servants on who will marry Maud, and several characters finding their loves. Overall this is a very good example of a classic Wodehouse story, and is well worthwhile.

British Humour at its finest:
Belpher Castle, home of widowed Lord Marshmoreton. Both his children Percy and Maud, in their twenties, and his sister, Lady Caroline, along with her step-son Reginald, live at the castle, surrounded by their faithful butler Keggs, page-boy Albert and several other servants. Maud is desperately in love with an American young man whom nobody has ever met and Lady Caroline, her aunt, resents and rejects the whole affair as it does not suit the family's aristocratic position, plus she wants her to marry Reggie, her step-son. Lord Marshmoreton, Maud's father, is actually more interested in his garden rather than in any direct involvement with his daughter's scandalous love "emergency" shall we say, but is forced to face the facts by his sister Caroline, who rules the castle (and tries to rule all their lives too) with an iron-fist hidden beyond her aristocratic subtle tones and smile. George Bevan is an American composer in town with his show and in a case of mistaken identity, his life becomes muddled up with Belpher Castle and its inhabitants. Firstly published in 1919, this comedy of errors is a classic and makes you laugh out loud to this day. Simply delightful British humour by the unforgettable P.G. Wodehouse.