Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse

I loved the title, so as my introduction to Wodehouse I selected Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves. Wodehouse's name was mentioned on amazon.com lists and in Arthur & George, which piqued my curiousity. I am quite glad I discovered him.

Apparently with this book I jumped right into the midst of a very funny series. Bertie Wooster is an English gentleman in the early 20th century, and Jeeves is his encyclopaedic butler. Wooster gets himself into compromising situations, and Jeeves gets him out through his veritable treasure trove of knowledge and his relentless deadpan delivery.

The story is almost incidental beside the rollicking narration. Wooster's first-person voice is a linguistic exercise in absurdity. He begins adages but never finishes them, he uses fabricated abbreviations liberally, and he toys with conventional usages.

The supporting characters are merely two-dimensional caricatures of anything resembling real people. In this way, Wooster appears to be the epitome of sanity in a mad world. It is a very funny world, all the same.

Serendipitously, I came across a Jeeves and Wooster DVD at the library. I was not aware any such thing existed. The DVDs feature episodic adventures of the duo, and the series is as excellently done as the books. The characters are captured perfectly; Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry are incredible.