Perfidious Albion

Price: Rs 599

arunavasinha

It is true that PG Wodehouse was published in his lifetime by Mills amp; Boon. But that does not give Sebastian Faulks the right to make his homage to Plum walk up the aisle while the organ plays The voice that breathed oer Eden. This new and,one sincerely hopes,last attempt to extend the Jeeves canon into a new set of novels is blasphemous in its mission of injecting serious romance into Bertie Woosters life. In fact,not just Berties. Quite frankly,Faulks has no business doing such a thing. The very definition of the J amp; B combination is destroyed by true love and,egad,the prospect of a wedding or two.

It is fitting,perhaps,that Jeeves spends much of the novel not as himself but as Lord Etringham,impersonating a peer while Bertram is made to play the role of his attendant,Wilberforce. For Jeeves,as we know and love him,is largely absent in this work of fiction. There is little of the subtle skill with which the original Reginald,his head bulging at the back because of all the fish he ate,solved the fearful scrapes that Bertie got himself into,while bringing light and joy to the other characters the ones who deserved l amp; j,anyway. He never shimmers in,and although his discreet cough is audible at times,the invisibility of his physical presence,coupled with the ubiquity of his mind,does not inform this work.

Nor,for that matter,are there any other memorable characters,or even the usual suspects. Did Faulks cop out from keeping the two aunts Dahlia and Agatha directly in the story? The latter does make an appearance of sorts,but without leaving a trail of broken bottles behind her.

This novel is mostly about Bertie himself,which is not surprising,as the author is determined to secure a happy married life for him. One wonders whether Wooster stokes this desire in writers: years ago,C Northcote Parkinson,of Parkinsons Law fame,wrote a biography of Jeeves in which he made Bertie and Roberta Bobbie Wickham a couple,even giving her dialogue to the effect of You kiss rather nicely,Bertie. And while Faulks keeps the physical action at a level that can be shared over the port and the cigars without a blush, entirely too many kisses are planted on cheeks.

Just about the only thing that Faulks manages is to imitate the Wodehousian turn of phrase here and there,but never with the lightness and restraint that were the hallmark of the original. Like a child who has discovered Jeevess ability to quote from the classics of poetry,he makes the gentlemans gentleman turn to verse at the drop of a bowler. And with Bertie frequently turning serious when reflecting on the love of his life,along with a pathetic effort to inject excitement through a game of cricket didnt Faulks read the Psmith books? and,later,a staging of A Midsummer Nights Dream,even these occasional fizzes of Plummy prose fail to lift this novel.

What are we left with then,besides the prospect of the adventures of Bertie and Jeeves being cut short by marriage? Fortunately,Faulks cannot erase our memories of Wodehouses original work easily. Had he come closer in letter and in spirit to the master,he might have left us feeling uneasy at the possibility of repeating the magic. As things stand,the legacy is safe nothing can tarnish the original. Excuse me while I go fish out my dogeared collection. After reading Faulkss introduction,I am none the wiser about why exactly he wrote this book.

Arunava Sinha is a literary translator of the first water