Leave It to Psmith Wodehouse Read Full Text Online Download

1923 novel by P.Thou. Wodehouse

Leave It to Psmith

First edition (United kingdom)
Author	P. G. Wodehouse
Land	United kingdom
Language	English
Genre	Comic novel
Publisher	Herbert Jenkins (Uk) George H. Doran (US)
Publication date	30 November 1923 (UK) xiv March 1924 (United states)
Media type	Print (hardcover)
Pages	327 pp
Preceded by	Psmith, Journalist (Psmith), Something Fresh (Blandings)
Followed past	Blandings Castle and Elsewhere (shorts), Summer Lightning (novel)

Leave It to Psmith is a comic novel past English author P. One thousand. Wodehouse, first published in the United Kingdom on 30 November 1923 by Herbert Jenkins, London, England, and in the United States on xiv March 1924 by George H. Doran, New York.^[ane] It had previously been serialised, in the Sat Evening Post in the United states between iii February and 24 March 1923, and in the Grand Magazine in the UK between April and December that year; the catastrophe of this magazine version was rewritten for the volume form.

Information technology was the fourth and terminal novel featuring Psmith, the others being Mike (1909) (afterward republished in ii parts, with Psmith appearing in the second, Mike and Psmith (1953)), Psmith in the City (1910), and Psmith, Journalist (1915) – in his introduction to the charabanc The World of Psmith, Wodehouse said that he had stopped writing virtually the character because he couldn't think of any more stories. Information technology was besides the 2nd novel fix at Blandings Castle, the start being Something Fresh (1915). The Blandings saga would exist connected in many more novels and shorts.

The book is dedicated to his step-daughter Leonora Wodehouse, referred to equally "Queen of her species".^[2]

Plot introduction [edit]

Although the master character is Psmith (hither called Ronald Eustace rather than Rupert as in previous books, possibly to differentiate him from Rupert Baxter), the majority of the story takes place at Blandings Castle and involves diverse intrigues within the extended family of Lord Emsworth, the absent-minded elderly Earl.

The plot is a typical Wodehouse romance, with Psmith inveigling himself into the idyllic castle, where there are the usual crop of girls to woo, crooks to foil, imposters to unmask, haughty aunts to baffle and valuable necklaces to steal. Among the players is Psmith'south good friend Mike, married to Phyllis and in dire need of some financial help; the always-suspicious Rupert Baxter is on watch as usual.

The item which the plot revolves around is the necklace (nearly all Blandings plots revolve around an detail which needs to be recovered).

Plot summary [edit]

Psmith (left) and Freddie, 1923 illustration by May Wilson Preston in The Saturday Evening Post

Down at Blandings, Lord Emsworth is dismayed to hear from Baxter that he is expected to travel to London to collect the poet Ralston McTodd, invited to the castle by his sister Connie, a keen supporter of the Arts; another poet, Aileen Peavey, is already installed at the castle.

Joe Keeble tries to persuade his imperious wife to let him requite coin to his beloved stepdaughter Phyllis, but is bullied out of it, and when Emworth'due south feckless younger son Freddie suggests stealing Connie's necklace to free up some cash, Keeble is taken with the idea. Freddie, not not bad on doing the chore himself, sees Psmith'due south advertizement in the newspaper, and tags along to London with Lord Emsworth.

Meanwhile, in the metropolis, we larn that Mike, having married Phyllis on the assumption that his job every bit estate manager for Psmith'south male parent would be secure, found on Mr Smith'southward death that the old human was bankrupt, and is working as a poorly paid schoolmaster. Psmith worked for a time for an uncle in the fish business, but could stand the fish no longer and quit.

Phyllis meets some old school friends, including Eve Halliday, an believing young daughter who pities the once-rich Phyllis, believing her too soft to cope with penury. Eve, nosotros larn, is a friend of Freddie Threepwood, and on his encouragement has taken a mail cataloguing the Blandings library, while another friend, Cynthia, has been abandoned by her husband, famous poet Ralston McTodd.

Later, Psmith sees Eve sheltering from the rain opposite the Drones, and chivalrously runs out to give her the all-time umbrella from the club's umbrella rack. They after meet once again at an employment agency, where Psmith has come seeking work and Eve is visiting an old friend. Psmith meets up with Freddie Threepwood, who describes his scheme to steal Connie's necklace, but dashes off without revealing his proper name.

Soon after, Psmith runs into Lord Emsworth at the Senior Conservative Guild, where the Earl is dining with Ralston McTodd. The poet is annoyed by Emsworth'south absent-mindedness, especially when the old man potters beyond the street to inspect a flower shop, and leaves in a rage. When Emsworth returns, he mistakes Psmith for his guest, and when Psmith sees Eve Halliday meeting Lord Emsworth, he decides to visit Blandings, posing equally McTodd.

Welcomed at the castle, peculiarly by beau poet Peavey, he is nevertheless suspected by the ever-vigilant Baxter, the real McTodd having telegrammed to cancel his visit. Eve arrives and Psmith begins his wooing with some success, despite her belief that he is McTodd and has jilted her friend. Freddie, worried that one of the maids is a detective, is advised by Psmith to kiss her, and approximate by her response whether she is a real maid; Psmith and Eve run into him simply as he is embracing the daughter.

One day, a stranger arrives at the house claiming to be McTodd, but Psmith turns him politely away. The man, Edward Cootes, runs into Aileen Peavey on his way back to the station, and we acquire they are both crooks, estranged lovers both after the diamonds. Cootes returns to the castle, and forces Psmith to help him become in, which Psmith does, passing him off as his valet. He arranges the use of a pocket-sized cottage, in case he needs to hide the jewels from Cootes.

Cootes and Peavey make a plan to steal the necklace during a poesy-reading, while Eve, having heard from Freddie that Joe Keeble plans to requite him money, questions Keeble nigh why he isn't helping out her friend; he enlists her every bit a helper in the diamond-stealing plot. Equally Psmith begins his reading of McTodd'south poems, Cootes turns off the lights and Peavey grabs the necklace, flinging it out of the window to where Eve is standing; she hides it in a flowerpot. Returning later to fetch it, she wakes the vigilant Baxter, but evades him, leaving him locked out and stashing her flowerpot on a windowsill.

Baxter, locked out of the house in his lemon-coloured pyjamas, throws flowerpots through a window to awake Lord Emsworth, who assumes he is mad and calls in Psmith to help appease him. Next morning, Baxter is fired from his job, and Eve finds the flowerpot empty at Psmith's cottage. Enlisting Freddie's help, she searches the place, but finds nothing; Psmith enters and explains his motives, his friendship with Mike and Phyllis. Cootes and Peavey appear, armed, and threaten to escape with the necklace, but Psmith takes advantage of Freddie's leg falling through the ceiling to overpower Cootes and retrieve the jewels.

Keeble gives Mike the funds he requires to buy his farm, and gives Freddie enough to get him into a bookmaking business. Psmith and Eve get engaged, and Psmith persuades Lord Emsworth to have him on as Baxter's replacement.

Characters [edit]

• Clarence Threepwood, 9th Earl of Emsworth, master of Blandings
  • Hon. Freddie Threepwood, his younger son
• Lady Constance Keeble, Emsworth's imperious sister
  • Joseph Keeble, Connie's hubby.
    • Phyllis Jackson, Joe Keeble's stepdaughter
      • Michael "Mike" Jackson, her husband
• Rupert Baxter, Lord Emsworth's very efficient secretary
• Sebastian Beach, head butler at the castle
• Eve Halliday, hired to catalogue the library, an sometime friend of Phyllis
  • Ronald Psmith, an adventurer who falls for Eve, an one-time friend of Mike
• Ralston McTodd, a Canadian poet invited to the castle
  • Cynthia, his married woman, an old friend of Eve and Phyllis
• Ada Clarkson, an former teacher of Eve and Phyllis, now running an employment agency
• Aileen Peavey (a.m.a. Polish Lizzie), an American poet
  • Edward Cootes, a carte du jour-abrupt, in love with Aileen Peavey

Fashion [edit]

Wodehouse uses brilliant, exaggerated imagery in similes and metaphors for comic effect. For instance, in affiliate 7.11: "A sound like two or iii pigs feeding rather noisily in the middle of a thunderstorm interrupted his meditation".^[iii]

Wodehouse often uses literary references, sometimes giving the quoted passage direct with fiddling alter to the original quote, but calculation to the quote to make it absurdly apposite to the situation. This occurs in chapter 11.v, later Baxter sees Psmith on the terrace of Blandings Castle:

"Oh, information technology'due south you?" he said morosely.
"I in person," said Psmith genially. "Awake, beloved! Awake, for morning in the bowl of night has flung the stone that puts the stars to flying; and lo! the hunter of the East has caught the Sultan's turret in the noose of lite. The Sultan himself," he added, "y'all will find behind yonder window, speculating idly on your motives for bunging flower-pots at him."^[four]

Descriptions provided in Wodehouse's stories generally contain humorous elements, inserted into what would otherwise be pure exposition. For example, there are comic elements in the description of Aileen Peavy provided in chapter 10. To quote part of the passage: "She [Aileen Peavey] was alone. It is a sad but indisputable fact that in this imperfect world Genius is too oftentimes condemned to walk alone—if the earthier members of the community run across it coming and have time to duck".^[five]

Injuries in Wodehouse'due south stories generally practise much less harm than would normally be expected in real life, being similar to the inconsequential injuries depicted in stage comedies. For example, after Psmith wakes upwardly Freddie Threepwood past arranging for Freddie'due south suitcase to fall on him, Freddie simply massages the stricken spot, gurgles wordlessly, and is soon ready to resume normal chat.^[6]

1 of the prime sources of humour in Wodehouse's comic novels are the distinctive or absurd names given to characters, places, and brands of appurtenances. Ane notable example is Psmith, who chooses to spell his name with a silent p "every bit in pshrimp" (chapter 5).^[vii]

Groundwork [edit]

Eve and Psmith, 1923 Grand Magazine illustration

One reason the novel was written was considering Wodehouse'southward adopted girl Leonora wanted him to write another Psmith story.^[eight] The book has the dedication: "To my girl Leonora, queen of her species."^[nine]

Publication history [edit]

The story was illustrated past May Wilson Preston in The Saturday Evening Mail.^[ten] The illustrator for the Yard serial is not stated, but the artist's signature, visible on some of the illustrations such as the get-go two in the first part^[11] and one in the fifth function,^[12] is the same as one used past A. Wallis Mills.^[13] Mills's signature can besides exist seen on the illustrations for one of the other Wodehouse books serialised in The Grand Magazine, The Adventures of Sally.^[fourteen]

The complete novel was included in the 1932 collection Nothing Simply Wodehouse.^[15] It was also featured in the 1974 drove The World of Psmith.^[sixteen]

Adaptations [edit]

The story was adjusted into a play, as well titled Leave Information technology to Psmith, by Wodehouse and Ian Hay. Information technology opened at the Shaftesbury Theatre in London on 29 September 1930 and ran for 156 performances.^[17]

The film Leave It to Me (1933) was adapted from the 1930 play based on the novel.

A radio drama based on the novel was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in October 1981. Dramatised past Michael Bakewell, it featured John Gielgud as the narrator, Michael Hordern as Lord Emsworth, Joan Greenwood equally Lady Constance, Simon Ward every bit Psmith, and Caroline Langrishe as Eve.^[eighteen]

A 1988 Indian television ten-episode serial titled Isi Bahane (On This Alibi) was based on the novel and aired on DD National. The serial was produced past Doordarshan.^[xix]

The novel was dramatised for radio by Archie Scottney, with Martin Jarvis every bit Lord Emsworth, Patricia Hodge as Constance, Edward Bennett equally Psmith, and Susannah Fielding as Eve. The adaptation aired on BBC Radio 4 in May 2020.^[20]

See likewise [edit]

• A full list of the Blandings stories.

References [edit]

Notes

1. ^ McIlvaine, E., Sherby, L.Due south. and Heineman, J.H. (1990) P.Grand. Wodehouse: A comprehensive bibliography and checklist. New York: James H. Heineman, pp. 44–45. ISBN 087008125X
2. ^ Dedication
3. ^ Hall (1974), p. 107.
4. ^ Hall (1974), p. 112.
5. ^ Hall (1974), p. 56.
6. ^ Hall (1974), p. 46.
7. ^ Hall (1974), pp. 100–102.
8. ^ Phelps, Barry (1992). P. G. Wodehouse: Man and Myth. London: Constable and Company Limited. p. 142. ISBN009471620X.
9. ^ McCrum, Robert (2004). Wodehouse: A Life . New York: W. Due west. Norton & Company Ltd. p. 156. ISBN0-393-05159-v.
10. ^ McIlvaine (1990), p. 156, section D59.43.
11. ^ "Leave it to Psmith (Part 1 in The Thousand Magazine)". Madame Eulalie . Retrieved 18 September 2019.
12. ^ "Leave it to Psmith (Function 5 in The Grand Magazine)". Madame Eulalie . Retrieved 18 September 2019.
13. ^ See Mills'due south signature on both of the outset two illustrations, as it varies slightly betwixt the two: "Scoring off Jeeves (Strand Magazine)". Madame Eulalie . Retrieved xviii September 2019.
14. ^ "The Adventures of Sally (Grand Mag)". Madame Eulalie . Retrieved 18 September 2019.
15. ^ McIlvaine (1990), p. 113, section B2a.
16. ^ McIlvaine (1990), pp. 122–123, section B15a.
17. ^ McIlvaine (1990), p. 305, department J41.
18. ^ "Sat-Dark Theatre: Go out it to Psmith". BBC Genome. BBC. 2008. Retrieved 22 March 2018.
19. ^ Taves (2006) p. 188.
20. ^ "Leave information technology to Psmith: 1. Poets at Blandings". BBC Radio 4. BBC. 2020. Retrieved 17 May 2020.

Sources

• Hall, Robert A., Jr. (1974). The Comic Style of P. G. Wodehouse. Hamden: Archon Books. ISBN0-208-01409-8.
• McIlvaine, Eileen; Sherby, Louise S.; Heineman, James H. (1990). P. G. Wodehouse: A Comprehensive Bibliography and Checklist. New York: James H. Heineman Inc. ISBN978-0-87008-125-v.
• Taves, Brian (2006). P. G. Wodehouse and Hollywood. London: McFarland & Visitor. ISBN978-0-7864-2288-3.

External links [edit]

• Leave Information technology to Psmith at Standard Ebooks
• Leave it to Psmith at Project Gutenberg
• The Russian Wodehouse Lodge's page, with photos of book covers and a list of characters
• Fantastic Fiction's folio, with details of published editions, photos of book covers and links to used copies
• A "Five All-time" of comic novels, including Leave it to Psmith, from OpinionJournal.com
• Details of the play, from theatrical publishers Samuel French

longthaverefull.blogspot.com

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leave_It_to_Psmith

Share this post