Life with Jeeves

What is the author's style in Life with Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse?

Asked by
Last updated by Cat
1 Answers
Log in to answer

The language of Bertie Wooster, with which he addresses the reader and which is used by most of the characters in these stories, can only be described as the affected form of English practiced by the landed gentry. It is characterized by explosive interrogations such as, "What Ho" and jocular queries such as "I say old chap". Combine this with the habit of what might be described as the "metaphoric familiar" when referring to ones head "the old lemon" or familiar objects such as "the old dahjeeling". Then there is the allied affectation of the drastic abbreviation for objects such as "the old eggs and b." for eggs and bacon and the "f. and c." for "finely chiseled features". Taken together, this form of vocabulary and manner of speech gives a unique and unmistakable tone to the language consistently used in every story.