In Search of Blandings by N. T. P. Murphy PDF torrent

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In Search of Blandings by N. T. P. Murphy PDF

Investigates the autobiographical background of P.G. Wodehouse's comic novels and identifies individuals and places that served as models for his fiction

Wodehouse needs no introduction: his characters, framed in the warm glow of an Edwardian afternoon, have passed into the language. Psmith, Jeeves, Bertie Wooster, Lord Emsworth, all have become archetypes who define, in harness with Wodehouse’s inimitable style, the highest peaks of comedy in English.

But behind Wodehouse’s rich language and marvellously precise imagery, there lies a background of reality. People, places, names, incidents, institutions, appear in different guises. Bertie, Aunt Dahlia, Jeeves and Ukridge, the Drones Club and the Empress herself all have roots in Wodehouse’s experience — and Blandings Castle still stands.

N.T.P. Murphy has taken on the task of tracking down the sources of Wodehouse’s inspiration. For seven years he has followed clues in Somerset House, the British Museum and county directories. The result is a fascinating study in literary detection, culminating in the identification of those great houses that coalesced to form one of the best¬loved settings in English fiction — Blandings Castle.

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