The Wodehouse’s work and West-European literature of the 20th century.

Part II

Abstract

The work of P. G. Wodehouse, the greatest English humorist of the 20^th century, had an influence on the Western European literature. This influence does not limit itself to texts in English — allusions to Wodehouse’s works are also found in the French and German literature. This article is the first to study references to Wodehouse’s Wooster-Jeeves cycle in “Froth on the Daydream” by Boris Vian. The image of the main character’s servant and cook Nicolas is an obvious allusion to the novels of the Wooster-Jeeves cycle and draws simultaneously on two characters of Wodehouse: the cook Anatol and the valet Jeeves. The discovered allusions to Wodehouse’s novels allow a definite conclusion that Vian deliberately refers his readers to Wodehouse’s texts. These allusions help Vian create contrast and strengthen the image of grotesque and absurd world.

The article also compares some collisions and characters of Thomas Mann’s novel Doctor Faustus with those of Wodehouse’s Wooster-Jeeves cycle. The author suggests that Mann probably interprets some episodes from Wodehouse’s texts. The character of Rudi Schwerdtfeger and the scene of his marriage proposal to Marie Godeau on behalf of the main character (proposal on behalf of another) are references not only to Shakespeare’s comedies and sonnets, but also to an episode from Friedrich Nietzsche’s life. This episode undoubtedly resembles similar scenes from Wodehouse’s texts. Some thoughts about relationships expressed by Rudi in Mann’s novel are reminiscent of Wodehouse’s characters’ reflections about their relations with women.

The analysis of the allusions to Wodehouse’s works in Vian’s and Mann’s novels contained in this article appreciably broadens the understanding of Wodehouse’s influence on the Western European literature of the 20^th century.