The Master and his GESTALT

Recently I've been rereading P. G. Wodehouse's collection of stories, The World of Jeeves. Wodehouse has been one of my favorites for centuries now; whenever I can't face reading another dreary contemporary novel or in-depth look at creativity or ritual, Wodehouse is who I pull off the shelf.

It is not for nothing that he was nicknamed "The Master":  his narrator, the idiot Bertie Wooster, is as feckless as narrators come, and the clever butler Jeeves is a marvel. Every page makes me laugh.

Note that this is not an accident. Wodehouse was deliberate in his comedy, with a very specific RITUAL to assist his GESTALT.  When working on any of his short stories or novels, he would tape his pages to the walls of his study and examine each one.  If there were not a solid laugh line on a page, he would rewrite it until there was.

I think a writer would do well to STEAL FROM THE BEST by disassembling one of the Jeeves stories — and you could pick one at random, they're all brilliant — and figure out How He Did It.  How does he lay down the threads that lead to the denouement? How does he construct Bertie's voice? How does he keep Jeeves off stage for so much of the action when it's Jeeves who manages the denouement?  So much to learn!

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Quick Friday resource here: OperaVision is a European consortium that streams operas for free.  Simple.  Go check them out at operavision.eu.