Творчество П. Г. Вудхауза и западноевропейская литература XX века

Abstract

P. G. Wodehouse is one of the most distinguished representatives of the British comic tradition and the most widely acclaimed British humorist of the 20th century. His contribution, however, goes beyond humorous literature. The article shows that Wodehouse’s creativity is not limited to entertainment alone and explores how his works influenced the 20th century Western European literature. The study is an analysis of a complete corpus of prosaic texts by P. G. Wodehouse and E. Waugh. Researchers usually provide a brief comparison of the two writers refereeing to Waugh’s essay about Wodehouse’s books. Waugh was the first to draw attention to the originality of Wodehouse’s fictional world for the 20th century literature. The article is the first attempt to provide a detailed comparative analysis of the two authors. The results indicate a certain creative interaction between the two. Both of them kept track of each other’s work, their fictional worlds were in interplay. Both Wodehouse and Waugh wrote about the “bright young things”, however, explored the subject differently. The article concludes that the novels by Waugh are the satire on the dying British aristocratic culture, whereas Wodehouse writes about “timeless” characters. The article considers the role of allusions to Wodehouse’s novels in the works by Waugh and vice versa. The article provides evidence that Waugh alludes to Wodehouse’s texts to add tragedy to his works. The episodes and figures Wodehouse uses to create a comic effect or share the joie de vivre, are used by his counterpart to confirm the absurdity of reality, shallowness of high society, evidence of the decay of the classic British culture.