How Clarence saved England
aka The Swoop!
by PG Wodehouse
humour
copyright 1909
read in May 2023
rated 6/10: read to pass the time
This book is a gung-ho warning of the dangers of foreign invasion. Written, judging by the preface, as a wake-up call. Well guess what: five years later, WWI began. There was no direct attack on England but England was certainly -- and brutally -- involved.
There is a message. Plus social commentary and very dated stereotypes. I suspect that Wodehouse knew a few Germans but had never met any of the other satirised foreigners.
It's a book of its time, not to be read by today's impressionable or woke youth.
Yet much of the social commentary is still relevant. Celebrities parlaying notoriety into music hall profits: now they rant on social media. Papers in the eternal search of a scoop. And a good chuckle: London streets are damaged by artillery fire but the damage is unnoticed amongst the never-ending roadworks.
An interesting book with more message and less humour than the better-known Wodehouse. Yet still with no-one really hurt.
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