ABSTRACT
Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit (in America, Bertie Wooster Sees It Through) begins with an often-quoted passage in which Bertie sits in the bathtub ‘soaping a meditative foot’ and singing ‘Pale Hands I Loved Beside the Shalimar’ (1). Wodehouse at that point was past 70, the four great Jeeves and Bertie novels of the 1930s and 1940s long behind him, and may have been beginning to write by formula. On the other hand, he had a great formula to work with and loyal readers who knew what to expect, and he knew that the way to begin a Jeeves book was with a scene of domestic peace followed – followed very soon – by a note of foreboding. It is no surprise that Bertie might sing in the bath in such circumstances. What is more intriguing is that he thinks we are interested in his repertory. For Bertie Wooster is no mere soaper of feet; he is an amateur musician, and a musician with an audience in at least imaginary view.
