I have Black dossier, the first of the Nemo trilogy and Tempest - I’d be happy to post Black Dossier to you depending where you are in the world, but I would like it back. It’s very good - the last good LoEG in my opinion. I love all things Alan Moore, and am rarely disappointed by him, but both Century and Tempest felt like they were too interested in highlighting this or that obscure literally character than telling a story.
2 Likes
Thank you for the offer! I’m in Canada, I don’t know how that would work for you… Shipping can be prohibitive. Plus, I HAVE managed to at least find a digital version online.
But yeah, that was my impression re: Century when I read it years ago. Let’s see how it goes this time!
2 Likes
I enjoyed Century and Tempest pretty well
The Nemo trilogy was maybe a bit stronger for being a tour of a tighter focus of fictional items
in other news, I have spent my birthday money all gone
4 Likes
LOve PG WOdehouse!
4 Likes
I greatly enjoy most of his work, but I never quite got on with Jeeves and Wooster. Too obvious, somehow, or perhaps there’s just too much of it.
3 Likes
My way in was through Fry and Laurie playing Jeeves and Wooster and then went and read the books. So I only picture them as I read the books which may or may not make a difference!
3 Likes
I think for me - and I’m not saying anyone else is wrong to feel differently - it’s Jeeves’ utter (and justified) contempt. Hey ho.
2 Likes
“‘Very good,” I said coldly. ‘In that case, tinkerty tonk.’ And I meant it to sting.”
4 Likes
Fry and Laurie was my intro as well. I think their personal chemistry carried me through some of the rougher spots of the Jeeves and Wooster books
It was the language though that got me. I still remember hearing Jeeves described as “specific dream rabbit” by Stiffy Byng, freezing and thinking “I’ve got to read this instead of just watching it”
That kind of fossil language in Wodehouse really attracted me and I think because of his background and drama work his fossil language is referential with poetry, literature and theatre in a way that makes it just a more rewarding read for me than language that’s referential with film or TV at a fundamental level
5 Likes
And consciously referential. Like not just that he was informed by what he read and did but he seems to have set out intentionally to reflect it
3 Likes
One of the things that appeals about Wodehouse in general is that in his world the Great War clearly didn’t happen. Yes, there are still Bright Young Things, but the suffering and the death just aren’t there.
5 Likes
He admitted that chaps like Bertie were few and long gone before he started writing those stories. They existed in a brief moment, within a particular geography, disappearing even before the war.
6 Likes
Continuing The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, I finished reading The Black Dossier yesterday evening (on the computer, because finding an actual paper copy is just about impossible without paying a king’s ransom). Good thing I had the 3-D glasses that came with The Tempest, 'cause otherwise the Blazing World section lost a lot of impact.
It was REALLY good (though I found The Crazy Wide Forever to be UTTERLY unreadable, I gave up after the first section) and from my recollection of Century (next on my reading list), very much essential reading to have any hope of the rest making sense.
Now, let’s see if I enjoy Century more after Black Dossier.
6 Likes
Jess Nevins’ annotations of the series might be of use: https://jessnevins.com/annotations.html
Sadly he hasn’t been able to annotate Tempest beyond issue #1.
Amusingly, right in my eyeline as I sit on the sofa with my laptop are physical copies of his annotations for vol 1 & 2.
(And obscured by my laptop screen are Black Dossier, the Nemo books, and Tempest, as the bottom shelf is hardback comics. Whereas vol 1, vol 2, and Century are upstairs, as they’re paperback. It’s a very sensible system, I swear …)
5 Likes
Nice. I’ve got a couple of this series and have been tempted by this one!
2 Likes
I’ve also started reading the Time Travel collection. Only one story from 1881 in so far.
1 Like
Finished John Whitbourn’s Binscombe Tales last night. Best stories I’ve read in years. Witty, absurd, chilling and thoughtful.
The only problem as such is that no currently available single collection is truly complete: the final Binscombe story is missing; you need to get the story collection Altered Englands for that one, which I also recommend.
5 Likes
Can confirm that reading Black Dossier turned Century from a barely-coherent piece of literary masturbation into a coherent and actually interesting story! Great success!
Now I’ll read the Nemo trilogy abd then The Tempest. Let’s see what we see.
2 Likes