Indeed, they spent so much time plotting ingenious escapes to the twin prisons of marriage and work that they had precious little time left over for golf, tennis, gambling, the theater, and other pleasures of indolence.
We can see the Young Man of Indolence in the 19th century Aesthete/Decadent movement; in Oscar Wilde's Importance of Being Earnest; Kenneth Graham's Rat -- "there is nothing half so much worth doing as simply messing around in boats." And in the featherbrained Oxford boy Bertie Wooster and his longsuffering valet Jeeves.
P.G Wodehouse (1881-1975) first chronicled the pair in Jeeves Takes Charge (1916), and within a few years was named the most prolific (and funniest) writer in Britain. He went on to write 11 novels and 35 short stories about Bertie and Jeeves.
Bertie spends most stories evading marriage and gainful employment, saving his friends from jams, and getting into a few jams of his own. While not averse to feminine charms, he definitely occupies a homosocial world: his life is informed by his friends from college or the Drone's Club, with names like Barmy, Biffy, Gussie, Stinker, Sippy, and Beefy. And his gentleman's gentleman, Jeeves.
A professional valet, Jeeves popped into Bertie's life unannounced, like witty servants from Mary Poppins to Charles in Charge, and quickly made himself indispensable. His maiden aunts never encouraged him to marry, nor did he ever fall prey to feminine charms. Everyone understood that Bertie was the love of his life.
And they were together forever. The last Jeeves and Wooster novel, Aunts Aren't Gentlemen, published in 1974, involved Jeeves helping Bertie evade a woman's clutches yet again.
The gay subtext is so obvious that one wonders if it was intentional. Wodehouse was married to a woman, but according to some biographers asexual, repelled by the thought of sharing his bed with anyone, and according to others gay but heavily closeted after the downfall of Oscar Wilde and the dissolution of the Yellow Book chaps. Regardless, he worked in the theater where he had many gay friends, so he was certainly aware of same-sex desire. And many gay couples of the early 20th century masqueraded as young libertine and valet, so even if Wodehouse didn't intend for Bertie and Jeeves to be read that way, he surely knew that they could be.
Bertie and Jeeves were played by David Niven and Arthur Treacher (the fish-and-chips guy) in 1936.
Left: Chunky Stephen Fry is gay in real life.
A professional valet, Jeeves popped into Bertie's life unannounced, like witty servants from Mary Poppins to Charles in Charge, and quickly made himself indispensable. His maiden aunts never encouraged him to marry, nor did he ever fall prey to feminine charms. Everyone understood that Bertie was the love of his life.
And they were together forever. The last Jeeves and Wooster novel, Aunts Aren't Gentlemen, published in 1974, involved Jeeves helping Bertie evade a woman's clutches yet again.
The gay subtext is so obvious that one wonders if it was intentional. Wodehouse was married to a woman, but according to some biographers asexual, repelled by the thought of sharing his bed with anyone, and according to others gay but heavily closeted after the downfall of Oscar Wilde and the dissolution of the Yellow Book chaps. Regardless, he worked in the theater where he had many gay friends, so he was certainly aware of same-sex desire. And many gay couples of the early 20th century masqueraded as young libertine and valet, so even if Wodehouse didn't intend for Bertie and Jeeves to be read that way, he surely knew that they could be.
More after the break
Bertie and Jeeves were played by David Niven and Arthur Treacher (the fish-and-chips guy) in 1936.
By Ian Carmichael and Davis Price (1965-67)
By Hugh Laurie (top photo and left) and Stephen Fry (1990-93)
Left: Chunky Stephen Fry is gay in real life.
And by Martin Jarvis and John Scherer (2001).
A theatrical version, Perfect Nonsense, premiered on London's West End in 2013, with Stephen Mangan and Matthew Macfadyen (below).
A theatrical version, Perfect Nonsense, premiered on London's West End in 2013, with Stephen Mangan and Matthew Macfadyen (below).
See also: Noah Matthews Matofsky: Head Lost Boy, model, disability advocate, Oscar Wilde fan, boyfriend Mentions Stephen Fry.
"The Seven Dials Mystery": Murder on an English country estate in 1925, with a gay couple, a gay bar, Bluemel's backside, and Bilbo's d*ck Same time period.
