“I think I should end on a personal note. I have
written it before and am not ashamed to write it again. Without
Wodehouse I am not sure that I would be a tenth of what I am today -
whatever that may be.
In my teenage years, his writings awoke me to the
possibilities of language. His rhythms, tropes, tricks and mannerisms
are deep within me. But more than that, he taught me something about
good nature. It is enough to be benign, to be gentle, to be funny, to be
kind.
He mocked himself sometimes because he knew that a great proportion of his readers came from prisons and hospitals. At the risk of being sententious, isn’t it true that we are all of us, for a great part of our lives, sick or imprisoned, all of us in need of this remarkable healing spirit, this balm for hurt minds?”
| — | Stephen Fry, “What Ho! My Hero P.G. Wodehouse” |
