Otoh, I have to think Wodehouse was at best naive, at worst, disingenuous, to really think that "light-hearted chats about playing cricket in a German prison camp" would impress people who had spent years bring bombed out of their homes in the blitz.
I can't believe he had any sympathy for Nazism. I can believe he didn't really understand the implications of what he was doing. But I also can't believe that, once the implications were pointed out to him, he didn't understand, either. The whole thing makes little sense, and I can see why people in England were more than a little put off by it.
If only it had just been Wodehouse. The number of American, British, French, pretty much everywhere, who supported Germany is amazing. Many, like Charles Lindbergh, supported Hitler up until World War II and then stopped; many favored the fascist cause throughout the war. I think we want to believe Woodhouse must have been different because he seems otherwise so likable and because his work is so light-hearted.
Fascists occasionally appear in Wodehouse's novels, invariably as pompous bullies, often with a hidden effeminate side, so I rather doubt he was pro-Germany. I have read many of Wodehouse's memoirs, and those written in the internment camp are as light and amusing as any of the others.
Wodehouse did not "support" Germany. Orwell, as usual, was on target in his "defense" essay. Wodehouse was only guilty of being himself. Malcolm Muggeridge gives a greatly amusing and insightful account of his involvement (when Wodehouse was interned in Paris) in his exceptional memoir, Chronicles of Wasted Time (Vol. 2, The Infernal Grove).
Yes--there's a recurring Wodehouse character, the odious Roderick Spode, who's very much a fascist in outlook. I'm not saying Widehouse was a fascist, but I do think he must have lacked some awareness if he didn't understand how poorly-received a light-hearted look at a German prison camp would be.
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Otoh, I have to think Wodehouse was at best naive, at worst, disingenuous, to really think that "light-hearted chats about playing cricket in a German prison camp" would impress people who had spent years bring bombed out of their homes in the blitz.
I can't believe he had any sympathy for Nazism. I can believe he didn't really understand the implications of what he was doing. But I also can't believe that, once the implications were pointed out to him, he didn't understand, either. The whole thing makes little sense, and I can see why people in England were more than a little put off by it.
If only it had just been Wodehouse. The number of American, British, French, pretty much everywhere, who supported Germany is amazing. Many, like Charles Lindbergh, supported Hitler up until World War II and then stopped; many favored the fascist cause throughout the war. I think we want to believe Woodhouse must have been different because he seems otherwise so likable and because his work is so light-hearted.
Fascists occasionally appear in Wodehouse's novels, invariably as pompous bullies, often with a hidden effeminate side, so I rather doubt he was pro-Germany. I have read many of Wodehouse's memoirs, and those written in the internment camp are as light and amusing as any of the others.
Wodehouse did not "support" Germany. Orwell, as usual, was on target in his "defense" essay. Wodehouse was only guilty of being himself. Malcolm Muggeridge gives a greatly amusing and insightful account of his involvement (when Wodehouse was interned in Paris) in his exceptional memoir, Chronicles of Wasted Time (Vol. 2, The Infernal Grove).
Yes--there's a recurring Wodehouse character, the odious Roderick Spode, who's very much a fascist in outlook. I'm not saying Widehouse was a fascist, but I do think he must have lacked some awareness if he didn't understand how poorly-received a light-hearted look at a German prison camp would be.
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