The Magnificent Mulliners

Both branches of my family tree are heavily laden.  On my father’s side, my cousins have a remarkable ability to shoot out offspring from our youngest days up to the time when normal people would have assumed that the factory was well and truly closed.  The result is a large and merry horde that I adore.  What makes me pause is the knowledge that, numerous as we are, we represent only one offshoot of my great-grandfather’s family and, given that he was Irish, I am willing to bet a hefty sum that he was not an only child. 

My maternal side is, at first glance, small and compact by comparison.  This only applies to this side of the Atlantic.  Thirty years ago this past summer, my mother and I traveled to the land of her birth, whereupon I made the startling discovery that I am related to entire villages in Eastern Europe.  Over the year, my grandmother has told me snippets of tales concerning our family, some members long dead and buried.

These reminisces are to say that I completely understand where Mr. Mulliner is coming from when he launches into reveries about his related twigs.  Wodehouse does not do much character building of our intrepid narrator.  We know his favorite watering hole, we know that he disregards those around him when he wants to carry on.  That being said, the sheer number of Mulliner stories that exist in the Wodehouse cannon show a character who gets no end of a kick out of his family.  I don’t know much about the extended Wodehouse clan, but, knowing the realities of living abroad, far removed from your ancestors and related contemporaries, I do wonder how close he was able to be with them.  While I hate to lapse into psychological speculation, I do wonder how much the Mulliner tales reveal a yearning on Wodehouse’s part to be surrounded by a large and merry horde.  It is a natural instinct, especially when one is an ex-pat.  For as much as the said ex-pat probably adored his adopted country, there is almost always an innate yearning for a connection to those who know you and your family.