The Luck Stone ~or~ Ripping Adventures with Plum*

This book was completely unexpected.  It’s a school yarn, but it is unlike the earlier entries into the same genre amongst the Wodehouse oeuvre.  For the most part, I find that Wodehouse’s school books tend to be centered on a great sporting rivalry, be it boxing or cricket or one of a thousand other diversions that seem to capture the imagination of our youthful heroes.  The sporting obsession is so great that I often find myself wondering if these boys had any time for their studies, what with the required practices, the strategy sessions, and general to-ing and fro-ing.  Part of me is tempted to liken the obsession of winning a match with the need for the Empire to conquer half of the globe, but frankly, it’s a lovely spring morning and I suspect that the marco-historic implications of cricket have been done to death. 

While there are the occasional sporting contests in The Luck Stone, they are not the central pivot around which the entire plot is hinged.  Without giving too much away, there is a MacGuffin that everyone is trying to either protect or purloin.  It finds its way to a school, and from there Wodehouse sets off with a plot replete with danger and intrigue.  Being a fan of Indiana Jones, Tintin, and other such things, I was pleasantly surprised.  For whereas the later Wodehouse books have MacGuffins such silver cow creamers, this one has implications for the ruling house of a certain part of the Empire.  Although I love the later books, part of me wishes that he Wodehouse had gone the cloak and dagger route with just a couple of later novels.  He was very good at it indeed.

Since I have a background in history, I cannot but help to point out two things that intrigued me (aside from the macro-political implications of cricket.  I have a feeling that there is at least one doctoral thesis on this moldering in a library somewhere.).  The book was originally published as a serial that ran from 1908 until 1909, meaning that it came out before the outbreak of World War I.  This would explain why one of the more sympathetic schoolmasters was a German.  He might have been mocked for his funny accent, but he was the only one who really connected with the action and helped our heroes fulfill their missions.  I wonder if such a character would have been viable just a few years later.  The other character that caught my attention was an Indian student who was there with the intent that he would go on to study law at University.  My mind immediately went to Gandhi, but of course he had not yet achieved his notoriety at this point.  Both characters are portrayed using massive stereotypes, but, because both had roles that supported the main story, Wodehouse was not merely laughing at foreigners.  There was a respect there that almost makes the jeers palatable, almost. 

*Read March 2016