Do you know know the story of P.G. Wodehouse and how he was manipulated by the Nazis during WWII? In a nutshell, he was rounded up into an internment camp, and while there wrote comical pieces to help keep up the spirits of his fellow internees. He was then used by the enemy to read these pieces over the radio to "convince" the U.S. to stay out of the war, not his intention for these works. That didn't stop him from being accused of treason by Great Britain. At least according to this movie.
Politics of this wonderful BBC production aside, it's also a great look into the mind of Wodehouse and the way he saw the world.
One of the early moments of the film has Plum (Wodehouse) and Bunny (his wife) sitting in their drawing room while their yard is suddenly invaded by Nazi soldiers. "I wonder what will happen next," asks Bunny. Plum responds with a list of bullet points from his latest Jeeves and Wooster novel. Bunny responds, "I mean about the war."
Even in the midst of war and Nazi occupation, Plum is thinking about his work, about the stories in his head. But his focus doesn't just end there. While in the internment camp, he still manages to find his writer's voice. While penning his comical pieces, he states, "The great advantage here is that the authorities leave us alone most of the day, and I have time to write."
In fact, when he is finally able to get a postcard out to his publishers in the states, he boasts laughingly that the situation has actually given him a new idea for the next novel.
He admits after the war is over that "Writing is an escape for me, in the literal sense, an escape from prison."
I've heard many writers (and readers to be fair) make the first part of that statement often. Writing (and reading) is an escape, if not from a literal prison, at least a figurative one, be it an unfulfilling job or a life unlike what they imagined. Writing is their way out of themselves and their lives and the things they believe are holding them back. They can be who they dream of being when they write, when they create.
Wodehouse is honest with his place as a writer, but perhaps sells himself more than a bit short. "I'm not really a writer," he says, "in the sense of going right down deep into life. I'm just a musical comedy man really."
It's a trait I see in others and in myself. "I'm just a romance writer," some say. Or, "Well, I haven't written the great American novel or anything, just a few fun sci-fi stories." It is easier to diminish our work than to be publicly proud of it. That smacks of pride, we believe, and it's better to err to the side of lesser than greater in regards to our own work, so we keep our pride to ourselves.
But the key point of this powerful fictionalized true story is a rather damning one for writers. It is this: We don't get a say in our legacy. Only our words do.
No matter what or when or the tone or the themes we put into our stories, the danger for any writer is having their words turned and twisted against them, to mean something they never intended, but honestly once the words are out there, do we have any control over how they are received or interpreted?
While in Paris, while being accused of treason, Wodehouse meets fellow scribe Malcolm Muggeridge, and the two strike up a friendship over the situation. Muggeridge is at once convinced of Plum's sincerity and that he was used and manipulated by the Nazis. While visiting his friend while Plum is in a hospital maternity ward, held there by the French authorities, Malcolm asks him about his newest Jeeves and Wooster book.
Muggeridge: How's the novel?
Wodehouse: Ah! Well, it's seen me through through the war. All I need is a publisher. That's all a novel needs. You send it out into the world like a young chap going into boarding school.
And that's the rub, perfectly captured by the great P.G. Wodehouse himself. At best we can send the work out, but we can't control how it's seen and experienced. We can create, we can imagine, and we can share, but beyond that, writers are powerless to control how the work is interpreted and understood.
It's a lack of control that can lead to calls of anything from treason (like Wodehouse) or wokeness or counterculturalism or religiomania or whatever. We are merely creators throwing stories and words to the world that will be the ultimate arbiters of them, regardless of our intentions.
Still, we endure, knowing that the more we share, the better we can frame those words when those arbiters do their worst.
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