WODEHOUSE AND CHANDLER SIR,—Mr. Ronald Bryden's perceptive review of P.
G. Wodehouse's latest novel has led me to reflect on a teasing coincidence. Both Wodehouse and Raymond Chandler attended Dulwich College around the turn of the century; both, after exposure to life in the US, developed styles which have made an impact on both sides of the Atlantic, yet which are firmly based on Edwardian slang, heavy school- masterish irony, and the honest-injun morality of Stalky & Co.
Since, as is well known, the influence of a powerful and idiosyncratic teacher can leave its mark on a whole generation of schoolboys, it would be interest- ing to establish whether, in fact, such an overwhelm- ing master could possibly have had the young Wode- house and Chandler, at separate periods, under his wing. it would make an interesting thesis, as anyone who has spotted the many Wodehousisms in Chandler, and vice versa, will probably agree.— Yours faithfully,
CHARLES HAMBLETT The White House, East Lane, West Horsley, Surrey
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