Jerome K Jerome – Arthur Hofn

The Trials of a Completest.

One of the frustrating things about many good writers is that they’ve written more than one book. Yes I know that’s an attention grabbing first line, but bear with me as I explain the problems it causes, at least to someone one like me. I’m a completest. All or nothing. If I start something I have to finish it, no mater how long it takes.

In a non literary way I’m like this with music. If I like one album by an artist I have to them have them all. There are some examples where this is not the case, but that’s only the way things are at the present moment in time and I will always feel a weird kind of guilt about it, especially if I see a CD I need for sale (yes I still buy them) but decide to spend my money on something different. CDs are to some extent easy, I put them on and they play in the background for about 30 to 60 minutes. It takes a lot for me to get to the point to give up on an artist who is no longer producing good music. The same can be said for writers: if I like one book, I need them all.

The difference with a book, or course, is that it’s more of a commitment then just playing some music in the background; it’s hours and hours of concentration. Therefore there are some authors I haven’t yet to get to because they have written so much, Terry Pratchett for example. I’ve heard great things but I look at just how many books there are and I feel I need to at least finish Agatha Christie first.

Elsewhere on these pages, and therefore a few years ago, I wax lyrical over my love for Jerome K Jerome. You probably know Three Men in a Boat, and maybe Three Men on the Bummel- turns out he wrote a whole lot more. In my blog I’ve listed my favourites and I’ve read most of his works. This is where I have a struggle.

Years ago I found you can buy compilations of most of his books. The first one I saw was called 14 in 1. It did what it said on the tin, fourteen books in one volume. It was a good price and despite already owing both the Three Men books I purchased it. I was then introduced to more of his wit and a lot of quality writing. Of course I wanted each book as an individual, yet this was a good way to get some of the more obscure texts and in good condition too. I’ve read the whole thing now and loved it, thing is… it’s not the same size a proper book and it’s hard to hold and read. What’s worse is it’s not complete, there are other writings of his that I’ve yet to buy. You can get other compilations, for example A miscellany of sense and nonsense from the writings of Jerome contains some of what 14 in 1 already does but others that I am yet to read. Of course it has Three Men in a Boat and if I were to buy this it’d be the third copy I have of that story (what do I mean “if” of course I will buy it at some point, probably soon). More frustratingly Jerome K Jerome wrote short stories, some of which are published in anthologies alongside works by other authors, which just the idea of creates panic in me about how I’d store it on my bookshelf where an author’s books are all grouped together. I can read them online, but I want to own a proper copy!

In some respects all this is good as I still have more, and new as it were, stories of his to read – I just wish he’d been more organised in the way he published them!

Slightly less frustrating is George Orwell. I was killing time at Delhi airport many years ago and when I saw in a book shop a collection of most of his novels. Again I had a few of them already but it contained more that I didn’t and so I bought this thick tombe and was very soon able to finish reading it, again very difficult to hold. Orwell was somewhat less chaotic in that there are lots of essays and other things that aren’t included but I can get them nicely complied elsewhere and will do so. The two big books that were missing, Down and Out in Paris and London and Homage to Catalonia, were easy to get, I had one already. But I now have this large red volume next to two smaller, slimmer, books on my shelf and the ones I already had. I’ve read it all, but it looks wrong, such are the struggles of a reader, or some of us. I suppose the question is, are compilations better than owning the individual titles? I think not, sorry. But then, The Complete Works of Shakespeare…

Of course I want to enjoy more than one book by my favourite authors and sometimes feel a hint of sadness when I get to the end of someone’s works. A case in point is James Herriot for whom I only have one book left and keep putting off reading it as I don’t want it to end, I can always reread some and for sure I won’t remember a lot of his anecdotes, but it’s not quite the same.

Regardless, owning and having read the full bibliography of a writer can be rewarding and satisfying, but to get to that point can be frustrating.

Follow My Blog

Get new content delivered directly to your inbox.

The often overlooked humourist.

One of my favourite eras is the late Victorian/early Edwardian times. Just beginning to lose the tightly controlled Victorian veneer of stuffiness it still had a charm and a formality but was much more relaxed. I love the fashions and if I could afford to dress the way the men did back then I would (hey I stopped caring what people thought about me ages ago) – although I’ve always thought it might become a little hot.

This love for that era of course affects and is affected by the literature that came out of it and this includes one of my favourite writers of all time. Jerome Klapka Jerome. Most famous for his work Three Men In A Boat, Jerome was a writer and humourist. Born in 1859 his sense of silliness and comedy make his works highly entertaining but are clever enough to give a great insight into his way of life, those of his generation and their way of thinking at the time. But as well as humour he proved adept at writing thoughtful novels such as All Roads Lead to Calvary.

To give it the full title Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog) is a series of accounts of the said three men as they go on a boating holiday up the River Thames getting as far as…, well I won’t spoil that. Published in 1889, the three men discover not to always take the advice given to them by people who should know better (do not drink river water) but they also discuss their past experiences by way of deliberately straight faced anecdotes; everyone knows an Uncle Podger and have experienced laughing at the wrong time. All highly entertaining.

In 1900 it was followed up by, the I think even better but sadly lesser known these days, Three Men On The Bummel (where they go on a cycling holiday in Germany: Bummel said to be a German word for a trip that just happens with no major plans for where to go or how long it takes – turns out I take them a lot). Once more present and past events are discussed in all seriousness, that person who always “knows” how to fix something that doesn’t need fixing and disagreements about directions plus a whole lot more. If you like intelligent silly I’m sure you will love both of these.

“If a man stopped me in the street and demanded of me my watch, I should refuse to give it to him. If he threatened to take it by force, I feel I should, though not a fighting man, do my best to protect it. If, on the other hand, he should assert his intention of trying to obtain it by means of an action in any court of law, I should take it out of my pocket and hand it to him, and think I had got off cheaply.”
― Jerome K. Jerome, Three Men On The Bummel

Jerome K Jerome wrote far more than just these two books, and it’s sad that so much of his work is almost forgotten. He wrote humorous essays for magazines and some serious fiction. Both the novels Paul Kelver and All Roads Lead To Calvary highlight the life of the main character trying to make their way in a difficult world, both failing and succeeding at different times.

He himself was born into poverty and a hard life followed including the death of his family at a young age. Then as a young man everything was uncertain and it was only really the sudden success of his writing that upped his standard of living. As much as I say I like the style of those times, they were very difficult to live through. Unless you were very rich everything was always precarious. Paul Kelver is said to be practically autobiographical, you can get a sense of his experiences and just how tough things could be compared to what most of us take for granted now. Although his writing is known as fun when genuinely playing it seriously you get a glimpse of the melancholy.

You poor, pitiful little brat! Popularity? it is a shadow. Turn your eyes towards it, and it shall ever run before you, escaping you. Turn your back upon it, walk joyously towards the living sun, and it shall follow you.
― Jerome K. Jerome, Paul Kelver

They And I is lighter in tone. Written in the first person this also has links with his real life and I hope more is true than is made up; it seems happy. The account is of a father moving to the countryside with his young family and the adjustments that are needed – it’s very amusing.

*Jerome K Jerome’s final resting place, with is family in Ewelme, Oxfordshire.*

Jerome did own a farm house near the small village of Ewelme in Oxfordshire, where he and his family are buried, not far from the River Thames.

I genuinely love nearly everything I’ve read from Jerome K Jerome, even his essays are preserved and worth reading. Some are funnier than others but there is always the sharp wit of observation supporting his words. As a nation I think we don’t give him the attention he deserves, we know of Three Men In A Boat and something in it about Hampton Court Maze but on the whole that’s about it; this is a shame.

Buy Three Men In A Boat by Jerome K Jerome
Buy Three Men On The Bummel by Jerome K Jerome
Buy Paul Kelver by Jerome K Jerome