Technological University Dublin ARROW@TU Dublin Dissertations School of Culinary Arts and Food Technology 2019 The Contribution of P. G. Wodehouse to the Field of Gastronomy through his Character, the French Chef, Anatole Elizabeth Wilson Technological University Dublin, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://arrow.tudublin.ie/tfschcafdis Part of the Food Studies Commons Recommended Citation Wilson, E. (2019). The Contribution of P. G. Wodehouse to the Field of Gastronomy through his Character, the French Chef, Anatole, MA Thesis. Technological University Dublin. This Theses, Masters is brought to you for free and open access by the School of Culinary Arts and Food Technology at ARROW@TU Dublin. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ARROW@TU Dublin. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 License Technological University Dublin ARROW@TU Dublin Dissertations Conservatory of Music and Drama 2019-5 The Contribution of P. G. Wodehouse to the Field of Gastronomy through his Character, the French Chef, Anatole Elizabeth Wilson Follow this and additional works at: https://arrow.tudublin.ie/aaconmusdiss Part of the Food Studies Commons This Theses, Masters is brought to you for free and open access by the Conservatory of Music and Drama at ARROW@TU Dublin. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ARROW@TU Dublin. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License The Contribution of P. G. Wodehouse to the Field of Gastronomy through his Character, the French Chef, Anatole. A thesis submitted to the Technological University of Dublin in part fulfilment of the requirement for award of Masters (M.A.) in Gastronomy and Food Studies. by Elizabeth Wilson May 2019 Supervisor: Anke Klitzing Liz Wilson D17124163 Declaration I hereby certify that the material that is submitted in this thesis towards the award M.A. in Gastronomy and Food Studies is entirely my own work and has not been submitted for any academic assessment other than part fulfilment of the award named above. Signature of candidate…………………………………………… Date……………………………. ii Liz Wilson D17124163 Abstract In her paper ‘A Cultural Field in the Making: Gastronomy in 19th-Century France’, Priscilla Parkhurst Ferguson argues that the field of gastronomy came into existence in the middle of the nineteenth century in France. This field of gastronomy was constructed from two elements, the significance that gastronomy, defined at the time as a structured set of culinary practices, had attained in France by the nineteenth century, but also, the contribution of writers of culinary discourse who wrote about this gastronomy. These writers came from different disciplines and included the realist fiction writer Honoré de Balzac (1799-1850), whose work Ferguson describes as ethnographic, the scientific description of cultures and people. This thesis takes the premise of a realist fiction writer, Balzac, contributing to the gastronomic field, and extends it to P. G. Wodehouse and his character, the French chef, Anatole. The thesis asks whether Wodehouse’s depiction of Anatole is ethnographically accurate and can, therefore, be said to contribute to and extend the gastronomic field. In doing so, it underlines the interaction between literature and the gastronomic field and may prompt investigation into further contributions made to the gastronomic field by other realist fiction writers. iii Liz Wilson D17124163 Acknowledgements I am profoundly grateful go to my supervisor, Anke Klitzing, whose support and wise advice has been invaluable in completing this thesis. This research would not have happened without the work of the Pricilla Parkhurst Ferguson, who passed away late last year. May she rest in peace. My sincere thanks goes to my family, especially my sister Linda, and friends who have travelled this academic journey with me. The camaraderie, support and humour, albeit sometime of the gallows variety, of my fellow classmates has made the whole Masters in Gastronomy and Food Studies course an absolute joy. To them and all the faculty I extend my heartfelt appreciation. Mention must also be made of the members of both the UK and US Wodehouse Societies whose suggestions contributed to this paper. iv Liz Wilson D17124163 Contents Lists of Tables and Illustrations .......................................................................................... vii Short Stories and Novel in which Anatole Appears .......................................................... viii Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 1 Justification ....................................................................................................................... 1 Structure and Scope of The Thesis ................................................................................... 3 Chapter 1: The Gastronomic Field ........................................................................................ 6 1.1 Field Theory ................................................................................................................ 6 1.2 Gastronomy ................................................................................................................. 7 1.3 The Gastronomic Field ............................................................................................... 8 Chapter 2: The Components of the Gastronomic Field ...................................................... 10 2.1 Historical Development French Gastronomy ........................................................... 10 2.2 Culinary Discourse ................................................................................................... 16 Chapter 3: Introducing Wodehouse .................................................................................... 21 3.1 Wodehouse’s Early Life 1881-1902 ......................................................................... 21 3.2 The Importance of Magazines .................................................................................. 23 3.3 Jeeves and Wooster ................................................................................................... 24 3.4 Anatole’s Time and Place ......................................................................................... 24 3.5 Wodehouse’s Audience ............................................................................................ 25 3.6 Wodehouse’s Writing Method .................................................................................. 26 3.7 Wodehouse’s Genres ................................................................................................ 27 3.8 Wodehouse’s Style ................................................................................................... 29 3.9 Development of the Jeeves and Wooster Series ....................................................... 33 3.10 The Novels .............................................................................................................. 34 3.11 Wodehouse after World War II .............................................................................. 35 3.12 Wodehouse the Gastronome ................................................................................... 37 Chapter 4: Methodology ..................................................................................................... 41 v Liz Wilson D17124163 4.1 Data Collection ......................................................................................................... 41 4.2 Thematic Analysis .................................................................................................... 41 4.3 Themes Found Within the Stories ............................................................................ 45 Chapter 5: Theme 1 - Anatole-A French Chef in Edwardian England ............................... 57 5.1 Changing Dining Practices ....................................................................................... 57 5.2 Early French Cookbooks in England ........................................................................ 60 5.3 Celebrity Chefs in England and their Cookbooks .................................................... 60 5.4 Tourism ..................................................................................................................... 64 5.5 César Ritz .................................................................................................................. 65 5.6 Georges Auguste Escoffier ....................................................................................... 67 Chapter 6: Theme 2 - Anatole and Cultural Capital ........................................................... 72 6.1 Cultural Capital ......................................................................................................... 72 6.2 French Chefs in England ........................................................................................... 74 Chapter 7: Theme 3 - Francophobia in Wodehouse ........................................................... 79 Chapter 8: Theme 4 - Anatole’s Voice and Appearance ...................................................