Wodehouse in serious?

[Jo498]

I was wondering what are good "serious" or "societal" novels taking place in a roughly Wodehousian setting, i.e. ca. 1900-1939 upper (or (upper) middle class) Britain (or US). Or put differently: English language analogues to "The magic mountain" or early 20th century analogues of Austen.

Tbh, I am aware of (and have read) dozens of murder mysteries and the like taking place in such settings and some of them, above all Sayers', contain a lot about societal mores, WW I trauma, role of women etc. but they are still basically murder mysteries. And it is somewhat strange to get one's main impression of a period by highly stylized comedies or crime mysteries...

I might have forgotten something but I think the only "serious" book I have read that would fit these criteria is Forster's "Howard's End" and this is probably set a little too early. I would not exclude pre-war settings but I'd more interested in clearly "post-Victorian" age.

[Hereward]

I suggest Life After Life by Kate Atkinson. Or perhaps Evelyn Waugh's Vile Bodies or Brideshead Revisited.

[Jo498]

Thanks, I have heard of Waugh. I'd very much prefer "contemporary" literature, not "historic" novels by people born decades afterwards like Atkinson. (Although her book has been recommended to me before and might be very good). I'll probably also try other books by Forster, my sister should have some (she has a degree in English literature)

[SeanF]

The Forsyte Saga begins in Late Victorian Britain, but continues into the post WW1 period.

[Gabriele]

Second the Forsyte Saga and its less well known sequel, A Modern Comedy. The latter takes place in the 1920ies. 

[Wilbur]

Based on your criteria, may I suggest some of the following authors' works?  While not all of the books listed fall directly within the specific time period you indicated, the authors were all formed by the society you describe, and the Austerity Britain of the 1950s is much more closely linked to the post-Victorians than the 1980's, despite the similar distances in time.

Some light, humorous works include the following.

George & Weedon Grossmith:  The Diary of a Nobody

Jerome K. Jerome:   Three Men in a Boat 

 

Maybe you want a little Great Game espionage, or British Socialist professionals thrown into Middle European intrigue?

W. Somerset Maugham:   Ashenden: Or the British Agent

Eric Ambler:  Film -  Journey into Fear and  novel of the same name.

Graham Greene:   Stamboul Train   

 

Enjoy some black British humour?

Evelyn Waugh:   Black Mischief

R.S. Surtees:   Mr Sponge's Sporting Tour

Kingsley Amis:  Lucky Jim

 

How about some other mysteries?

R. Austin Freeman:   The Eye of Osiris

Margery Allingham:   Police at the Funeral 

G.D.H. and M.I. Cole:  Mrs. Warrender's Profession

Emma Orczy:   The Old Man in the Corner 

 

Victorian Science Fiction?

G.K. Chesterton:   The Napoleon of Notting Hill

 

Adventure stories!

John Buchan:  The Thirty-Nine Steps

E.W. Hornung:  The Amateur Cracksman

Edgar Wallace:   The Four Just Men 

Manning Cole:   Drink to Yesterday

Sax Rohmer:   The Quest of the Sacred Slipper  http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2126

Geoffrey Household:   Rogue Male 

Nicholas Blake:   Head of a Traveller  (Adventure / mystery story written by the British poet Laureate)

Dornford Yates:  Blind Corner

 

Novels made into many different versions of films and plays?

P.C. Wren:  Beau Geste 

Ouida:  Under Two Flags

 

Authors born too late, but writing about that period of time:

Antonia Fraser:   Quiet as a Nun 

Timothy Findley: The Wars 

[Clueless Northman]

Well, Room with a View is possibly a bit too early, it's really the turn of the century.

Mrs Dalloway is in the late 10s/early 20s.

If plays are allowed, there might be something in George Bernard Shaw. Then, depends on the era you really want to look into - Pygmalion is pre-WW I for instance.

Remains of the day is more or less set in the 30s, but is a modern novel, not one written at the time.