P. G. Wodehouse

P. G. Wodehouse in his last days

Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse (October 15, 1881 – February 14, 1975) (IPA: [wʊd.haʊs]) was an English comic writer who enjoyed enormous popular success for more than seventy years. Wodehouse was an acknowledged master of English prose and was admired both by contemporaries like Hilaire Belloc, Evelyn Waugh and Rudyard Kipling and by modern writers alike. Sean O'Casey famously called him "English literature's performing flea", a derogatory description that Wodehouse cherished and adopted as the title of his autobiography. Today, he is recognized by literary critics and popular audiences alike as a master of farce, and one of the most gifted comedic writers to ever grace the canon of English literature.

Life

Wodehouse was born prematurely to Eleanor Wodehouse whilst she was visiting Guildford. He attended boarding school, where he saw his parents only once every six or seven months. Feeling abandoned, Wodehouse grew very close to his brother, who shared his love for art. Wodehouse filled the voids in his life by writing relentlessly.

He was educated at Dulwich College, where the library is now named after him, but his anticipated progression to university was stymied by family financial problems. Subsequently he worked for the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank in London (now known as HSBC) for two years, though he was never interested in banking as a career. He wrote part-time while working in the bank, eventually proving successful enough to take up writing as a full-time profession. He was a journalist with The Globe (a defunct English newspaper) for several years before eventually going to Hollywood, where he earned enormous amounts as a screenwriter. Many of his novels were also serialized in magazines such as The Saturday Evening Post and The Strand, which also paid well.

Although Wodehouse and his novels are considered quintessentially English, from 1924 on he lived largely in France and the United States. He was also profoundly uninterested in politics and world affairs. When World War II broke out in 1939 he remained at his seaside home in Le Touquet, France, instead of returning to England, apparently failing to recognize the seriousness of the conflict. He was subsequently taken prisoner by the Germans in 1940 and interned by them for a year, first in Belgium, then at Tost in in Poland. While at Tost, he entertained his fellow prisoners with witty dialogues, which, after being released from internment a few months short of his 60th birthday, he used as the basis for a series of comic radio broadcasts. Wartime England was in no mood for light-hearted banter, however, and the broadcasts led to many accusations of collaboration with the Nazis and even treason. Some libraries banned his books.

The criticism led Wodehouse and his wife to move permanently to New York. Apart from Leonora, who died during Wodehouse's internment in Germany, the couple had no children. He became an American citizen in 1955, and never returned to his homeland, spending the remainder of his life in Remsenburg, Long Island.

He was made a Knight of the British Empire shortly before his death at the age of 93. It is widely believed that the honour was not given earlier because of lingering resentment about the German broadcasts, although the Queen Mother was so anxious for Wodehouse to be knighted that she offered to perform the service herself.

Writings

For a complete list, see List of books by P. G. Wodehouse.

Wodehouse was a prolific author, writing ninety-six books in a career spanning from 1902 to 1975. His works include novels, collections of short stories, and a musical comedy. Many characters and locations appear repeatedly throughout his short stories and novels, leading readers to classify his work by "series".

The "Blandings Castle" books are about the upper-class inhabitants of the fictional Blandings Castle, including the eccentric Clarence Threepwood, 9th Earl of Emsworth, obsessed by his prize-winning pig, the "Empress of Blandings", and at one point by his equally prize-winning pumpkin "Blandings' Hope".

The wealthy, scatterbrained Bertie Wooster narrates a number of stories and novels that recount the improbable and unfortunate situations in which he and his friends find themselves, and the manner in which his ingenious valet Jeeves is always able to extricate them. Collectively called "the Jeeves stories", or "Jeeves and Wooster", they are Wodehouse's most famous and most critically acclaimed.

Mr Mulliner is a long-winded pub raconteur who tells outrageous stories about his family, all surnamed Mulliner. His sometimes unwilling listeners are always identified solely by their drinks, e.g., a "Hot Scotch and Lemon" or a "Double Whisky and Splash."

References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

Usborne, Richard (2003). Plum Sauce: A P. G. Wodehouse Companion. New York: The Overlook Press, 137–207. ISBN 1-58567-441-9.
McCrum, Robert (2004). Wodehouse: A Life. W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 0-393-05159-5.
Davis, Lee (1993). Bolton & Wodehouse & Kern: The Men Who Made Musical Comedy. James H. Heineman Incorporated. ISBN 0-87008-131-4.
Day, Barry (2004). The Complete Lyrics of P. G. Wodehouse. The Scarecrow Press, Inc. ISBN 0-8108-4994-1.

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