P.G. Wodehouse

Pelham Grenville Wodehouse (15 October 1881 – 14 February 1975) was a British novelist, playwright and lyricist, best known for his comic prose and characters like Jeeves and Bertie Wooster.

Life

Pelham Grenville Wodehouse was born as the third son of Henry Ernest Wodehouse, a British judge working in Hong Kong, and Eleanor Wodehouse(formerly Deane) while she was visiting Guildforn in Surrey, England. Apart from his two older brothers, Peveril and Armine, Wodehouse also had a much younger brother named Richard. He spent the first three years of his life with his parents in Hong Kong and then was sent back to England with a nanny and attended various boarding schools. During his early life he barely ever saw his parents, but attended the same schoold as his two older brothers. From 1886 to 1889 he attended The Chalet School on Croydon. In 1889 he and his two older brothers were sent to Elizabeth College in Guernsey, where he spent two years until it was time to attend his first prep school, Malvern House near Dover. There he spent two years, in which he was very unhappy, but finally was able to persuade his father to change to Dulwich College, where he achieved great academic and athletic success. At Dulwich Wodehouse also came into contact with the performing arts, as he acted leading roles in teatrical and musical productions. These would remain a part of his later life. After finishing school his father found him a position with the Hong Kong and Shanghai bank in London. Wodehouse himself, however, never desired to be a banker, and already started writing part time while wokring at the bank, before quitting completely in 1902 and starting to work as a writer full-time. His first work as a journalist was with The Globe, but he also wrote articles for various other magazines, like Vanity Fair and The World: A Journal for Men and Women. In 1909 he managed to sell two of his short stories, after which he resigned from The Globe and relocated to New York, where we wrote for the American Vanity Fair and from 1915 on started working on various musical productions. In 1914 P. G. Wodehouse married Ethey Wayman, who came into the marriage with a daughter from a past relationship. They to never had other children. From 1914 on Wodehouse and his family split time between England and New York, until relocating to France in 1934. When Germany invaded France, Wodehouse, his wife and daughter were interned and sent to Belguim and later Toszek in Poland, where their daughter died. After the war Wodehouse relocated to New York permanently and became a U.S. citizen in 1955. He died in New York in 1975 (aged 93) due to a heart attack.

Work

Between 1902 and 1975 Wodehouse wrote 93 books, including novels, collections of short stories ans musical comedies. In addition he worked on and published 15 plays and wrote more than two hundred song lyrics. He is best known for his humorist story series, most of all the so called "Jeeves books" His series are:

1) Blandings Castle Series (11 Novels and 9 short stories)

2) Drones Club Stories (25 short stories and some related novels)

3) Golf Stories or Oldest Member Stories (8 short stories)

4) The Jeeves books (35 short stories and 11 novels)

5) Mr Mulliner Series (42 short stories)

6) Psmith Series (4 novels)

7) School Stories

8) Ukridge Series

9) Uncle Fred Stories

And various other novels and short stories not included in any series.

Sources

Jasen, David. A Bibliography and Reader's Guide to the First Editions of P. G. Wodehouse. London: Barrie & Jenkins, 1971.

Jasen, David A. P.G. Wodehouse: A portrait of a master. New York: Schirmer, 2002.

McCrum, Robert. Wodehouse: A Life. London: Viking, 2004.

McIlvaine, Eileen; Louise S. Sherby and James H. Heineman. P G Wodehouse: A Comprehensive Bibliography and Checklist, New York: James H Heineman, Inc, 1990.

Wodehouse, Pelham G. Wodehouse on Wodehouse. London: Hutchinson, 1980.