Wodehouse, (Sir) P(elham) G(renville) - Introduction

(Sir) P(elham) G(renville) Wodehouse 1881–1974

English-born novelist, short story writer, lyricist, dramatist, and critic.

Wodehouse has been hailed by many prominent authors and critics as one of the early twentieth century's greatest humorists and recognized for his command of writing and the English language. His elaborate, farcical plots, owing much to Sir W. S. Gilbert and William Shakespeare, are often set in an upper-class, pseudo-Edwardian milieu, featuring musical comedy-stock characters. Bertie Wooster and his valet, Jeeves, a team often compared to world literature's most famous duos, appear often in Wodehouse's canon, including his strongest novels, The Code of the Woosters and Joy in the Morning. Beginning in 1910, Wodehouse lived in both England and the United States; he became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1955.

(See also CLC, Vols. 1, 2, 5, 10, Contemporary Authors, Vols. 45-48; Contemporary Authors New Revision Series, Vol. 3; obituary, Vols. 57-60.)