P. G. Wodehouse

Biography

Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse was born on the 15^th of October 1881 in Guildford, Surrey, England. He was the third of four sons born to Ernest Wodehouse and his wife Eleanor Wodehouse. Ernest was a magistrate stationed in Hong Kong until Pelham was 15 years old. Eleanor came from a very religious family – her grandfather was a cardinal, her father a reverend, and many of her brothers became clergymen. Eleanor returned to Hong Kong with her sons shortly after Pelham (or as his family and friends called him, “Plum”) was born. As was the custom in the colonies, “the boys” were sent back to England for schooling when Wodehouse was two years old. He was looked after by a nanny until he was old enough to attend year-round school. At a young age, he was admitted into Dulwich College, which is a prestigious boarding school for boys located in London. During the holiday seasons, Wodehouse and his brothers would spend time with his numerous aunts and uncles.

Wodehouse began writing from a very young age, and it consumed him. After graduating from Dulwich, Wodehouse got a job at a bank, but he wasn’t happy unless he was writing. What started out as unhappy musings about his life in the banking industry eventually turned into comic pieces of fiction, and he continued to develop his style as he wrote for a column in the London newspaper, The Globe. He had over 80 pieces published by the time he was 20. At 20, he quit his job at the bank and became a full-time writer. Wodehouse was known for his absurd stories. He was constantly bringing in new jokes and a new flavor of humor to his readers. In 1904, he took his first trip to New York City. He enjoyed it so much that, five years later, he spent a year there. With a desire for inspiration and adventure, Wodehouse set sail for New York in 1904. Starting in 1914, he lived in both New York and London and traveled with his wife, Ethel Wayman (they married in 1914), and her daughter. During his career, Wodehouse wrote short stories, novels, poems, parodies, humorous articles, song lyrics and journalism pieces. He revolutionized the comedy in American musicals. He wrote Broadway plays with two friends. At one point, they had five of their shows on Broadway at the same time, which hasn’t been replicated since. Due to his transient nature, Wodehouse became popular in both Britain and America, leading to over three–million copies of his book Thank You, Jeeves being sold in his lifetime. Wodehouse was very prolific writing two novels a year along with numerous short stories.

During World War II, Wodehouse was living in France with his family when they were captured. At one point during his captivity, the Germans were asked to release Wodehouse because of his status as a novelist, but they refused to do so. They did give him access to a typewriter, however, and he ended up writing a short story during his time in prison. After his release, he was forced to do several humorous radio broadcasts by the Germans. Many of his readers in the UK believed him to be a traitor, and many disowned his work and threw his books away. An investigation showed that Wodehouse did not commit treason, but those facts weren’t disclosed until he was knighted six weeks before his death on February 14^th, 1975 in Long Island, New York. To this day he is considered one of the “Greatest of all English Humorists” (Sproat).

Understanding Wodehouse’s background gives great insight into his character Archie in the story, “The Man Who Married an Hotel.” Similar to Wodehouse’s earlier years, Archie arrives in New York and attempts to navigate the differences in culture, specifically those surrounding the hotel business. Additionally, within the short story, Archie meets and marries Lucille very quickly after they first meet at a house party. Wodehouse similarly met his wife Ethel within the first few days of coming to New York in 1914 and married her shortly thereafter. These connections are the beginning of a larger investigation into the similarities between Plum Wodehouse and his character Archie.

In another vein, Wodehouse’s light-hearted and optimistic view of the world is clearly depicted in his comical short stories. “Aunt Agatha Takes the Count,” one of the many short stories including his popular character Jeeves, is just one example of why his pieces can be characterized as comedy. While he overlays his works with humorous situations, there are many aspects that hearken back to his childhood experiences. Keeping politics out of his works, his stories could be seen as a kind of coping mechanism for all of the things that he went through, particularly through World War II. Wodehouse was able to find joy in even the most miserable circumstances, and he was able to convey that joy to others through his many works.