P. G. Wodehouse is an anomaly in twentieth-century fiction. In an age of relentless artistic experimentation, he wrote fiction firmly rooted in the Edwardian world of his childhood. In an age of rapidly changing moral and sexual values, he created characters and situations remarkable for their purity and innocence. In an age whose mood was decidedly serious, he wrote fiction designed solely for amusement. And in an age of artistic angst and alienation, for nearly eighty years Wodehouse wrote novels and short stories that succeeded in pleasing his readers, his critics, and himself.

Pelham Greville Wodehouse was born on 15 October 1881, the third of four sons of Henry Ernest Wodehouse, a member of the British civil service in Hong Kong, and Eleanor Deane Wodehouse, the daughter of a minister, Rev. Deane of Bath. Sent back to England as early as 1884 with his older brothers, Philip and Armine, for schooling...