Wodehouse: A Life by Robert McCrum

by Robert McCrum

To Evelyn Waugh he was simply "the Master." He wrote ninety novels and story collections, and among his immortal characters are Jeeves, Psmith, and the Empress of Blandings (who is, of course, a pig). Equally impressive is the range of his Dorothy Parker, John Updike, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Salman Rushdie, John le Carre, and Seamus Heaney. Wodehouse had an extraordinary Broadway career, working with Guy Bolton and Jerome Kern, and even dared to re write Cole Porter's Anything Goes for the London stage. Robert McCrum's magisterial biography chronicles the achievements and shadows of a gilded life. The ill-judged broadcasts from Berlin, where Wodehouse was interned during World War II, produced a violent backlash in England and tarred him, unfairly, as a Nazi sympathizer. His long love affair with America was compromised by endless acrimony with the IRS. This is the book all Wodehouse fans have been waiting for; it eclipses all previous accounts of his life. An Economist Best Book of 2004.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, History, Biography Memoir, Humor, Unfinished, Writing

Hardcover

First published September 2, 2004

About the author

Robert McCrum is an associate editor of the Observer. He was born and educated in Cambridge. For nearly 20 years he was editor-in-chief of the publishers Faber & Faber. He is the co-author of The Story of English (1986), and has written six novels. He was the literary editor of the Observer from 1996 to 2008, and has been a regular contributor to the Guardian since 1990

Reviews

[Sketchbook · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another famous writer in a sexless marriage, and it worked beautifully for 60 years. At 32, PG, who had no interest in sex, but needed someone to organize his overloaded life as fame increased yearly, married Brit Ethel Wayman in 1914 in NYC, where she'd gone to find a husband. Her resume already included 2 dead husbands and a daughter in boarding school. He wasnt even certain of her last name. But Ethel was a commanding figure -- and also fun. She needed an affluent husband, quickly. He needed someone to "arrange" his life, like Jeeves with Bertie, if you will. "Every marriage has its mysteries," author McCrum says in one of his few wise moments. PGs comic novels reveal the man. In "Piccadilly Jim," the heroine says of marriage: "Pick someone who is kind and amusing and full of life." The duo not only slept in separate beds, but also bedrooms, sometimes on separate floors -- so PG could always continue writing undisturbed.

PG only asked that she be very discreet, if she had a romantic flutter. She was discreet. He adopted and adored her daughter. With little to do -- and no need to douche -- Ethel shopped and gave parties, arranged travel and constant changes of addresses, which included a 16-room mansion in Mayfair that enlisted 11 servants. O, Ethel ! "Ours has been a perfect union," PG later said. But, you may wonder, how did dear ol PG handle a stiffy? ~ You may ask, but don't expect an answer. Like a zillion other Brit lads, PG came of age during the Oscar Wilde scandal, and, notes the author, this left a dark shadow on UK males for the next 60 years (With help from pisspot Queen Victoria).

Further, PG grew up never having parental love, or any kind of love. His father was a magistrate in Hong Kong and his mum was an icy dreadnought who happily dispatched her sons to formidable aunts and clerics in London. He quickly developed storytelling powers to stay on keel and never showed emotion. It was always : "Pull up the old socks." PG was exceptionally good-natured, cultivated an unflappable detachment, was always easy-going, self-effacing and, said Frank Crowninshield, editor of Vanity Fair, "Colorless." In sum, he was a Nice Guy.

This "niceness" extends to his comic novels, plays, poetry, stories and lyrics. Though he spent time in Hollywood @ $2,500 a week in the 30s, his Hollywood stories are hilariously wonderful and goofy. There's nothing mean in his depiction of the crass moguls; he just explored the lunatic absurdity of the industry. The only thing that represented reality to PG was his own writing, and the artificiality of Blandings Castle and his invented sports who came and went there. This was the only real world . It protected him. It resulted in personal horrors during W2.

When rumors of war hit him and Ethel at Le Touquet, Fr., where they lived in a splendid villa with assorted yelping dogs, and he, per usual, was only focused on his then-current novel ("Joy in the Morning"), PG paid no heed. They were protected by the Maginot Line and Hitler was just a loud bully. Life was peaceful. Others, of course, were soon leaving France, but what would he do about the dogs ? -- and, far more important, he had a key work-in-progress. The blinkered Mr & Mrs W stayed put. It's all so daftly Bertie Wooster....

The Panzers arrived with German soldiers. PG ended up interned w 100s of other men, under 60, in Belgium and soon in Germany, a few miles from Auschwitz. PG was 59. This section takes up 100 pages -- and is the reason for reading any bio of PG. His is a remarkable story. How did he survive amid nervous breakdowns, suicides, cramped cells, and moldy bread for supper ? He "pulled up the old socks" -- and kept writing away. At any early age he taught himself to write anywhere, under any conditions. His artificial world saved him.

After a year or so, the Nazis realized they had a celebrity in their midst and suddenly moved him to Berlin, a lively place since no bombs had yet fallen there. He was manipulated into making radio broadcasts giving the US a "comic PG version" of internment, which he'd done for his interned pals as "stories" to keep them sane -- and alive. He was "freed" but couldn't leave Germany....Postwar, PG was held in disgrace...badly damaged, but the verdict was that his broadcasts were "stupid, but not treacherous." Before he died in 1975, he was knighted.

He spent his last years with Ethel in Southampton, Long Island.

That said, I regret that this bio (prior to 1940) reads like a circular which arrives with your credit card invoice. There's no discussion of his theatre work w Jerome Kern, Cole Porter or George Gershwin. Maybe the author had no material or he simply wasn't interested. The writing is mostly flat.
=========
Wodehouse play adaptations: The Play's the Thing, Her Cardboard Lover, Candle Light.
Musicom credits: Leave it to Jane, Oh, Kay! (which made Gert Lawrence a US star), Anything Goes.
Movie: A Damsel in Distress (Astaire-Fontaine)

[Cecily · Rating 2 out of 5]

Doesn't come to life, so suffers in comparison to the works of Wodehouse himself. It's a diligent and comprehensive but rather flat essay, rattling off facts in an efficient chronology, but lacking in passion, or even original insights about its subject. There are numerous notes, but there is no superscript marker when reading the chapters, so you don't know when there is additional information, which is intensely irritating. He also contradicts himself, eg emphasising that PGW was a loner but then describing another situation as satisfying his need for companionship, and giving contradictory summaries of his academic success (or otherwise). The generally favourable reviews were presumably from his cronies and those wanting reciprocal favours (he's the Observer's Literary editor).

Try to get a copy of Barry Phelps' P. G. Wodehouse: man and myth.

[K.A. Laity · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is never a time that reading Wodehouse is not a delight, although somehow summer seems particularly perfect. There’s such a lightness of touch to his humour that feels so effortless that you want to pick up this hefty doorstop tome and find that ah ha! He did indeed sell his soul to the devil to achieve that perfect élan. There are moments in this biography where you despair that McCrum has hidden the truth because after two years struggling as a banker by day and writer by night, Wodehouse made a splash that ebbed at times but never really has subsided. It’s a bit discouraging for us mere mortals.

The truth of course is much more complicated; Wodehouse reacted to one of those remote sort of childhoods by shutting down an awful lot. If his carefree Edwardian bachelors provided wish-fulfillment and his terrifying aunts some sort of Freudian window, we can not really know because even with his best, life-long friend he rarely let slip the real feelings inside. Perhaps he did his best to never hear them himself. He loved his fictional worlds where everything went according to plan.

When he did let himself go — tellingly, not so much in marriage but in loving his step-daughter — he did genuinely adore. When she died he seemed completely stunned, saying ‘I thought she was immortal.’ He retreated even further into his ordered life and non-stop writing routine. Even the war did not stop that — not when he was taken as a prisoner, not when he was released and living in Berlin and made those stupid radio appearances. The understandable (but also Daily Mail-fanned) flames of outrage raged back in Britain (especially amongst those who had not heard the broadcasts) and stunned the writer. He had been persuaded to do them to let his American readers know that he had indeed survived the war. Idiocy to not realise how he was being manipulated. While at times I wish I could be totally disengaged from the world around me, this is the cost that brings.

He never went back to Britain, although it was often suggested. Even when he was knighted, the mountain came to Mohammed because he was too frail to travel from his Long Island home. By his death he was once more popular and celebrated. I first came to his work when PBS broadcast Wodehouse Playhouse (part of my oddly British-shaped youth, filled with Python, the Goons and of course Peter Cook). I loved the humour; as a writer I admire even more the exquisite ease of his writing. I know the work behind it now, but it makes the magic no less sparkling.

[Kay · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd always meant to read a biography of Wodehouse, and in many ways this is an excellent one, particularly good at coming to grips with what made Wodehouse tick. However, I can't say that at the end of it all that I actually appreciate Wodehouse more than I did previously. This is probably my fault rather than the biographer's, but "ignorance was bliss" when it came to the creator of such immortal characters as Jeeves and Lord Emsworth. Finding out that Wodehouse was a sexless, naive workaholic married to a rather shrill, self-centered socialite was a bit of a let-down.

On the positive side, there's a lot of material here on Wodehouse's work in musical theater and Hollywood that I hadn't any inkling about and that helped create a fuller picture of his considerable talents.

[Phrodrick slowed his growing backlog · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well I mean it's certainly, well, whatsit. Plum or Plummie as his old school chums knew him was always a cove of the right sort. Good with the old cricket bat and not at all bad when it was time to put up the old gloved dukes. Evan better it was always stiff Manhattans for his chums and if a chappie happened to needed a fast fiver to round out the evening he always knew where to find an open hand. Now maybe he didn't always cast the fellows from the Drones club under the rosiest Tiffany lamp but to just chuck his bio full on with all this chatter about psychology and missing his mother well, I mean. Why not just a sharp biff to the hat holder with a padded out eel skin?

Robert McCrum's Wodehouse A Life is a surprisingly serious tome about a mostly withdrawn man who is most famous for a rather large catalog of light humor, one great musical (Anything Goes) and a number of mostly forgotten musical comedies.(Edit Wodehouse's enduring contribution to Broadway was to help move the format to one where story and song are in mutual support , more like modern Broadway)Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, Plum or Plumie to most everyone was a man who managed to be deliberately uninteresting in himself but a part of, or author of a long list of entertainment and especially lasting literary humor across 3/4 of the 20th century.

The biography makes very clear that of the most important foundational characteristics of this man are that he was withdrawn, likely to downplay any events of his real-life and best able to be himself and at his best when driving himself to publish his next book or story. Public school which in America is called private school became his model for his adult social life. That is, dealing with the world was best done in accordance with Edwardian school social norms and by ensuring your independence via hard work.

Somehow these very ordinary guidelines turned into a three page listing of titles memorable for their whimsy, controlled chaos and not quite over the top loud laugh inducing silliness. PG Wodehouse would become memorable for the characters: Psmith, Bertie Wooster his inimitable gentleman's gentleman Jeeves, Lord Elmsworth and his award-winning. Empress Blandings. PG would have numerous songs performed on Broadway be a key creator in the musical Anything Goes and a so-so career in the earliest days of Hollywood.

All of this would be something of a strange prelude to a strange disquieting World War II that he would spend as a not entirely comfortable guest of the Nazi government. McCrum tries valiantly to do an objective analysis of the degree to which Wodehouse was author to his own discomfiture. The facts are that these events form an separate story that will color the events of the rest of his life. More detail might be understood or misunderstood as a spoiler but I would suggest that this middle passage is likely to be the portion that will give the reader the most to think about.

Robert McCrum writes a very thorough, relatively easy to read book. It is not so academic as to make it feel stodgy even though most of the time the central figure, himself is somewhat stodgy. There are a few plot reviews here perhaps a few too many but I rather like getting another analytical view on books I enjoy. It is through McCrum that I came to realize the most important secret about how these stories remain entertaining a hundred years after the collapse of the Edwardian manor house, butler economy. Wodehouse knew he was writing something more akin to a fairy tale than simply funny stories.

A shortcoming in the this book is a refusal to dig too deeply into either PG's sex life or with that of his wife. If the subject were not raised at all; one could credit the author with delicacy. The repeated suggestions that Ethel was more than just a social butterfly and perhaps was too close a number of men possibly including German officers give the book a of flavor of teasing tattletale.

I enjoyed Wodehouse A Life. I can recommend. It is good biography it is not great biography. If you are not a fan of Wodehouse most likely you will miss the concept of a 400 page book about an otherwise minor (?) humorist. From this book I have concluded that there is a lot more to the PG Wodehouse catalog and that I have a lot more reading and laughing to do.

[F.R. · Rating 3 out of 5]

The problem with writing a biography of Wodehouse is that he didn’t participate in the Spanish Civil War, or hunt down great elephants in Africa, or even engage in vitriolic correspondence with peers. In fact he was almost the perfect embodiment of Flaubert’s maxim about how the best atmosphere for writing is a mundane one. The only stand-out bit of drama and excitement in his life were the events of the Second World War and they are covered in great detail in McCrum’s book, but I’m not sure the modern reader is as concerned about his behaviour as his contemporaries were. Certainly it's now far from the defining feature of his career. As such McCrum has an uphill task in making the controversy of that time seem as alive as it once did.

Nevertheless this is a thorough and well written biography, but one which falls into three distinct parts – young ambitious/successful writer, wartime idiot and repentant old duffer. It does help to place Wodehouse’s novels and characters into context, but I can’t help thinking that the average fan would have a more enjoyable time curled up with ‘Summer Lightning’ or ‘The Code of the Woosters’.

[João Cirilo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Que livro! Gostei bastante - apesar do meu inglês (ainda) bem enferrujado, que me obrigou a buscar uma quantidade homérica de palavras e termos.

O foco no "problema" com os alemães é, às vezes, um pé no saco, mas totalmente relevável, visto a quantidade de informações e casos acerca do Wodehouse.

Foi extremamente prazeroso ler cada página, cada carta trocada com Bill, cada frase citada e cada piada (mesmo quando eu não consegui entender direito).

Termino o livro triste, já que não existe mais nesse mundo um senhorzinho chamado Pelham pitando um cachimbo e escrevendo histórias sobre valetes, aristocratas idosos, playboys eduardianos e noivas malucas. Mas termino também feliz, já que esse senhorzinho existiu e teve a humildade de deixar a própria alegria expressa em papel.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have only read 5 Wodehouse books (Mulliner Nights, Mike and Psmith, Psmith in the City, My Man Jeeves, and Cocktail Time), so I am no Wodehouse aficionado, but I always like to know a little about the authors I read. This book was a great survey of his life and work.

And work he did. Wodehouse had a life with very little passion or excitement, but gave his full energy to his writing.

Some of the things that interested me:

His childhood and youth were rather bleak. From the age of three to the age of fifteen, he saw his parents for a total of about 6 months. He wanted very much to go to Oxford but his father suddenly decided that he wouldn’t allow it and he had to go to work in a bank. What saved him was his innate good humor and ability to work hard, and the experiences he had at Dulwich College. There he began writing and also excelled at sports.

I had no idea that he wrote for the stage and worked with the Gershwins, Cole Porter, and Jerome Kern on various musicals. I didn’t know he’d spent time in Hollywood and knew many of the stars of the time.

He had a very long and seemingly successful marriage, although it sounded quite passionless. He and his wife were more friends and housemates than lovers. I wondered if perhaps he was gay and used his marriage as a “cover”, but that didn’t seem to be the case—he was simply not interested in the physical side of life. His true passion was his work.

While he did a fair amount of travel, he never seemed too interested in sightseeing or exploring other cultures. He merely moved his work routine to a new place.

He loved to walk and kept to a morning exercise routine for 50 years.

A particularly fascinating part of the book covered his wartime broadcasts for Germany. He was not a pro-German propagandist like Lord Haw Haw. He simply didn’t realize what he was doing. He wanted to have a way to address his readers and to amuse them, and didn’t stop to think how his behavior would be seen. He came to regret his actions but never really understood what the fuss was all about. As a result of those broadcasts, he was never able to return to England.

While he was a superb comic writer, he apparently surprised people by being a rather serious, even dull, conversationalist. He was at heart an introvert who was never happier than he was on his own, writing.

Besides writing about his life, McCrum wrote about all of Plum’s many works and really gave me the desire to read a lot more of Wodehouse than I have so far. An extremely worthwhile biography!

[Noah Goats · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wodehouse's novels are so light, graceful, and charmingly hilarious, that they create the illusion that they were written effortlessly by some brilliant man with a facile wit. Actually, as McCrumb shows us, they were the product of a lifetime of hard work by a man who was likable but not particularly funny in person.

The first part of this book breezed along for me as I learned about Wodehouse's early career as a struggling writer who did soul crushing work in a bank, his early success, his career in the theater, and his work in Hollywood. I enjoyed learning about the development of his classic characters like Wooster and Mulliner. But as I read, the shadow of Wodehouse's WWII disgrace loomed over me, and I actually stopped reading this book altogether for about a week right as the Germans were entering France. McCrumb does his best work in the WWII section. I had read about Wodehouse's wartime broadcasts in magazine articles in the past, but I didn't dig too deeply into it. If Orwell gave him a clean bill of health and his depiction of Sir Roderick Spode proved him to be an opponent of fascism, that was good enough as far as I was concerned. McCrumb finally shed light on the whole sorry episode for me. Wodehouse was being Wodehouse, unable to see the propaganda value of his lighthearted broadcasts from Germany. In his mind, he was showing the stiff upper lip. At the same time, the angry reaction of many of the British people at the time was also perfectly understandable. In the context, it looked really bad.

This is a very good book about one of my all time favorite writers.

[Andy Holdcroft · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disappointingly lightweight & lacking in revealing details..... Actually a boring book on a writer who was never dull. How ironic.....

[Brian Steed]

Almost didn’t pick this up, since I’ve already read Frances Donaldson’s Wodehouse biography, but I’m glad I did. Noticed a few contradiction in McCrum’s take on Wodehouse’s character (eg. he sometimes implies that PGW was colorless and drab company, but then later refers to his huge personal charm), but this is probably the bane of any biographer of a man as elusive as Wodehouse. What an odd and interesting man.

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think I read my first Jeeves and Wooster short story when I was around ten or eleven years old. My English nanny had encouraged me to read British children's literature and one of her last gifts, before I became too old for superintendency, was an introduction to P.G. Wodehouse. And thank God for it. I have read Wodehouse all my life. When I married a second time, it was a clear sign of divine approbation that she suggested we listen to Jeeves and Wooster in the car on long road trips. We also bought the entire BBC series (23 programmes) with Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry and watched them seriatim. That same sweet bride bought me this weighty biography and she chose well. McCrum has the credentials to work back and forth from the man to the body of his literature. He does both well. Reading a book like this will have an impact on how I read Wodehouse for the rest of my life. Knowing more about his life illumines his settings, his characters, and his plots. This is unlikely to detract from the absolute delight of knocking about Edwardian England between gentlemen's clubs and country manors, with earls and aunts and butlers and girls who dance in the theatre, with miracle hangover cures and pigs of pedigree. Because the author keeps it light, always light, light and wonderful.

[Phil · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had great fun with the book, I don't know if it adds anything critical to things, but I think it's a very good portrait of a complicated man who was regularly simplified.

The training that he gained from his upbringing to keep a stiff up her lip caused his downfall in popular opinions for his supposed collaboration during the war. that this was fundamental his personality makeup, not seeing anything wrong with getting preferential treatment, believing that putting a good face on things was helping his fellow interness, is excellently highlighted.

Maybe from my own viewpoint, but this pairs perfectly with the sensibilities that allowed affluence at the cost of the exploitation of colonial subjects that was "middle class" England of the 19th and early 20th century. His relationships with his pets, hanger-on friends, and book character wife (and the tender but tragic stepchild) all fill out someone who can get lost behind his sparkling pros.

Again, I don't believe there will be any critical insights in the book that a scholar would not have come across already, while it is a biography of an author I don't know if I'd call it a literary biography, but this feels like a very complete, and satisfying summation of the life of a fondly loved author.

I would definitely recommend it to anybody who's read more than 10 Wodehouse novels, and/or who enjoys a good biography.

[Tracey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I started this last year and kept putting it down. I was going to forget it until I read the reviews. I always thought Woodhouse was a beloved British writer. I can't believe what he went through. It's unfortunate. The book had some interesting information. It's was hard for me to finish, I kept getting distracted.

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is best suited to researchers and truly obsessive Wodehouse fans. For those readers who have simply enjoyed a few Bertie and Jeeves or Psmith novels, this biography will be a struggle.

The problem is that PG Wodehouse was a person of rigid routine who had only a handful of interests (cricket, his old high school, pekinese dogs, and his own writing); he was also a workaholic. This makes for pretty dull reading, but the author did his best with it and managed to wring a real doorstopper out of it all. We learn how many words Wodehouse writes per day, how many words each book contains, how many words were written up in the initial plot outlines, and how many words had to be scratched out from the final copies of every book. Each year's articles, short stories, poems, Broadway show lyrics, script revisions, and books are faithfully reported. His daily routine is laid out in both short and long forms in 21 of the 26 chapters, even though this routine does not change for sixty years.

In fact, we learn a lot about the minutiae of Wodehouse's life without really learning much about the man himself. The overall picture is of a brilliant writer who saves everything for the page, leaving nothing for life itself. Affable and harmless, he comes off as rather simple-minded in this book. This last characteristic leads to the only interesting event in his life, the "Berlin Broadcasts", when he gave a series of radio broadcasts on Nazi radio during WWII. The biographer attempts to justify Wodehouse's conduct by claiming that he is "ill-equipped to deal with the challenge confronting him", and that when asked by friends-turned-Nazis to do the broadcasts Wodehouse "behaved as he always did when confronted by difficult or complex choices, which was to let others take care of the arrangements" (p. 304). For my part, I take the side of Harold Nicolson, who wrote, "I resent the theory that 'poor old P.G. is so innocent that he is not responsible'" (p. 316). It was hard to look at this episode with my modern eyes and feel anything but incredulity at Wodehouse's conduct, and rightly or not it did sour me towards him. As much as the previous chapters had been a slog, at least I was on his side. Afterwards and all throughout the rest of the book I wasn't sure if I liked him at all.

[Josh · Rating 3 out of 5]

I probably won't finish this one. I got the thrill of his early work and his time on Broadway. Weird to think of him as socializing occasionally with Scott Fitzgerald. This probably just shows how few biographies I've read, but I'm consistently annoyed by biographers' need to speculate about trivial, unconfirmable stuff. It's interesting (I guess) that Wodehouse might have been sterile, and boring to constantly be reminded that this or that might be an indication that he was relatively uninterested in sex. I'm relatively uninterested in the level of consideration Wodehouse gave to sex.

All in all, I enjoyed what I read of it, and am not abandoning the book because I found particular fault with it. I just got most of what I wanted from it, and don't really care about getting into the WWII treason controversy, which I suspect is a main thrust of the book, based on how the chapters are laid out. I might come back to it later.

[William Alberque · Rating 2 out of 5]

Shockingly poorly written for such a comprehensive account. Let me say upfront, that I adore Wodehouse. He was one of the great English writers. "Code of the Woosters" is a complete and utter classic, and a big "fuck you" to anyone who has read it and doesn't think so. And if you haven't read it, go dunk your head in a bucket of cold water. Idiots.

This account, while staggeringly complete, is in good need of an editor. It appears that each paragraph was written in serial, ironically enough, for separate publication. I kept shaking my head as I ran across identical passages and repeated information from chapter to chapter. INCREDIBLY frustrating to read in one sitting. I suppose if you read a chapter a month for a few years, it'd be edifyingly self-referential. Otherwise, McCrumb, you're a twat. Hire a fucking editor.

[Josh · Rating 5 out of 5]

One mark of a great biography is that, by the end, you feel a measure of sadness at the death of the subject. McCrum's biography of PG Wodehouse fits that bill. I knew nothing about Wodehouse beyond the delightful world of Wooster and Jeeves, but by the end of this biography I felt like I knew him, and liked him. Even though most writers live somewhat predictable lives that make biographies a bit dull (a biographer can only describe typewriting manuscripts and editing proofs so many times), Wodehouse lived through remarkable international events. His struggles in World War II, and his long exile from England afterwards, made for both fascinating and poignant reading. If you're a fan of PGW, read this biography.

[Darcy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Years ago I had created a list of all the books P.G. Wodehouse had written, in publication order, with the intent of reading them all. Armed with this, I descended upon the library and over time did just that!. Afterwards, I read a couple of volumes about the author himself and besides revisiting the collected works of all the Jeeves and Wooster stories (My favorites) I felt no need to look for more. However, it turns out I was not done with Plum, rather, this book by Robert McCrum was passed onto me and recommended by a friend whose opinion I value greatly. This left me no choice but to crack the covers to determine if there was anything fresh to learn about this wonderful writer. Turns out, there was!

McCrum moves through the entirety of Pelham's life and groups the chapters into eras delineated by significant occurrences. Particular attention is paid to the aspects of Wodehouse's character which are at odds, but at the same time entwinned, with his writing. He was a man that belonged to an era that ceased to exist but whose values and way of looking at the world remained with him throughout life. A gentle soul whose public persona was lacking the comedic bent found in his stories, he came across to those who knew and met him as likeable, rather than memorable. Much of this is at odds with the pall cast over his name during his internment and radio broadcasts set up by the Nazis during the Second World War.

The broadcasts are not reprinted here but they are very much a product of the era. Seemingly innocuous, when viewed through the trauma of the time, they appeared to many to be the words of a collaborator. One of the foci of this book is to provide a background against which the intent of P.G. can be better understood. While not directly mentioned, I found myself wondering, what is the state of mind of an elderly pacifist, thrust into captivity then offered a potential way out which only involves doing and being what you have always been and done? A difficult issue to be sure, but one which eventually was forgiven through the granting of honors in his declining years.

This is a detailed and fascinating book. There are no skeletons unearthed and I truly believe there are none. This is just a portrait of a gentleman who enjoyed writing about a bygone time with memorable characters in byzantine plots that always provided a happy ending. In a way, this was Wodehouse's life as well.

[C. Patrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

I recently chanced on this biography while browsing the Reston used bookstore in northern Virginia. Reading this book was like downhill running, I was quickly absorbed in McCrum’s writing and found myself flying through its chapters. The author does a remarkable job accounting and judging Wodehouse’s canon. He also provides a very balanced assessment of the five years Wodehouse was trapped behind German lines in WWII, and the subsequent months of civilian internment camps before the Nazis came to realize the famous man of letters they had in their grasp which led to what the author closed with as “His biggest trouble, the terrible wartime blunder, sprang from an admirable motive, the expression of gratitude to readers who liked his work.”

Reader’s of McCrum’s biography will obtain a clear view in a man, born in the late Victorian era and raised in the Edwardian period, who from a young age was driven to write and would do so prolifically until his passing in his nineties. The work he is most famously known for is situated in Edwardian England, and is as much a world of fantasy as would be crafted by other contemporary English authors such as CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien. His genius can be found in his prose that is a blend of the product of a formal English education, and the English slang he picked up in his youth. Wodehouse: A Life is highly recommended.

[Nora · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was really impressed with this biography. I went into it knowing nothing about PG Wodehouse other than that I have enjoyed the handful of his books I've read. I was astounded to read about his experience as a prisoner during WWII and his hapless blunder during that time which caused his country to accuse him of being a traitor and conspirator.

I also had no idea how prolific he was and how involved he was in Broadway and Hollywood productions. Writing was literally his life and he worked until the day died at the age of 94. Toward the end of his life those in England who had accused him backed down and one of them wrote this editorial about his work:

"For Mr Wodehouse there has been no fall of Man; no 'aboriginal calamity'. His characters have never tasted the forbidden fruit. They are still in Eden. The gardens of Blandings Castle are that original garden from which we are all exiled. The chef Anatole prepares the ambrosia for the immortals of high Olympus. Mr Wodehouse's world can never stale. He will continue to release future generations from captivity that may be more irksome than our own. He has made a world for us to live in and delight in."

Couldn't have said it better myself.

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A mild, pleasant and charming man, nearly oblivious to the great issues of the day, so much so that he unwittingly disgraced himself while a prisoner of the Germans during World War II by making several lighthearted broadcasts about prison life for the German propaganda effort. Britain was not in the mood for anything lighthearted about Nazis. This sad story I had never heard, and I am glad that it is mostly forgotten, for Wodehouse is to be treasured. This book could have been half as long, and considerably less repetitious, and I could have done without quite so many plot summaries. Still, there were some almost literally unbelievable tidbits -- for instance, that after he was released, Wodehouse -- and his wife! -- lived for some time, apparently contentedly, in Berlin, in the hotel that was the major gathering place for Nazi brass, and that when things began to get warm he managed to wangle an invitation to stay at a remote manor house in eastern Germany, in absolute serenity, for an entire year, at the height of the war. As I said, unbelievable.

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderfully readable biography of Wodehouse, written with affection, insight, and a willingness to deal with the hard stuff, such as the war-time broadcasts Wodehouse made from Germany that got him into terrible hot water.
Many quick summaries of the books, including ones that are barely remembered, and a great sense of the man who only wanted to write, go for walks (preferably with dogs and sometimes, other animals), live contentedly with his wife (who was the very opposite in enjoying social life to the full), come home, read, and have a quiet life.
There are a few very minor errors - apparently - but these are hardly to be counted amongst the wealth of information presented here, and the absorbing picture of a man who was modest, and gentle, and - even after having written seventy or more books - could sometimes feel that he wasn't really much of a writer. That didn't stop him adding twenty or thirty more titles to his list.

[Kristi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love PG Wodehouse, and the first part of this biography was interesting (and sad): Wodehouse had an emotionally starved childhood, and McCrum connects characters and incidents from Wodehouse's stories to his life.

Once you get past this intriguing look into "the psychology of the individual," as Jeeves would say, the book becomes a laundry list of all the stories, books, songs, plays, etc. that Wodehouse wrote. His life was pretty much wrapped up in writing for many years. His marriage is a rather sad affair, too.

I abandoned hope halfway through -- just lost interest. I still love Wodehouse's stories, but his life isn't worth examining or celebrating. What a shame.

[R Davies · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent biography of Wodehouse's career and life, covering the milestones and the controversy of his world war two "disgrace" for the radio broadcasts on Nazi radio. McCrum is on point empathetically adding context without imposing his own narrative too forcefully. The research and the weaving together of these details feels impeccable and it is hard to imagine another work providing as full a picture - as is possible for such a reticient and private man as Wodehouse was, at least emotionally.

[Chet Makoski · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are many biographies of P G Wodehouse, I have 13 of them. This biography, being the latest version benefited by those that went before. “Wodehouse, A Life” is a delight and perhaps the best. It is interesting to see how his life related to the creation of the 96 books he wrote. The content of his books are often described. I own and read each of his books published during his lifetime and found the biographical information valuable to enhancing my understanding of the books.

[Stuart · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an insightful, knowledgeable and well written literary biography. McCrum does a good job of interweaving Wodehouse's literary achievements with the events of his life. He presents an appreciative, while at times critical, appraisal of Wodehouse and his work. I highly recommend it for fans of his novels and stories.

[Andrew Pratley · Rating 5 out of 5]

P.G. Wodehouse was something of an enigma. He was also writer of genius who left to all of us a wonderful body of work. I am an unabashed fan of Wodehouse's books & approached Robert McCrum's biography of the great man seeking to understand Wodehouse the man & his work. This biography thankfully succeeds in furnishing the reader with a compelling portrait of this very singular Englishman.

[David Cook · Rating 3 out of 5]

In many ways an admirable attempt at biography. The fact that it tended more towards historiography than history reflects the bias of the author. He wanted to exculpate "the master" so badly that the narrative is flawed. And such a stylist as PGW was sadly let down by such a dull writer.

Overall, a worthwhile read that perhaps would have benefited from some judicious editing.

[Ali Miremadi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent biography. Thorough and balanced on the German broadcast debate but more interesting for me to go through the work. It isn’t a surprise that it took a quiet, not especially interesting person to create such dazzlingly brilliant books.