The World of Mr. Mulliner

Mr. Mulliner #1-3

by P.G. Wodehouse

Mr Mulliner, raconteur par excellence of the Anglers Rest, has some amazing stories to relate. Take, for example, young Lancelot. He is a bohemian - or was, until he had to look after his saintly uncle's cat Webster, and was startlingly transformed.

Genres: Humor, Fiction, Classics, Comedy, Short Stories, British Literature, Adult Fiction

624 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1935

About the author

Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, KBE, was a comic writer who enjoyed enormous popular success during a career of more than seventy years and continues to be widely read over 40 years after his death. Despite the political and social upheavals that occurred during his life, much of which was spent in France and the United States, Wodehouse's main canvas remained that of prewar English upper-class society, reflecting his birth, education, and youthful writing career.

An acknowledged master of English prose, Wodehouse has been admired both by contemporaries such as Hilaire Belloc, Evelyn Waugh and Rudyard Kipling and by more recent writers such as Douglas Adams, Salman Rushdie and Terry Pratchett. Sean O'Casey famously called him "English literature's performing flea", a description that Wodehouse used as the title of a collection of his letters to a friend, Bill Townend.

Best known today for the Jeeves and Blandings Castle novels and short stories, Wodehouse was also a talented playwright and lyricist who was part author and writer of fifteen plays and of 250 lyrics for some thirty musical comedies. He worked with Cole Porter on the musical Anything Goes (1934) and frequently collaborated with Jerome Kern and Guy Bolton. He wrote the lyrics for the hit song Bill in Kern's Show Boat (1927), wrote the lyrics for the Gershwin/Romberg musical Rosalie (1928), and collaborated with Rudolf Friml on a musical version of The Three Musketeers (1928).

Reviews

[✘✘ Sarah ✘✘ (former Nefarious Breeder of Murderous Crustaceans) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was going to review every single short story in this collection (there are 42 of them, FYI and stuff) but then I figured I'd be magnanimous for once and spare myself you the ordeal of going through one bloody shrimping year and a half of bloody shrimping notes reading through them, and here we are. So, this collection? It's P.G. Wodehouse, ergo it's hilariously hilarious, ergo read it you must. You're welcome and stuff.





[December 2020]

① Another Christmas Carol: 4 stars because DUH.

Jolly deaths + quivering noses & wiggling ears+ rich old aunts who subscribe to Playboy + interior decorating + suspiciously humorous Harley Street physicians + Orson Welles’ weight + bubonic plague & leprosy yay! + Christmas dinner + England’s tea-drinking crossword puzzle experts civil servants + Pure Diet and World Redemption + taxicab mix-ups + being smacked between the eyes with a wet fish = that’s the hilarious scrumptiousness and scrumptious hilariousness of P.G. Wodehouse for you.



I'm with you on that one, Little Helmet Men Of The Many Fingers In The Air.

This is short. This is free. This is here. And also here (audio). So what the bloody fish are you waiting for?

[Gopal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Till Mr Mulliner came along, Wodehouse’s short story arsenal comprised almost entirely of Jeeves, handling the Pavilion end and the Drones club doing its bit on the other side. There was a desire to transfer Jeeves entirely to novels but who would replace him? It is said that at the time Wodehouse, a maniacal proprietor of paper, had notebooks full of ideas for stories; but the plots were too outlandish to be used anywhere.

Not one to be found short of brilliant ideas, He had one. Why not have these stories dispensed onto the unsuspecting gentry by a storyteller of dubious veracity? Perhaps this was one way to channel his bizzare ideas. And so rather gingerly, the first installment called The truth about George was published.

When the story was finally inked in the Saturday evening post, the results were magical !! It was like finding gold lying on the street corner. The plots for a dozen more such stories were already laid down in his notebooks and these rolled out in quick succession, like golf balls on a driving range.

Jeeves moved over to novels permanently and Mr Mulliner took over watch at the Pavilion end.

In The World of Mr Mulliner, the aforementioned Mr Mulliner, a larger than life purveyor of tall tales holds court at the Angler’s rest, a seaside watering hole. No matter the discussion at hand, Mr Mulliner has a story handy on that very topic involving a member from his motley crew of relatives. Till Mulliner came about, most Wodehouse stories were variations on the same theme; a youthful scion of the landed gentry battling a situation generally involving a misunderstanding with a relative of consequence who manages the purse strings,and a love interest lurking not too far behind tying him up by the shoe strings. With the addition of Mulliner the masses joined the Wodehousian mileu.

If you are a fan of these tales, you can’t do better than this omnibus which is a compilation of all 42 Mulliner stories. I struck gold when I spotted this beautiful Taplinger hardback edition beckoning to me from the shelf of my local used book store. It was a steal at $10. I wouldn’t have hesitated to pay ten times as much.

This volume is a definite contender for my desert island book pick. Here’s one set of relatives I would choose in a heartbeat.

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I keep this book right next to my bed and read it when I feel discouraged about life. Wodehouse's sense of invention, his wit, his keen eye for the funny parts of human nature.... I feel better just thinking about it right now.

Many lines in these stories have become standard conversation between me and my husband. "What are a few orphreys between friends?"

Life is better with Wodehouse, some toasted English muffins and cocoa nearby.

[Peter Tillman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Omnibus. Includes Buck-u-Uppo, my Mom's favorite, & other great stories.

"Buck-u-Uppo" became a running family joke-on-me, since I was rather lazy and slow when I was a boy. Still am, actually... 😬

[Mary Catelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

The omnibus of all the Mr. Mulliner stories. Including all those in Meet Mr. Mulliner,
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Mr. Mulliner Speaking,
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
and Mulliner Nights,
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
plus some collected elsewhere.

Mr. Mulliner assures us that there are fishermen who are honest. Such as himself. And thus frames stories about premises that were too absurd for his regular madcap comedies. (And this works better at short length.)

Besides the collected stories, there's a bunch about an insane Hollywood, a question of fires, giving a moving sermon, and more.

[Julie Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection of all of Wodehouse's Mulliner stories was lots of fun. Mr. Mulliner belongs to that sort of story which I think of as "tall tales told in taverns." In this case, the stories all feature Mr. Mulliner's seemingly endless family members and P.G. Wodehouse's inventive comic genius. It's interesting to read these since they give a bit of insight into how Wodehouse must have written his books. Each of them has a plot which could ostensibly have been woven in with several others to produce a novel. It is nice to get them in these smaller bits so you can just dive in whenever the mood strikes. Which is just what I did.

[Aimee]

I tracked down this book for one six page story (Another Christmas Carol) that was recommended by one of my favorite authors, Connie Willis, in the appendix of her book of Christmas stories. I love Wodehouse, and so far this book has not disappointed. It's hilarious, and makes great before-bed reading when I want to make sure I'm not going to dream about the Blitz as I'm reading Willis' "Blackout."

[Jan Priddy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I only just realized I had never left a review for this, my favorite Wodehouse.

The humor is so spot on, particularly in "Unpleasantness at Bludleigh Court" a where sweet young poetic couple (authors of Pastels in Prose and Vignettes in Verse—yes, really as sentimental and cheesy as it sounds) journey to his family country home, and become infected by exposure to blood sport, and come up with:

When cares attack and life seems black,
How sweet it is to pot a yak,
Or puncture hares and grizzly bear,
And others I could mention...

Entirely out of character and getting worse by the hour.

[Somdutta · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the best P.G Wodehouse books which I have read till date. With hot Scotch and Lemon at Angler's Rest Mr Mulliner is always full with anecdotes which amuses and enlightens the readers with the characters in the "The World Of Mr Mulliner".Quite an amazing family Mr Mulliner has, where different members have traits , the presence of which helps them to handle any weird situations they fall into or what may befall them. Sometimes its Lady Luck who smiles upon them and they are safe and sound in the comfort of their own home.Needless to say , like all Wodehouse novels this book also has humor and wit, a combination of which P.G Wodehouse is an expert at.

[Kent · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining, and a great introduction to dry British humor. Some of the lines in Wodehouse's writing are absolutely brilliant in their ability to convey an idea memorably - sort of like high-class Southern colloquialisms.

Here is one of my favorites from this book:

"All alone in a dark world that smelt of mice, Frederick Mulliner gave himself up to gloomy reflection. He had just put in about two minutes' intense thought of a kind which would have made the meditations of Schopenhauer on one of his bad mornings seem like the day-dreams of Pollyanna . . ."

[Lauren · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was fairly entertaining, but not as good as the Golf Omnibus, and not nearly as good as any of the Jeeves and Wooster stuff. Even by Wodehouse standards, the characters in this collection of vignettes were too one-dimensional, too predictable, and the conclusions of the conflicts too absurd. I was particularly bothered by the female portrayals, as well as one brief brush with racism. Definitely skip this and find some Jeeves instead.

[The Arjunator · Rating 4 out of 5]

A reviewer at The Economist once wrote that "A good test of almost any book is to ask whether one would not be better off reading a work by P.G. Wodehouse, and the answer, in this reviewer's opinion, is nearly always 'Yes.'" I couldn't agree more.

[Marka · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best and funniest of Wodehouse, if one can dare to say such a thing. My favorite is Honeysuckle Cottage, or maybe Those in Peril on the Tee, or maybe the series surrounding Mulliner's Buck-U-Up-O...really, how can one decide? Essential reading!

[Miriam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of the stores are laugh-out-loud hilarious, others are hilarious, some are simply funny. Overall, I would say it averages out to four stars, although there are definitely some five-star stories in there.

[Douglas Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent.

[Henry · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wodehouse, in his introduction, says the Mulliner stories are his favorites. I read a couple, and did not find myself laughing. I'll stick to Wooster and Blandings.

[Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book contains 42 stories written between 1925 and 1970. All of them follow the format of a discussion in a taproom which then leads Mr. Mulliner to tell a story about one of his innumerable relatives, usually a story of how a young Mulliner manages to win the hand of his true love. They are quite amusing, but repetitive enough that I would recommend reading them only one or two at a time. I stretched out the reading of the entire collection over a several year period. Most of the characters are of the same social class as Wodehouse's Bertie Wooster of the Jeeves stories.

[Ella Blanchard · Rating 4 out of 5]

There was a point where, like the American director in this book who was ready to throw the next movie script that came across his desk at a wall, I was so tired of Mr. Mulliner's stories about Hollywood that I needed to take a month to compose myself before reading on (I am not a violent person, especially with books, but it was simply too much).

Aside from that, Mr. Mulliner's stories are fun and entertaining, especially the stories set in England. This is a big book, but I like carrying it around and rereading a chapter/short story whenever I'm waiting in lines.

[Timons Esaias · Rating 5 out of 5]

You have to admire a book that comes with a dosage warning, to wit: "A word of warning. As regards the medium dose for an adult, I would recommend, as I did in my Preface to "The World of Jeeves," not more than two or perhaps three stories a day, taken at breakfast or before retiring. Don't try to read the whole book straight through just so as to say you've done it. Nervous people and invalids will of course be guided by their doctor's advice."

I pretty much have to agree. I took the lesser dose of one per day, but these are just delightful entertainments. I picked this book up from, I believe, the Book-of-the-Month Club some decades ago. I read about half of it, then put it aside and never got back to it. Part of my neglect may have come from the fear that I'd want to start reading everything he ever wrote, if I kept on.

Now that I've finished it, well, I'm tempted to start reading everything else he ever wrote...

Here are a few quotes:

The situation in Germany had come up for discussion in the bar parlour of the Angler's Rest, and it was generally agreed that Hitler was standing at the crossroads and would soon be compelled to do something definite. His present policy, said a Whisky and Splash, was mere shilly-shallying.
"He'll have to let it grow or shave it off," said the Whisky and Splash. "He can't go on sitting on the fence like this. Either a man has a moustache or he has not. There can be no middle course."
The thoughtful pause which followed these words was broken by a Small Bass.
"Talking of moustaches," he said, "you don't seem to see any nowadays, not what I call moustaches. What's become of them?"
"I've often asked myself the same question," said a Gin and Italian Vermouth.
"Where, I've often asked myself, are the great sweeping moustaches of our boyhood? I've got a photograph of my grandfather as a young man in the album at home, and he's just a pair of eyes staring over a sort of quickset hedge."


....The great drawback to being the man in control of a large studio is that everybody you meet starts acting at you. Hollywood is entirely populated by those who want to get into the pictures, and they naturally feel that the best way of accomplishing their object is to catch the boss's eye and do their stuff.
Since leaving home that morning Mr. Schnellenhamer had been acted at practically incessantly. First, it was the studio watchman who, having opened the gate to admit his car, proceeded to play a little scene designed to show what he would do in a heavy role. Then came his secretary, two book agents, the waitress who brought him his lunch, a life insurance man, a representative of a film weekly, and a barber. And, on leaving at the end of the day, he got the watchman again, this time in whimsical comedy.



The Lady Bishopess pursed her lips, displeased. She was a woman of ample and majestic build. A friend of Augustine's, who had been attached to the Tank Corps during the War, had once said that he knew nothing that brought the old days back more vividly than the sight of her. All she needed, he maintained, was a steering-wheel and a couple of machine-guns, and you could have moved her up into any Front Line and no questions asked.



So, first I'm going to finish Chesterton's Complete Father Brown, which I also stopped halfway through, and then I may go back to Wodehouse. Brilliant fun.

[Analie · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Between an egg that is fried and an egg that is cremated there is a wide and substantial difference." I was dying of laughter as I read that line. Every time I read a story by P.G. Wodehouse, I wonder why I don't more often. They're wiping-tears-from-your-eyes witty and perfect for a 10-minute break from work, from to-dos, and from life when it feels too serious.

[Chet Makoski]

All 40 Mr Mulliner short stories in: Meet Mr Mulliner; Mr Mulliner Speaking; Mulliner Nights; Blandings Castle; Young Men in Spats; Lord Emsworth and Others (U.S.-Crime Wave at Blandings); Eggs, Beans, and Crumpets; A Few Quick Ones; and Plum Pie; plus two additional stories, “Another Christmas Carol” and “From a Detective’s Notebook.”

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very strong Wodehouse, collecting all the Mulliner short stories.

The first three Mulliner volumes are excellent from beginning to end (stories 1-26 in this collection) — the later Mulliner one-offs (27-42) are more hit and miss. Nothing here is quite on the level of “Uncle Fred Flits By,” but the prideful cat Webster and Mervyn’s quest for winter strawberries come close.

[Chris Nagy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love a lot of British authors because they know the English language and Wodehouse although mostly known for his humor is an excellent prose writer.
These stories are very similar in plot, theme, etc., but they are very light and frequently just hilarious.
Highly recommended

[Mark Spence · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you like Wodehouse this won't disappoint, although I must confess a sigh when I came across my first instance of Wodehouse's obvious, overt racism, instead of the usual casual, assumed variety of the era.

[Jaina Bee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, actually, this was read TO me. My sweetie reads a story or two to me at bedtime. These funny stories, where the greatest threat to the peace is a grumpy Bishop who objects to the fellow who wants to marry his niece, make me laugh so hard. Sheer indulgence.

[TJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I began reading this book on a Monday (said Mr. Mulliner) and within two chapters I couldn't put it down. Classic Wodehouse, hilarious as always. A few of the plots were similar enough to excite comment, but all good stuff nonetheless ;)

[Colette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Took me 13 months, but I finished reading these stories. Mr. Mulliner tells some whoppers! For the most part, I enjoyed them. I chuckled and smiled at most of them. I’m not sure I needed 600 pages worth, but I will dip back into this world from time to time.

[Susan Katz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm entering in all the titles on the shelf by Wodehouse. I know I've read others, but this is what I kept.

[Artem · Rating 5 out of 5]

Забавные романтические истории о родственниках мистера Муллинера.

[Micah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hilarious short stories, recommended.