Tales of St. Austin's

School Stories

by P.G. Wodehouse

Tales of St. Austin's is a collection of short stories and essays, all with a school theme, by P. G. Wodehouse.(Excerpt from Wikipedia)

Genres: Fiction, Humor, Short Stories, Classics, School, British Literature, Ebooks

206 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1903

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

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Long study of the classics had quickened his faculty for seeing sense in passages where there was none.

Is there any sense in Wodehouse? Let’s hope not too much! How rare to find someone who can take you to cloud cuckoo land and let you flit around with the broadest smile possible stretched from ear to ear ... and do it again, and again, and again. Even though the Tales of St Austin’s (1903) are not the madcap masterpieces of Bertie & Jeeves, Psmith, or Blandings, they still pull the curtain back on Wodehouse’s sheer glee in writing a sentence. Is there any other author who puts so much snicker into his prose?

Over the course of five years, I picked up Tales of St. Austin’s at least ten times before I finally settled into the book. The paper-thin plots and nearly indistinguishable characters (all "fine, strapping specimens of sturdy young English manhood") showed just enough personality to hold my interest. What hobbled me, though, was the lingo. All this schoolboy swotting, bucking up, and giving the beans had me perplexed. Just what is the difference between a beak and a bargees? Where is the crease and can someone please explain a leg before ... something or other? And how is it that the word rot can function as any part of speech? Too lazy in former days to look these words up in Websters, I’ve lately discovered a new world of meaning just a touch away in my iPod’s dictionary.

Wodehouse first published the stories in a Boys Life sort of magazine. He set out to refine Young England, but with a Mephistophelean smirk. These are stories about how to break the rules, enjoy the experience, and accept the consequences. The moral, though not always foremost, is never hard to find: cheaters get "touched up," effort is rewarded, justice in the end prevails, and the rotter gets his due ... most of the time. But they were also written to craft literary taste by subverting the idolized station of a Greco/Latin education and giving resounding thumbs up to humorists and adventure writers, and all the other writers whose stories don’t require notes.

What fun, though, some day, to annotate a critical edition of Wodehouse’s early works and highlight his gems of timeless wisdom. I don’t believe anyone has ever charged Wodehouse with being the wellspring of a liberal education, but there are enough literary allusions, parodies, and references in a few chapters of these Tales to build a satisfactory reading list for a college entry exam. Within thirty pages Wodehouse bemoans Euripides and Livy, recommends Rider Haggard, Dicken’s Pickwick Papers, and James Payn, parodies Thucydides, Horace, and the Psalmist, and tweaks Hamlet and Isaiah for comic relief.

[Gláucia Renata · Rating 2 out of 5]

Publicado em 1903 é o terceiro livro da série "School Stories".
Reúne 16 histórias curtas que giram em torno da vida escolar. Foi o que menos gostei, em grande parte por conter várias histórias que giram em torno dos esportes como o críquete. Traz muitas regras e pra quem não as entende perde um pouco a graça.



Histórico de leitura
22/02/2020

"Pillingshot was annoyed. He was disgusted, mortified; no other word for it."

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is Wodehouse’s first collection of shorter pieces, four essays and a dozen stories. Some date back to 1900, which makes them truly Victorian, even if they more look forward to what lies ahead through the following seventy-five years of P.G.W.’s career. I’d imagine stories like “The Manoeuvres of Charteris” were pretty fresh for the time. It’s all public-school life, featuring prototypical characters from Wodehouse’s debut novel, The Pothunters. As much as Tales of St Austin’s is purely for Wodehouse completists, it’s not so much for readers who, like me, possess little knowledge of rugby and cricket.

[Shannon Cooke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short stories are one of early Wodehouse's greatest strengths. He sets up memorable characters, puts them in conflict, and delivers a satisfying ending with great economy of words. In Tales of St. Austin's, we find a collection of school stories set in the same location as The Pothunters, and featuring many of the same characters. Whereas that earlier novel did not do much to distinguish the various characters, these stories provided much needed depth.

My biggest complaint was that the last few stories were not stories at all, but rather humorous essays about various aspects of school life. What that meant is that two-thirds of the way through the book, we have already said goodbye to all of the characters we met along the way. The essays are fine as far as they go, but I'd have preferred if they were interpolated between the earlier stories.

Overall, this was a fun and lighthearted collection. I'm looking forward to launching into The Gold Bat next.

[Misty · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some of Wodehouse's earlier writing, this was a set of boarding school stories he published in magazines between 1900 and 1903.

This is the first time I've read any of his earlier stuff, and it's pretty interesting to see how far he's come. Compared to his later writing, these are pretty simple stories; the plots are funny but straightforward and the characters are uncomplicated. In his later writing, Wodehouse is the master of the convoluted plot; even in his short stories, he's a master at building up ridiculous situations that get resolved at the last minute. By comparison, these older stories seem to finish right around the time his later stories would be getting started.

St Austin's is funny, but it's definitely not up to what I expect from Wodehouse.

[Monty Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love P.G. Wodehouse, and I love English School Stories, which are all basically Harry Potter but without magic. Just replace Quidditch with Cricket, Soccer, and Rugby to fill the "incomprehensible British Sport" slot. And Wodehouse is easily the best writer of standard school stories, even though he quickly graduated to writing his own style of book.

(Rudyard Kipling was arguably a better writer, but Stalky & Co isn't as formulaic)

[Per · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun! I especially enjoyed the chapter on the horror of scholarly notes, pure gold.

[Illiterate · Rating 2 out of 5]

The highlights are the satirical flourishes on Thomas Hughes and classical education.

[S. Suresh · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection of short stories, set in St. Austin’s school, and published as an anthology in 1903, is a mixed bag. I can think of at least three stories wherein Wodehouse just goes off on a tangent, with meandering thoughts about Cricket, Notes and Work. Then again, there are some real fun stories, particularly those featuring Charteris, MacArthur (Babe), Harrison & Pillingshot, giving a glimpse of the author Wodehouse was to become later in his career.

Thanks to Project Gutenberg, with Tales of St. Austin’s, I have finished reading the entire published short story collection (not counting curated versions) of Wodehouse, and brings me one step closer in my quest to read every published short story / novel of Wodehouse.

[Emmy]

I never want to say this about a Wodehouse book (since he's an incredibly funny writer), but this book is boring in the extreme. I'm really, really trying to like it, but I just can't do it. I'm skimming whole pages, I have no idea what's going on because my eyes have become too glazed to see, and I think for my sanity, it's best that I drop this entirely and move on to something new.

[Atri · Rating 5 out of 5]

This early Wodehouse is a real treat !

[Selah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wodehouse is always fun, and this LibriVox narrator, KevinS, is high quality.

[Mare · Rating 4 out of 5]

I do so enjoy his writing.

[Mariah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining--would have been helpful if I understood the game of cricket as it does play a prominent role in the book, but each chapter is a short story about one of the students at St. Austin's and PG Wodehouse is always a fun read.

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

My quest to read all of P.G. Wodehouse (in order of publication) continues... this one was a nice little collection of short stories (and one longer story) plus a couple of essays. Next up... "Gold Bat" (published 1904).

[Jacqui · Rating 3 out of 5]

PG Wodehouse is always entertaining. This collection of short stories is no exception. Good fun read!

[Keir Hardie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A real mixed bag, the pieces ranging from a a strong four stars to much weaker. The essays in particular are a delight.

[Farseer · Rating 4 out of 5]

As I have said about other Wodehouse public school stories, there are always negative reviews of those books here in goodreads, because of a problem of expectations. Most people reading these books nowadays are fans of Wodehouse's comic fiction, and when they find out that these early works are mostly not comedies they are disappointed. There are certainly signs of the author's irony and wit, but these were written for a different market and in a genre with different conventions.

Tales of St. Austin's is not a novel, but a collection of short stories and a few humorous essays that were published in fiction magazines for boys between 1901 and 1903. They are about the misadventures of different boys attending a public boarding school called St. Austin (the same one where his book The Pothunters was set). Some of the characters appear in several stories here and in that novel.

Even though he builds on the same genre tradition and conventions, you can see the differences with the pioneers of the genre, because Wodehouse is not interested in moralizing. The characters here are boys who want to get out of inconvenient exams or get away with breaking the rules. Some of them are cads and some are likable, but they mostly correspond with the archetypes expected in the genre; do not expect deep characterization in these short stories. But they are well-written, and I found them entertaining and funny in their own way.

Although these Wodehouse school stories are always pleasant for me to read, one thing where he is less to my taste than other contemporary writers of school stories is that he doesn't really do the underdog story. You know, the story where the main character is unfairly accused of something or who has to surmount serious difficulties to get something he wants or earn the respect of his peers, and comes through because of his pluck and strength of will. I always enjoy that kind of stories where you can cheer for the main character, but Wodehouse tends to look at this setting with fond amusement, rather than as a source of epic drama. Possibly that's why my favorite so far among his school books is The White Feather, where he follows that underdog trope very well. (I haven't read Mike yet, though, the one where he introduces his character Psmith, and which is his most famous school story).

After several short stories and a long one, the book ends with a few humorous essays, where he deals with subjects like the school work these boys did (heavy on Latin and Greek translations), with cricket and even with the classic novel that basically created this genre (Tom Brown's School Days, by Thomas Hughes). Wodehouse is witty and funny in these, but it may be tough for modern readers to appreciate if they are not familiar with the subject.

[Darshna Rekha · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a delightful collection this was!

It is a collection of 16 stories, and every single one of them made me smile. The blurb promises a nostalgic look at public-school life, but there was nothing nostalgic about it for me. Instead, this completely unfamiliar world of schoolboys, punishments, schemes, misunderstandings and absurd confidence felt like a breath of fresh air.

Every story had something of its own, and every character seemed to have a particular way of making the situation even more ridiculous. There is over-the-top confidence, attempts to change the odds, elaborate plans that rarely go as expected, and, of course, misunderstandings that somehow manage to make everything worse. The punishments were funny, but sometimes the real fun was simply watching the characters try to get out of them.

And the writing - oh, the writing! There was never a doubt about it. I love it. I have always loved it.

I am not new to Wodehouse, and this is another addition to a growing list of his books I have already read.

I have deliberately not mentioned any particular story from the collection because choosing one and leaving the others out would feel like an injustice. I laughed with all of them. I found myself hoping that certain characters would return, and when they didn't, the new ones more than made up for it.

There was, however, one unexpected moment that made me stop and go back to the page.

A poem by W. S. Gilbert appears in the chapter 13, titled "Work", and I read it four times:

With a pleasure that's emphatic
We retire to out attic
With the satisfying feeling that our duty has been done.

Oh! philosophers may sing
Of the troubles of a king
But of pleasures there are many and of troubles there are none,
And the culminating pleasure
Which we treasure beyond measure
Is the satisfying feeling that our duty has been done.

It has one of those rhythms that simply slides off the tongue. And sometimes that is enough reason to read something four times.

[Darcy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a combination of some really terrific short stories and some not so much. There are also a few comic essays included, with the same impact. However, the good stories are engaging enough to bump this from 3 to 4 stars and you are definitely seeing the Wodehouse style beginning to take shape.

The stories here are in the same Setting as Wodehouse's first novel, The Pothunters. They are short tales regaling the life of a boarding school and include some of the successes and failures of the boys attending same. Two of these are first rate and, as mentioned, definitely presage the brilliance yet to come. The essays were a bit unusual and were something I did not know the author published. The one on Cricket was like reading Sanskrit as I had absolutely no idea what he was talking about, yet I read it anyway! What makes the essays entertaining is the manner in which he takes on School authorities. I can definitely see the youth of the time enjoying these immensely!

This is a book that has enough oomph to entice any reader, not just Wodehouse aficionados. There are enough funny bits to keep you happy, and the couple of duds are over with quickly enough that you will not mind.

[Tommy Verhaegen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wodehouse wrote several books on life in boardig schools. He also published some short stories that play in the same area, in this case centered around St. Austin. The focus is on a few student and how they escape punishment for breaking the school rules in sometimes ingeneous ways.
A few other stories are more philosphical when Wodehouse gives his idea in a pseudo-scientific way on school life. Always with tong-in-cheek of course.
It is a must read if you enjoyed the full length books on the same topic, when you are an ardent lover of Wodehouse or even just interested in a short story that will make you smile.
More than in the complete books, in these stories you feel that Wodehouse still needs to grow to become the greatest humorous novelist of all time. He does not repeat himself but the plot becomes quite predictable, the outcome is no surprise, although the acutal way how students wriggel out of punishment is each time well found and different from all the other endings.

[Joe Stevens · Rating 2 out of 5]

I chuckled half a dozen times and laughed out loud once while reading this collection of stories and articles. This is one more chuckle and one more laugh than in the previous three school stories I've read (including the Gutenberg collection), so things are looking up. I'm reading through the PG Wodehouse books in order and having been accustomed to Blandings and Jeeves and Wooster, they are a rough go.

There was a touch more of the writer that Wodehouse would become in this collection. The hero of the longest of the short stories was actually interesting and there were a few clever twists of phrase. Mr. Mulliner would have given more entertainment in two minutes than this book does in an hour and a half, but still there is entertainment here if wildly diluted.

[Knut Sigurd · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eg KUNNE sikkert ha halde fram med å lese bøkene om Jeeves og Wooster om att, køyrt repriser på Psmith og jobba meg inn mot Blandings, men så gjekk eg i gang med Pelham Grenville Wodehouse: Volume 1: "This is jolly old Fame" og då var det jo så kjekt å kunne lese iallfall eit par av dei skule-novellene Kent alluderer til i første kapittel. Det var lurt. Det er rettnok ein del sport her, men det er jaggu mange festlege soger frå eit heilt bestemt miljø, og det er mogleg (og moro) å kjenne att tema og typar vi blir kjent med i dei seinare bøkene.

[William · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful entertaining listening 🔰😀

Another will written novella of short stories by P. G. Wodehouse of life at a English public school with interesting will developed characters. I would recommend this novella to anyone looking for a quick fun read. Enjoy the adventure of reading 👓 or 🎶 or listening to books 📚 2021 🏰

[Davidg · Rating 3 out of 5]

These early school stories are gradually improving. I did struggle with the idea that the boys we are supposed to admire try to get out of work and are only interested in rugby and cricket - what I would have thought of as bullies. It is hard to get worked up by who wins the house trophy. The little essays at the end are more fun

2.5 stars

[Michael Arnold · Rating 3 out of 5]

Plenty of uses of public school vocabulary and references to the classics. This is a charming little collection of stories depicting a nostalgic view of public school life at about the turn of the last century. It's such a shame it just isn't very funny.

[Neville Vaz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tales of St Austin’s is another treasure from Wodehouse. Short stories within a school setting. It needs a master to consistently see the funny side of things in even the most mundane of settings. What better way to spend an evening than with a PGW to keep you company

[Diane Madlon-Kay · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars

[Garry Nixon · Rating 3 out of 5]

No belly laughs, but I smiled most of the time I was reading it. I did notice that the gallant duffing up of a “rural hooligan” was the collection’s fulcrum.

[Ritu · Rating 4 out of 5]

😄 subtle and real humor