P. G. Wodehouse (1881-1975) was an English-born comic novelist, short-story writer, lyricist, and playwright who is best known as creator of the supreme “gentleman’s gentleman,” the effortlessly superior valet named Jeeves. The complicated plots of these stories involve romantic confusions and gentle skewering of upper-class society, as well as endless problems solved by Jeeves for his employer, Bertie Wooster, a bachelor who lives a carefree existence of cocktail parties and society dinners.
Wodehouse (pronounced \WOOD-howss\) was incredibly prolific: he wrote more than 90 books, collaborated on more than 30 plays and musical comedies, and wrote more than 20 film scripts. His writing is facile and flowing and funny, and his choice of unusual and colorful words is inseparable from the dry comic wit in his stories.