A peripatetic snake, three stolen cats, a restless hound with a yen for Gorgonzola, a fake gorilla, an aesthetic pig, and a gnu—these are but a few of the beasts who roam the pages of this rousing collection.
A Pekingese man himself (indeed, there are nine of the critters predominating here), Wodehouse was no stranger to certain less tractable members of the animal kingdom. In each of these fourteen tales, animals of varying shapes, sizes, and dispositions play prominent and often calamitous roles, while their human counterparts struggle to cope in true Wodehousian fashion.
Bertie Wooster pitches bricks at a peevish swan in self-defense; a dewy-eyed parrot mistress declares her undying love for an assistant in a jellied-eel shop; the feckless Ukridge launches a grand money-making scheme to produce a world supply of highly educated canines; and Roland Morseby Attwater, rising young essayist and literary critic, learns by grim experience that "if there is one thing in this world that should be done quickly or not at all, it is the removal of one's personal snake from the bed of a complete stranger."
D. R. Bensen has mined the very best of the Wodehouse œuvre to produce this densely populated bestiary. The humor is timeless; the menagerie, varied enough to satisfy the most demanding zoophile.
CONTENTS:
Foreword by Howard Phipps, Jr.
Preface
- Unpleasantness at Bludleigh Court
- Sir Roderick Comes to Lunch
- Something Squishy
- Pig-Hoo-o-o-o-ey!
- Comrade Bingo
- Monkey Business
- Jeeves and the Impending Doom
- Open House
- Ukridge's Dog College
- The Story of Webster
- The Go-Getter
- Jeeves and the Old School Chum
- Uncle Fred Flits By
- The Mixer
Although self-admittedly bonkers about Pekingese dogs, P. G. Wodehouse was a keen observer of the animal kingdom at large. Able to portray a mountain gorilla or a dragonlike aunt with equal aplomb and verisimilitude, he displayed few qualms about mixing querulous sows with landed gentry; introducing stolen cats into a bachelor's flat; or slipping the occasional snake into the occasional country-house bed.
One of the most beloved and prolific writers of all time, Wodehouse wrote over 70 novels, more than 300 short stories, 18 plays, and the lyrics or books of 33 musicals with such partners as Jerome Kern and George Gershwin. Now, ten years after his death at the age of 93, Wodehouse remains as popular as ever, the writer of choice for a large—and still growing—group of people who are convinced that P. G. Wodehouse was, quite simply, the funniest man of the twentieth century.
D. R. Bensen is the editor of Fore! The Best of Wodehouse on Golf and Wodehouse on Crime, as well as a volume of essays on Wodehouse that was published in 1981 in conjunction with the Pierpont Morgan Library's centennial exhibition. He lives in Croton-on-Hudson, New York.
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