Pelham Grenville Wodehouse - Volume 1: This Is Jolly Old Fame - by Paul Kent (Paperback)

About the Book

This is Jolly old Fame is the first volume in a three-volume biography on the lives and works of comic writer P.G. Wodehouse, and explores the origin of his comic vision

Book Synopsis

Whether you re an absolute beginner or an aficionado, Paul Kent has captured the essence of what made Wodehouse tick without spoiling all the fun; and makes a compelling case for why we owe it to our collective sanity to keep on reading him. P.G. Wodehouse 1881-1975 Humourist, Novelist, Lyricist, Playwright So reads the simple inscription on the memorial stone unveiled in London s Westminster Abbey in September 2019, honouring the greatest comic writer of the 20th century. It takes a steady hand and a steely nerve to insist that sweetness and light can prevail in a world that seems hell-bent on proving the opposite, and over 40 years after his death, Wodehouse is not just surviving but thriving all over the world. Young Indian professionals can t get enough of him; he s hugely popular in Japan; his books have been translated into more than 30 languages, from Azerbaijani to Ukrainian via Hebrew, Italian, Swedish and Chinese; and there are established Wodehouse societies in the UK, the USA, Belgium, Holland and Russia. His books are demonstrating the staying power of true classics, and are all currently in print, making him as relevant and funny - as he ever was.

Review Quotes

Paul Kent leaves no stone unturned. Fastidious in research but never finicky in delivery, he soon overtakes the obvious observations of whimsy, nostalgia, and escapism to boldly go where no biographer has gone before. --Michael Chacksfield, reviewing for Wooster Sauce the newsletter of the UK PG Wodehouse Society

About the Author

PAUL KENT has trawled just about every word Wodehouse wrote to re-present his unique achievement for a 21st century audience. A longstanding committee member of the P.G. Wodehouse Society (UK), and received unprecedented access to the family archive. Kent began reading Wodehouse at the age of 12, and is now much older than that. He has published works on Montaigne, Voltaire and Shakespeare, and is currently writing Volumes 2 and 3 of his Wodehouse trilogy.