Not George Washington makes its American debut after having appeared in England more than 70 years ago. From a wisp of a plot suggested by his friend Herbert Westbrook, P. G. Wodehouse wrote this spoof of diffident bachelors, journalists and ghost writers when he was 26 years old. Far from being the product of an apprentice novelist, it reveals how early Wodehouse fell firmly into step with the eccentrics of English comedy: Ben Jonson, Thomas Love Peacock, Ronald Firbank, and the young Aldous Huxley. As in their works, he introduces idealisms only to mock them; worldly values triumph despite the fortunes of the characters; and an astringent humor dissolves whatever is not hard and durable.

At its most brutal and amoral, this tradition is frequently so shocking that its elegance and comedy are not appreciated. But Wodehouse always was one of its more genial practitioners. His characters are too boyish...