P. G. Wodehouse's best known creations are upper-class incompetent Bertie Wooster, and his capable servant, Jeeves, who first appeared in the story "Extricating Young Gussie" in 1917. His satirical view of the Jazz Age is both affectionate and incisive; he pokes fun at such emblems of the inter-war period as flappers, gangsters, the fascist "Black Shirts," and the dreaded moralizing aunt. Born Pelham Grenville Wodehouse in Guildford, Surrey, and educated at Dulwich College in London, he took United States citizenship in 1955, having lived there from 1909. A journalist and writer of over ninety books, Wodehouse also worked as a lyricist and writer with such luminaries as Jerome Kern and George Gershwin. Aged ninety-three, newly knighted, and with a waxwork of himself in Madame Tussaud's in London, he declared himself satisfied. He died the same year.

Further Reading:

Green, B. P. G. Wodehouse: A Literary Biography. London, Pavilion Books, 1981.

Wodehouse, P. G. Over Seventy: An Autobiography with Digressions. London, Jenkins, 1957.