The Inimitable Jeeves

The Inimitable Jeeves

First edition dust-jacket
Author P. G. Wodehouse
Country United Kingdom
Language English
Publisher Herbert Jenkins
Publication date
 17 May 1923
Media type Print (Hardback)
OCLC 3601985

The Inimitable Jeeves is a semi-novel collecting Jeeves stories by P. G. Wodehouse, first published in the United Kingdom by Herbert Jenkins, London, on 17 May 1923 and in the United States by George H. Doran, New York, on 28 September 1923, under the title Jeeves.[1]

Overview

The novel combined 11 previously published stories, of which the first six and the last were split in two, to make a book of 18 chapters. It is now often printed in 11 chapters, mirroring the original stories.

All the stories had previously appeared in The Strand Magazine in the UK, between December 1921 and November 1922, except for one, "Jeeves and the Chump Cyril", which had appeared in the Strand in August 1918. That story had appeared in the Saturday Evening Post (US) in June 1918. All the other stories appeared in Cosmopolitan in the US between December 1921 and December 1922.

This was the second collection of Jeeves stories, after My Man Jeeves (1919); the next collection would be Carry on, Jeeves, in 1925.

All of the short stories are connected and most of them involve Bertie's friend Bingo Little, who is always falling in love.

Contents

The original story titles and publication dates were as follows (with split chapter titles in parentheses):

("Jeeves Exerts the Old Cerebellum" and "No Wedding Bells for Bingo")
("Aunt Agatha Speaks Her Mind" and "Pearls Mean Tears")
("The Pride of the Woosters Is Wounded" and "The Hero's Reward")
("Introducing Claude and Eustace" and "Sir Roderick Comes to Lunch")
("A Letter of Introduction" and "Startling Dressiness of a Lift Attendant")
("Comrade Bingo" and "Bingo Has a Bad Goodwood")
("Bingo and the Little Woman" and "All's Well")

Plots

Comrade Bingo

Richard "Bingo" Little falls in love with the daughter of a left-wing politician, Charlotte Corday Rowbotham. Trying to get close to her, Bingo joins a group called the Heralds of the Red Dawn, whose aims are to "massacre the bourgeoisie, sack Park Lane and disembowel the hereditary aristocracy". Trying to impress the group, Bingo harasses his uncle, a peer, and Bertie near Speakers' Corner. They do not recognize him because he is disguised by a beard. The next day Bertie meets Bingo and they create a scheme for Bingo to afford a wedding. The story ends with a raucous dinner including Rowbotham, Bingo and Berty, which highlights class conflict.

References

  1. ↑ McIlvaine, E., Sherby, L.S. and Heineman, J.H. (1990) P.G. Wodehouse: A comprehensive bibliography and checklist. New York: James H. Heineman, pp. 41-42. ISBN 087008125X
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