The definitive edition of the letters—many previously unpublished—of England’s greatest comic writer. P. G. Wodehouse wrote some of the greatest comic masterpieces of all time. So, naturally, we find the same humor and wit in his letters. He offers hilarious accounts of living in England and France, the effects of prohibition, and how to deal with publishers. He even recounts cricket matches played while in a Nazi internment camp (Wodehouse wanted to show the stiff upper lip of the British in the toughest situations). Over the years, Wodehouse corresponded with relatives, friends, and some of the greatest figures of the twentieth century: Agatha Christie, Ira Gershwin, Evelyn Waugh, George Orwell, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The letters are arranged chronologically with intersecting sections of biography written by Sophie Ratcliffe. This is the only book you will need to understand the man behind the characters.

The definitive and authorized biography of one of the greatest literary humorists of all time, first published in 1974, now appears in a revised updated edition.

First Published in 1996. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

About the Book LITERARY WRITERS OCCASIONALLY WRITE ON THEIR PASSION FOR SPORT. THE TRAFFIC IS SELDOM IN THE OTHER DIRECTION. THIS BOOK IS A SMALL ATTEMPT TO REDRESS THAT—A SPORTSWRITER WRITING ON A PASSION FOR LITERATURE. What do Ved Mehta, Gabriel García Márquez and Agatha Christie have in common—apart from being among the most celebrated writers in the world, that is? Their ability to hook the discerning reader and never let go. What have some of these great writers said of their own work? What, for that matter, makes a writer, or a book, ‘great’ and canonical while others that sold millions of copies in their own lifetimes fade into oblivion? How much of a reader’s appreciation of a novel or an essay stems from their own early reading practices and friendships? And why, oh why, do they not give the Nobel to the writers who most deserve it? These are some of the thoughts that centre this eclectic collection of reflections about writers and writing. They seek out the pleasures and the techniques, the spaces and the memories, the little moments and the life-changing sentences that encompass and enrich a reader’s life.

From folk ballads to film scripts, this new five-volume encyclopedia covers the entire history of British literature from the seventh century to the present, focusing on the writers and the major texts of what are now the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. In five hundred substantial essays written by major scholars, the Encyclopedia of British Literature includes biographies of nearly four hundred individual authors and a hundred topical essays with detailed analyses of particular themes, movements, genres, and institutions whose impact upon the writing or the reading of literature was significant.An ideal companion to The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Literature, this set will prove invaluable for students, scholars, and general readers.For more information, including a complete table of contents and list of contributors, please visit www.oup.com/us/ebl