Psmith in the City - Softcover

Wodehouse, P.G.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 014003207X ISBN 13: 9780140032079

Publisher: Penguin Books, 1994

Synopsis

When Psmith finds himself working in the City for the pompous Mr. Bickersdyke, he makes it his mission to bring a little sweetness and light into the bank manager's life. The monocled wit with the suave manner and the chivalrous but devil-may-care attitude to life is determined not to let honest toil depress him. The consequence is a series of battles in which Bickersdyke comes off worst and Wodehouse's readers best.

About this title

About the Author:

Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse (P. G. Wodehouse) was an English humorist and writer best known for his Jeeves and Blandings Castle novels. Educated at boarding schools, Wodehouse turned to writing at a young age, demonstrating great skill at humorous sketches and musical lyrics. He continued to write part-time while pursuing, at the behest of his father, a career in banking, and successfully contributed numerous pieces to Punch, Vanity Fair, and The Daily Express, among other publications. In addition to his literary work, Wodehouse was incorporated into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in recognition of his collaboration with Cole Porter on Anything Goes, his lyrics to the song Bill from Show Boat, and his work on the musicals Rosalie and The Three Musketeers.

While interned along with other British citizens in Germany during the Second World War, Wodehouse made a series of radio broadcasts for which he was accused of being a collaborator; and, although later cleared of the charges, he never returned to England. His work has influenced many other writers including Evelyn Waugh, Rudyard Kipling, J. K. Rowling, and John Le Carr?. P. G. Wodehouse died in 1975 at the age of 93.

From AudioFile:

Much of the humor of Wodehouse's novel depends on the incongruity of placing monocle and lavender glove-wearing Psmith in the mundane world of a bank. Though Davidson does a good job in creating a properly persnickety voice for Psmith, Davidson may retain too much of this same fussiness in the narration, which requires a straightforward rendering to preserve the contrast of Psmith out of his element. Otherwise, Davidson distinguishes the characters quite well, especially Bickersdyke, the all-business bank manager. (A trivia note for Wodehouse fans: though the later novel, LEAVE IT TO PSMITH, mentions that the "p" is silent, a glance at the text of this earlier book shows that Wodehouse seems to have initially had a different idea about the pronunciation: The protagonist and the narrator refer to him as "Psmith"; most other characters call him "Smith." Davidson's reading correctly follows the text to a "p.") G.H. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin Books
• Publication date: 1994
• ISBN 10: 014003207X
• ISBN 13: 9780140032079
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 160