WODEHOUSE AT WORK TO THE END - RICHARD USBORNE (PENGUIN) IDIOMAS

Someone once remarked that to criticise Wodehouse was like taking a spade to a soufflé and in this classic appreciation (first published in 1961 and updated on Plum's death a few years later) Richard Usborne largely and wisely lets Wodehouse's words speak for themselves.

He begins with a brief overview of Wodehouse's career and an attempt to pin down the general feel and atmosphere of Wodehouse's enchanted world before subsequent chapters dedicated to the early school stories, Ukridge, Psmith Blandings Castle, Jeeves and Wooster and the standalone novels and stories. Usborne is a perceptive and sensitive critic and it's no reflection on him that the best bits are the lengthy quotations from the Master's oeuvre. Essential for devotees.