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My Man Jeeves (1919)

by P. G. Wodehouse

Other authors: See the other authors section.

Series: Jeeves (Short stories)

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
2,1281077,446 (3.8)198
Fiction. Humor (Fiction.) HTML:

A humorist praised by humorists, P. G. Wodehouse here introduces two of his most beloved characters.

My Man Jeeves, first published in 1919, introduced the world to affable, indolent Bertie Wooster and his precise, capable valet, Jeeves. Some of the finest examples of humorous writing found in English literature are woven around the relationship between these two men of very different classes and temperaments. Where Bertie is impetuous and feeble, Jeeves is coolheaded and poised.

This collection, the first book of Jeeves and Wooster stories, contains eight stories, including "Leave It to Jeeves," "Helping Freddie," "Rallying round Old George," "Doing Clarence a Bit of Good," "Absent Treatment," and "Jeeves and the Hard-Boiled Egg."

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… (more)
  1. 40
    Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog) by Jerome K. Jerome (TadAD)
    TadAD: Imagine Bertie, Bingo and Barmie trying to organize a two-week boating expedition up the Thames. Conversely, imagine J., Harris and George trying to steal a cow creamer for their aunt. There you have it.
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» See also 198 mentions

Showing 1-5 of 106 (next | show all)
Funny in a droll way, but a bit too obsolete of a world for me. ( )
  BethOwl | Jan 24, 2024 |
I've decided to attempt reading the Jeeves novels in order. However even though this is listed as the first Jeeves novel - it does not contain the Extricating Gussie which is referenced in at least two of the stories. A single story that is found in the 1917 collection The Man With Two Left Feet, which brings Jeeves and Bertie to American shores at the behest of Aunt Agatha. But despite this error I forge -- ever giggling -- onwards!

This anthology contains..
        Leave It to Jeeves - (J&W) - Corky needs some help introducing his fiancee to his uncle. Bertie askes Jeeves who comes up with an interesting solution - with unexpected and hilarious results.
         Jeeves and the Unbidden Guest (J&W) - Aunt Agatha's freind leaves her son with Bertie for a month while she travels to get information for her latest book. The son, reportedly a good, quiet, vegetarian, tea-teetotaler immediately goes off the rails. It's jeeves to the rescue.. or is it?
         Jeeves and the Hard-boiled Egg (J&W) -  Bicky's uncle the Duke is coming to town and is insisting he become an upstanding and industrious citizen. Bertie and Jeeves help him out..
         Absent Treatment  Reggie Pepper
         Helping Freddie
         Rallying Round Old George
        Doing Clarence a Bit of Good
        The Aunt and the Sluggard
  Kiri | Dec 24, 2023 |
The big problem is I just didn't find any of the stories funny. There were a couple of lines I cracked a smile about but it just didn't fit my taste. All Wooster's friends are completely interchangeable and all the characters are very one dimensional so there's very little to get invested in. The plots are perfectly competent - formulaic, but the solution to each problem is reasonably clever. I don't regret reading it, I just didn't feel anything after finishing. It was just... fine. To be honest everything being about aristocrats didn't help - I didn't find the upper class slang particularly appealing (I know a lot of people do). 4 of the stories feature... some guy who's not Wooster as the narrator. He's basically exactly the same only he doesn't get it right every time like Jeeves does (although there's no unhappy endings exactly). One of the stories by him, about a nobleman getting walloped and someone thinking they'd done it while drunk, is the most interesting.

Honestly after reading this I feel much more inclined to watch the TV show - I totally see the appeal but for me I think it'd work much better on screen. ( )
  tombomp | Oct 31, 2023 |
Newcomers to Jeeves should avoid this volume. You are unlikely to find this in stores, anyhow. Published in 1919, My Man Jeeves collects a number of stories featuring Bertie Wooster and Jeeves, however they are embryonic, and several of the stories feature neither of them. All would be reworked and included in future short story collections. These are the first stories, written before and during WWI, when the young Wodehouse - having already published several novels and many short stories - was slowly figuring out these characters and their world. (Ironically, these are the only Jeeves stories written during an era when their content is remotely contemporary!)

The best option is to buy the modern omnibus The World of Jeeves which contains all of the stories in their "definitive" format.

Contains:
Leave it to Jeeves [later reworked as "The Artistic Career of Corky"]
Jeeves and the Unbidden Guest
Jeeves and the Hard-boiled Egg
The Aunt and the Sluggard
and four stories featuring the character of Reggie Pepper, which would be revised into Jeeves stories in the future. ( )
  therebelprince | Oct 24, 2023 |
I've always enjoyed the Jeeves & Wooster stories. This book also included some shorts of other characters similar to J & W, but just not quite that winning combination — hence 4 out of 5 stars. ( )
  claidheamdanns | Sep 26, 2023 |
Showing 1-5 of 106 (next | show all)

» Add other authors (4 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
P. G. Wodehouseprimary authorall editionscalculated
Cecil, JonathanNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Jarvis, MartinNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Prebble, SimonNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
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Dedication
First words
Jeeves—my man, you know—is really a most extraordinary chap. So capable. Honestly, I shouldn’t know what to do without him. On broader lines he’s like those chappies who sit peering sadly over the marble battlements at the Pennsylvania Station in the place marked “Inquiries.” You know the Johnnies I mean. You go up to them and say: “When’s the next train for Melonsquashville, Tennessee?” and they reply, without stopping to think, “Two-forty-three, track ten, change at San Francisco.” And they’re right every time. Well, Jeeves gives you just the same impression of omniscience.
Quotations
I'm a bit short on brain myself; the old bean would appear to have been constructed more for ornament than use, don't you know.
He's like one of those weird chappies in India who dissolve themselves into thin air and nip through space in a sort of disembodied way and assemble the parts again just where they want them. I've got a cousin who's what they call a Theosophist, and he says he's often nearly worked the thing himself, but couldn't quite bring it off, probably owing to having fed in his boyhood on the flesh of animals slain in anger and pie.
I was so darned sorry for poor old Corky that I hadn't the heart to touch my breakfast. I told Jeeves to drink it himself.
Jeeves smiled paternally. Or, rather, he had a kind of paternal muscular spasm about the mouth, which is the nearest he ever gets to smiling.
I'm not absolutely certain of my facts, but I rather fancy it's Shakespeare--or, if not, it's some equally brainy lad--who says that it's always just when a chappie is feeling particularly top-hole, and more than usually braced with things in general that Fate sneaks up behind him with a bit of lead piping. There's no doubt the man's right.
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(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
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Fiction. Humor (Fiction.) HTML:

A humorist praised by humorists, P. G. Wodehouse here introduces two of his most beloved characters.

My Man Jeeves, first published in 1919, introduced the world to affable, indolent Bertie Wooster and his precise, capable valet, Jeeves. Some of the finest examples of humorous writing found in English literature are woven around the relationship between these two men of very different classes and temperaments. Where Bertie is impetuous and feeble, Jeeves is coolheaded and poised.

This collection, the first book of Jeeves and Wooster stories, contains eight stories, including "Leave It to Jeeves," "Helping Freddie," "Rallying round Old George," "Doing Clarence a Bit of Good," "Absent Treatment," and "Jeeves and the Hard-Boiled Egg."

.

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Book description
Short story collection containing: "Leave it to Jeeves"; "Jeeves and the Unbidden Guest"; "Jeeves and the Hard-Boiled Egg"; "Absent Treatment"; "Helping Freddie"; "Rallying Round Old George"; "Doing Clarence a Bit of Good"; and "The Aunt and the Sluggard".
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