The Man with Two Left Feet
The Man With Two Left Feet, and Other Stories is a collection of short stories by British comic writer P. G. Wodehouse (1881–1975), first published in the UK on 8 March 1917 by Methuen & Co., London, and in the US on 1 February 1933 by A.L. Burt and Co., New York.[1] All the stories had previously appeared in periodicals, usually The Strand Magazine in the UK and The Red Book Magazine or The Saturday Evening Post in the US.
It is a fairly miscellaneous collection — most of the stories concern relationships, sports and household pets, and do not feature any of Wodehouse's regular characters; one, however, Extricating Young Gussie, is notable for the first appearance in print of two of Wodehouse's best-known characters, Jeeves and his master Bertie Wooster (although Bertie's surname isn't given and Jeeves's role is very small), and Bertie's fearsome Aunt Agatha.
Contents
- Bill the Bloodhound
- US: The Century Magazine, February 1915
- UK: The Strand Magazine, April 1915
- Extricating Young Gussie
- US: The Saturday Evening Post, 18 September, 1915
- UK: The Strand Magazine, January 1916
- Wilton's Holiday
- UK: The Strand Magazine, July 1915
- US: Illustrated Sunday Magazine and Minneapolis Tribune Sunday Magazine, 19 March 1916 (as Wilton's Vacation)
- The Mixer: He Meets a Shy Gentleman
- UK: The Strand Magazine, November 1915
- US: The Red Book Magazine, June 1916 (as A Very Shy Gentleman)
- The Mixer: He Moves in Society
- UK: The Strand Magazine, December 1915
- US: The Red Book Magazine, July 1916 (as Breaking into Society)
- Crowned Heads
- US: The Argosy, June 1914
- UK: Pearson's Magazine, April 1915
- At Geisenheimer's
- US: The Saturday Evening Post, 21 August 1915
- UK: The Strand Magazine, October 1915 (as The Love-r-ly Silver Cup)
- The Making of Mac's
- UK: The Strand Magazine, May 1915
- US: The Red Book Magazine, May 1916 (as The Romance of "Mac's")
- One Touch of Nature
- US: McClure's Magazine, August 1914 (as Brother Fans)
- Black for Luck
- UK: The Strand Magazine, June 1915
- US: The Red Book Magazine, July 1915 (as A Black Cat for Luck)
- The Romance of an Ugly Policeman
- UK: The Strand Magazine, January 1915
- US: Ainslee's Magazine, September 1926
- A Sea of Troubles (A Sea of Trouble in the US edition)
- US: McClure's Magazine, September 1914
- UK: Pearson's Magazine, June 1915
- The Man with Two Left Feet
- US: The Saturday Evening Post, 18 March 1916
- UK: The Strand Magazine, May 1916
In the US version of the book, Wilton's Holiday, Crowned Heads and the two-part The Mixer were omitted, and replaced with three other stories, Absent Treatment, Rallying Round Old George and Doing Clarence a Bit of Good, which all feature Reggie Pepper and had all appeared in the UK in My Man Jeeves (1919).
See also
References
- ↑ McIlvaine, E., Sherby, L.S. and Heineman, J.H. (1990) P.G. Wodehouse: A comprehensive bibliography and checklist. New York: James H. Heineman, pp. 31–32. ISBN 0-87008125-X.
Sources
- Midkiff, Neil. "The Wodehouse short stories". Retrieved April 27, 2006.
External links
- The Russian Wodehouse Society's page, with numerous book covers and a list of characters
- Fantastic Fiction's page, with details of published editions, photos of book covers and links to used copies
- Free eBook of The Man With Two Left Feet at Project Gutenberg