Jerome, Jerome K(lapka)

(British, 1859–1927)

Jerome K. Jerome left school at 14 and worked in a variety of jobs before publishing his first book, On Stage and Off (1885), a collection of humorous pieces about the theatre. He achieved lasting fame with Three Men in a Boat (1889), and there is no better introduction to his work than the story of narrator J.'s trip up the Thames with friends George, Harris, and the dog Montmorency. Full of wonderful set pieces, gentle irony, witty observation, and whimsical musings on life, it is one of the great comic novels of all time. The characters reappear in Three Men on the Bummel (1900), about a cycling tour in Germany, but the earlier magic is lacking. Jerome also founded the humorous magazine the Idler, and wrote plays and a volume of autobiography.

P. G. Wodehouse, Saki. See HUMOUR  CB