The Man With Two Left Feet

By P. G. Wodehouse

The Man With Two Left Feet, and Other Stories is a collection of short stories by P. G. Wodehouse, first published in the United Kingdom in 1917 by Methuen & Co., London. Many of the stories had previously appeared in the Strand in the UK and the Saturday Evening Post in the U.S. Most of the stories concern relationships, sports, and household pets. None feature any of Wodehouse's regular characters. "Extricating Young Gussie" marks the first appearance of some of Wodehouse's most well-known and beloved characters, Jeeves and his master Bertie Wooster (although here Bertie's surname appears to be Mannering-Phipps, and Jeeves' role is very small), along with Bertie's fearsome Aunt Agatha.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Start Publishing LLC
• Release date: Dec 12, 2012
• ISBN: 9781625582201

P. G. Wodehouse

P.G. Wodehouse (1881-1975) nació en Surrey. Tras trabajar un tiempo como periodista en Inglaterra, se trasladó a los Estados Unidos. Escribió numerosas obras de teatro y comedias musicales, y más de noventa novelas. Creador de personajes inolvidables -Jeeves, Bertie Wooster, su tía Agatha, Ukridge, Psmith, Lord Emsworth, los lechuguinos del Club de los Zánganos, y tantos otros, sus obras se reeditan continuamente, como corresponde a uno de los grandes humoristas del siglo.

Reviews for The Man With Two Left Feet

[ikka123-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I had picked this book up primarily to read 'Extracting Young Gussie', the story where the beloved Jeeves and Bertie Wooster duo are first introduced. Jeeves, however, isn't quite himself and serving tea is about all the action that he gets in this story. Bertie, who is a Mannering-Phipps and not a Wooster, still refers to Jeeves as "my man", but otherwise there is no sign that Jeeves is going to be something special. (Perhaps Wodehouse was still formulating his idea of a genius valet.)

Anyhow, the other stories do more than make up for that slight disappointment of a first Jeeves and Wooster story. My favorite ones were the two stories narrated by the cutest little dog that has ever narrated a short story.

[dtn620 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a lovely selection of short stories from Wodehouse. The 13 stories are largely absent of the famed, and often hilarious, Bertie and Jeeves but are still enjoyable in their own right. Each story has a sense of playfulness to them making them fun to read despite the sometimes heavy subject matter (like suicide) .

[morana.mora · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is a wonderful collection of thirteen stories. Some are silly, some are bitter-sweet, but all have a good ending. Anyone in need of a light book, this could be it. Even when they start as sad stories, each ends with a wonderful note. A hopeful note.

Some stories I really liked and some I loved.

BILL THE BLOODHOUND - a funny story about a detective (sort of) finding his true calling.

"There might be detectives whose work was above this reproach, but he was a confirmed creeper, and he knew it. It wasn't his fault. The boss told him to creep, and he crept."

EXTRICATING YOUNG GUSSIE - Bertie Wooster was sent by his horrible aunt Agatha to New York to prevent his cousin to marry a vaudeville artist.

"She bosses her husband, Spencer Gregson, a battered little chappie on the Stock Exchange. She bosses my cousin, Gussie Mannering-Phipps. She bosses her sister-in-law, Gussie's mother. And, worst of all, she bosses me. She has an eye like a man-eating fish, and she has got moral suasion down to a fine point."

The funniest description of aunt Agatha:

"I have never met anyone who can give a better imitation of the Ancient Mariner."

WILTON'S HOLIDAY - a wonderful love story: a man lied he lost his girlfriend to save himself from friendly people who seem to think he is there only to listen, but after he proposed to a girl he liked, she refused him because of that non existent dead girl. I loved it.

THE MIXER are two stories about luck and misunderstandings told by a dog.

CROWNED HEADS - Katie lives with her grandfather whose latest delusion is thinking that he is the King of England. Then she meets a young man who is famous and wants to marry her. But her grandfather doesn't want her to marry a commoner.

AT GEISENHEIMER'S - a professional dancer's story how she taught a man from country how he should value his wife and found herself along the way. The story has a great ending.

THE MAKING OF MAC'S - a beautiful story of a very successful restaurant.

ONE TOUCH OF NATURE - What's a baseball game worth to a fan who hasn't seen one for five years?

BLACK FOR LUCK - A black cat has decided to make a building his domain. He is moving from one artist to another bringing his own brand of luck.

THE ROMANCE OF AN UGLY POLICEMAN - a scarred beat policeman with a broken nose's love story. I didn't like the unfair ending of this story.

A SEA OF TROUBLES - After trying a number of things which will stop the stomach pain, Mr Meggs decided to kill himself. "Mr Meggs's point, the main plank, as it were, in his suicidal platform, was that with him it was beside the question whether or not it was nobler to suffer in the mind. The mind hardly entered into it at all."

THE MAN WITH TWO LEFT FEET is a story of a man who couldn't dance so he decided to ask someone to teach him because he wanted to surprise his wife. A wonderful story.

[aneris-3 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is a wonderful collection of thirteen stories. Some are silly, some are bitter-sweet, but all have a good ending. Anyone in need of a light book, this could be it. Even when they start as sad stories, each ends with a wonderful note. A hopeful note.

Some stories I really liked and some I loved.

BILL THE BLOODHOUND - a funny story about a detective (sort of) finding his true calling.

"There might be detectives whose work was above this reproach, but he was a confirmed creeper, and he knew it. It wasn't his fault. The boss told him to creep, and he crept."

EXTRICATING YOUNG GUSSIE - Bertie Wooster was sent by his horrible aunt Agatha to New York to prevent his cousin to marry a vaudeville artist.

"She bosses her husband, Spencer Gregson, a battered little chappie on the Stock Exchange. She bosses my cousin, Gussie Mannering-Phipps. She bosses her sister-in-law, Gussie's mother. And, worst of all, she bosses me. She has an eye like a man-eating fish, and she has got moral suasion down to a fine point."

The funniest description of aunt Agatha:

"I have never met anyone who can give a better imitation of the Ancient Mariner."

WILTON'S HOLIDAY - a wonderful love story: a man lied he lost his girlfriend to save himself from friendly people who seem to think he is there only to listen, but after he proposed to a girl he liked, she refused him because of that non existent dead girl. I loved it.

THE MIXER are two stories about luck and misunderstandings told by a dog.

CROWNED HEADS - Katie lives with her grandfather whose latest delusion is thinking that he is the King of England. Then she meets a young man who is famous and wants to marry her. But her grandfather doesn't want her to marry a commoner.

AT GEISENHEIMER'S - a professional dancer's story how she taught a man from country how he should value his wife and found herself along the way. The story has a great ending.

THE MAKING OF MAC'S - a beautiful story of a very successful restaurant.

ONE TOUCH OF NATURE - What's a baseball game worth to a fan who hasn't seen one for five years?

BLACK FOR LUCK - A black cat has decided to make a building his domain. He is moving from one artist to another bringing his own brand of luck.

THE ROMANCE OF AN UGLY POLICEMAN - a scarred beat policeman with a broken nose's love story. I didn't like the unfair ending of this story.

A SEA OF TROUBLES - After trying a number of things which will stop the stomach pain, Mr Meggs decided to kill himself. "Mr Meggs's point, the main plank, as it were, in his suicidal platform, was that with him it was beside the question whether or not it was nobler to suffer in the mind. The mind hardly entered into it at all."

THE MAN WITH TWO LEFT FEET is a story of a man who couldn't dance so he decided to ask someone to teach him because he wanted to surprise his wife. A wonderful story.

[pferdina · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Thirteen short stories by Wodehouse. Only one is a Jeeves and Wooster tale, and Jeeves hardly appears. Our two favorites were "The Mixer" parts one and two, told from the perspective of a dog.

[aliceanna-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A lovely assortment of stories -- clever, funny and very sweet without being maudlin. I never read Wodehouse before and I was simply blown away by these stories. They were so refreshing. I particularly loved "The Mixer" written from a dog's point of view and "The Romance of an Ugly Policeman," but there wasn't a single one of them that I didn't thoroughly enjoy.

[sueincyprus · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Although this is very early Wodehouse, I enjoyed this varied selection of short stories, including one which -I later learned - was the first time he wrote about Bertie Wooster and his manservant Jeeves.

I'm pretty sure I've read some of these stories before, but that didn't matter at all. I particularly enjoyed a two-part tale narrated by a dog where the humour relies on the dog's trust in human nature, and some rather clever writing that lets the reader understand what's really going on. There are also more standard stories of relationships marred by misunderstandings, of mishaps and mistakes that, while naturally seeming a little old fashioned, are still relevant to the modern mind.

The title story - about a man who is unable to dance - is the last one in the book, and one which, like several, was rather predictable; not that this matters with Wodehouse humour, as the gently ironic style and upper-class language are what make the stories so enjoyable. While his brilliant use of language hasn't quite come to the fore in this selection, there were some passages that made me smile; for instance, in describing an area populated with artistes of all kind, from the perspective of a policemen, he writes:

'They assault and batter nothing but pianos, they steal nothing but ideas, they murder nobody except Chopin and Beethoven.'

Definitely recommended for any Wodehouse fans who enjoy short stories, but not ideal as an introduction to the great man. Free in ebook form from Project Gutenberg.

[leslie398 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Not Wodehouse's best, but still these short stories (mostly not Jeeves & Wooster) are a fun quick read.

[leandrod-2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Loved ðis. Some funny, underſtated ſtories; ſome pugnant ones to ðe point of elicitiŋ a feƿ, tender tears.

[kathleen586 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I started reading this short story collection for the Jeeves story, "Extricating Young Gussie", but I really enjoyed all of the stories. My favorites were "Bill the Bloodhound" (Henry and Alice, awww), "Wilton's Holiday", "The Mixer" (Part 1), "At Geisenheimer's" (nice twist ending), and "The Man with Two Left Feet" (Henry and Minnie, awww).

Some quotes I bookmarked:

"Spencer was one of those slack-jawed youths who are constitutionally incapable of preserving a secret."

"Gussie is making a perfect idiot of himself...He has lost his head over a creature."

"Mary, in these days, simply couldn't see that he was on the earth. She looked round him, above him, and through him, but never at him; which was rotten from Wilton's point of view, for he had developed a sort of wistful expression—I am convinced that he practised it before the mirror after his bath—which should have worked wonders, if only he could have got action with it. But she avoided his eye as if he had been a creditor whom she was trying to slide past on the street."

[ashishg_50 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I picked up this classic from P G Wodehouse purely based on his authorship and he has stood true to his reputation. Book is collection of interesting, humorous and sensitive stories from various angles - all somehow connected to theatrical circle. BILL THE BLOODHOUND is by far the most hilarious story in the collection where a below-average detective falls in love with a drama girl. MIXER stories are unique by nature of being narrated from point of view of a dog. AT GEISENHEIMER is very sensitive and has good climax. SEA OF TROUBLES had good start but frizzled end. And titled story MAN WITH TWO LEFT FEET is romantic with sensitive end.

[ajbraithwaite_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A bit of a mixed bag, but absolutely worth the read for 'At Geisenheimer's' alone - a wonderful short story, so good that I felt compelled to read it out loud to the family.

[sarah_rubyred · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I am reading this through DailyLit, a website which sends you free parts of books everyday in an email. I find it works with books I find too much to read in a sitting. I don't work for them, just find that it effects how I see a book.I loved this, each tale is so short and so hilarious. The characters get into such ridiculous circumstances and yet it works out in the end. No development, just quick snappy stories.He ridicules so much, I laughed out loud many times.

[verbafacio · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is one of my first Wodehouse ventures, and I must say I did enjoy it. The Man with Two Left Feet is full of charming short stories full of wit and humor. I particularly enjoyed The Ugly Policeman, and the story told in the voice of the guard dog was unique and entertaining. I can't really say whether this collection is typical of Wodehouse's work, but I hope it is!