Honeysuckle Cottage
Encyclopedia
"Honeysuckle Cottage" is a short story
by the British comic writer P. G. Wodehouse. The story was first published in the 24 January 1925 issue of the Saturday Evening Post in the United States
and in the February 1925 issue of the Strand Magazine
in the United Kingdom
.
Wodehouse subsequently added a framing device in which the story is told by the character of Mr. Mulliner. It is this version which appears in the 1927 short story collection Meet Mr. Mulliner, and subsequent Wodehouse anthologies.
Rated by Wodehouse himself as one of his funniest stories, the story has been viewed as a homage to the writer Henry James
. The philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein
thought it the funniest thing he had ever read and it has been suggested- not entirely seriously- that it strongly influenced Wittgenstein's own thought.
Short story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
by the British comic writer P. G. Wodehouse. The story was first published in the 24 January 1925 issue of the Saturday Evening Post in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and in the February 1925 issue of the Strand Magazine
Strand Magazine
The Strand Magazine was a monthly magazine composed of fictional stories and factual articles founded by George Newnes. It was first published in the United Kingdom from January 1891 to March 1950 running to 711 issues, though the first issue was on sale well before Christmas 1890.Its immediate...
in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
.
Wodehouse subsequently added a framing device in which the story is told by the character of Mr. Mulliner. It is this version which appears in the 1927 short story collection Meet Mr. Mulliner, and subsequent Wodehouse anthologies.
Overview
When the hardboiled mystery novelist, James Rodman, a distant cousin of Mr. Mulliner, receives an inheritance from his aunt, Leila J. Pinckney, a romance novelist, along with the condition that he stay for six months in Honeysuckle Cottage, where she wrote nine million one hundred and forty thousand words of glutinous sentimentality. James moves to the cottage to write in peace, but he soon finds a damsel in distress intruding into his writing, a thing he had studiously avoided until now. And then, a real girl arrives in the form of Rose Maynard, who is injured when struck by a car outside the cottage gates. When even Rodman's tough literary agent is mellowed by the atmosphere of the house, James knows that fate, in true romance-novel form, is inexorably urging him on to propose to Rose. A confirmed bachelor, he struggles against this unwelcome fate and is saved by the timely intervention of a mixed-breed dog.Rated by Wodehouse himself as one of his funniest stories, the story has been viewed as a homage to the writer Henry James
Henry James
Henry James, OM was an American-born writer, regarded as one of the key figures of 19th-century literary realism. He was the son of Henry James, Sr., a clergyman, and the brother of philosopher and psychologist William James and diarist Alice James....
. The philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein
Ludwig Wittgenstein
Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein was an Austrian philosopher who worked primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of language. He was professor in philosophy at the University of Cambridge from 1939 until 1947...
thought it the funniest thing he had ever read and it has been suggested- not entirely seriously- that it strongly influenced Wittgenstein's own thought.