The Letter of the Law

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"The Letter of the Law"
Author P. G. Wodehouse
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Genre(s) Comedy
Publisher Redbook (US)
Strand (UK)
Media typePrint (Magazine)
Publication dateApril 1936

"The Letter of the Law" is a short story by P. G. Wodehouse, which first appeared in the United States in the April 1936 edition of Redbook (as "Not Out of Distance"), and in the United Kingdom in the April 1936 issue of the Strand . [1] It was included in the UK collection Lord Emsworth and Others (1937), [2] and in the US edition Young Men in Spats (1936). [3] It is a golf story, narrated by the Oldest Member.

Contents

Plot

The President's Cup and the love of Gwendoline Poskitt occasion the only time the Oldest Member ever saw profit from driving into anyone. Young Wilmot Byng loves Gwendoline, but has recently smitten her father (a member of the Wrecking Crew) a juicy one on the leg for holding up play. To win her hand, the Oldest Member recommends that Wilmot appease Poskitt, and he does so—up to the day of the President's Cup match. In that match, Poskitt plays well above form, but ends up in match play against Wadsworth Hemmingway, an ex-lawyer-turned-golfer who carries the Book of Rules in his bag and makes it his best club. With one swing, Wilmot ensures that Poskitt gets the Cup and Wilmot gets his bride.

Publication history

The story was illustrated by James Montgomery Flagg in Redbook, [4] and by Gilbert Wilkinson in the Strand. [5]

"The Letter of the Law" was included in the 1940 collection Wodehouse on Golf, published by Doubleday, Doran & Company, New York. [6] It was featured in The Best of Wodehouse, a collection of Wodehouse stories selected and with an introduction by Scott Meredith, published by Pocket Books, New York, in 1949. [7] The story was included in the UK edition of the Wodehouse collection The Golf Omnibus, published in 1973 by Barrie & Jenkins, London. [8]

Adaptations

The story was adapted as a radio drama as part of a series of Wodehouse's golf stories adapted by Edward Taylor and Michael Poynton. The series, titled The Oldest Member, was first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 between 1994 and 1999 and starred Maurice Denham as the eponymous Oldest Member and narrator. [9] "The Letter of the Law" aired on 5 February 1999. The cast included John Graham as Mackay, Jon Glover as Wilmot Byng, Nigel Anthony as Poskitt, and Laura McFall as Gwendolyne. [10]

See also

Related Research Articles

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References

Notes
  1. ↑ Midkiff, Neil (3 July 2019). "The Wodehouse short stories". Madame Eulalie. Retrieved 26 August 2019.
  2. ↑ McIlvaine (1990), pp. 72–73, A57.
  3. ↑ McIlvaine (1990), p. 71, A55B.
  4. ↑ McIlvaine (1990), p. 155, D53.16.
  5. ↑ McIlvaine (1990), p. 186, D133.205.
  6. ↑ McIlvaine (1990), pp. 117–118, B7.
  7. ↑ McIlvaine (1990), p. 118, B8.
  8. ↑ McIlvaine (1990), p. 122, B14.
  9. ↑ Lucas, John (25 March 2019). "Wodehouse, Pelham Grenville". The Global British Comedy Collaborative. Retrieved 28 August 2019.
  10. ↑ "The Oldest Member". BBC Genome. BBC. 2019. Retrieved 28 August 2019.
Sources
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