{"id":78097,"date":"2014-10-15T19:23:53","date_gmt":"2014-10-15T23:23:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=78097"},"modified":"2014-10-15T20:40:14","modified_gmt":"2014-10-16T00:40:14","slug":"love-among-the-chickens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/10\/15\/love-among-the-chickens\/","title":{"rendered":"Love Among the Chickens"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Love_among_the_Chickens_-_cover_-_Project_Gutenberg_etext_20532\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

INTERVIEWER<\/p>\n

Of all the books you\u2019ve written, do you have any favorites?<\/p>\n

WODEHOUSE<\/p>\n

Oh, I\u2019m very fond of a book called Quick Service<\/em> and another called Sam in the Suburbs,<\/em> a very old one. But I really like them all. There are very few exceptions.<\/p>\n

\u2014P. G. Wodehouse, the Art of Fiction No. 60<\/a>, 1975<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I wonder how Wodehouse (born today in 1881) came down on Love Among the Chickens<\/em><\/a>, one of his earlier novels and, to my mind, one of his strangest. It is, as its title page quite clearly states, \u201cA Story of the Haps and Mishaps on an English Chicken Farm.\u201d (Wonderful use of haps<\/em>, there. Why is it that we only hear of mishaps these days?) <\/p>\n

\"loveamongchicken00wodeuoft_0013\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Wodehouse published Chickens <\/em> in 1906, but he wasn\u2019t very pleased with it, apparently, because he rewrote large portions of it for a new edition in 1921; his new dedication is frank about the earlier version\u2019s shortcomings. \u201cThere was some pretty bad work in it, and it had \u2018dated,\u2019\u201d he writes.<\/p>\n

The book was illustrated by Armand Both, who spared no expense in his depiction of cruelty to animals:<\/p>\n

\"loveamongchicken00wodeuoft_0161\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The novel is in the public domain, so you can read it at your leisure<\/a>, when you\u2019re feeling down, when life\u2019s trials have you seeking the solace of poultry, when nothing other than a farm romance will suffice, et cetera. To pique your interest, allow me to quote a bit toward the beginning in which Wodehouse establishes his premise with admirable concision:<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cListen to me! When I said that we were going to keep fowls, I didn\u2019t mean in a small, piffling sort of way\u2014two cocks and a couple of hens and a golf-ball for a nest-egg. We are going to do it on a large scale. We are going to run a chicken farm!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cA chicken farm,\u201d echoed Mrs. Ukridge with an affectionate and admiring glance at her husband.<\/p>\n

\u201cAh,\u201d I said, feeling my responsibilities as chorus. \u201cA chicken farm.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

And so they do.<\/p>\n

\"loveamongchicken00wodeuoft_0017\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

INTERVIEWER Of all the books you\u2019ve written, do you have any favorites? WODEHOUSE Oh, I\u2019m very fond of a book called Quick Service and another called Sam in the Suburbs, a very old one. But I really like them all. There are very few exceptions. \u2014P. G. Wodehouse, the Art of Fiction No. 60, 1975 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8419],"tags":[9158,17,15672,3259,7782],"class_list":["post-78097","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-weird-book-room","tag-birthdays","tag-books","tag-love-among-the-chickens","tag-p-g-wodehouse","tag-the-art-of-fiction"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nP. G. Wodehouse Was Born Today in 1881<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Read an excerpt from \u201cLove Among the Chickens, one of his earlier novels and strangest.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/10\/15\/love-among-the-chickens\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Love Among the Chickens by Dan Piepenbring\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"October 15, 2014 \u2013 INTERVIEWER Of all the books you\u2019ve written, do you have any favorites? WODEHOUSE Oh, I\u2019m very fond of a book called Quick Service and another called Sam\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/10\/15\/love-among-the-chickens\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Paris Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-10-15T23:23:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-10-16T00:40:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/love_among_the_chickens_-_cover_-_project_gutenberg_etext_20532.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"495\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"555\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dan Piepenbring\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dan Piepenbring\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/10\/15\/love-among-the-chickens\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/10\/15\/love-among-the-chickens\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Dan Piepenbring\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/6b16ca558fc538230f135c3220dfd3c8\"},\"headline\":\"Love Among the Chickens\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-10-15T23:23:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-10-16T00:40:14+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/10\/15\/love-among-the-chickens\/\"},\"wordCount\":340,\"commentCount\":5,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/10\/15\/love-among-the-chickens\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/love_among_the_chickens_-_cover_-_project_gutenberg_etext_20532.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"birthdays\",\"books\",\"Love Among the Chickens\",\"P.G. Wodehouse\",\"the art of fiction\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Weird Book Room\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/10\/15\/love-among-the-chickens\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/10\/15\/love-among-the-chickens\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/10\/15\/love-among-the-chickens\/\",\"name\":\"P. G. Wodehouse Was Born Today in 1881\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/10\/15\/love-among-the-chickens\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/10\/15\/love-among-the-chickens\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/love_among_the_chickens_-_cover_-_project_gutenberg_etext_20532.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-10-15T23:23:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-10-16T00:40:14+00:00\",\"description\":\"Read an excerpt from \u201cLove Among the Chickens, one of his earlier novels and strangest.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/10\/15\/love-among-the-chickens\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/10\/15\/love-among-the-chickens\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/10\/15\/love-among-the-chickens\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/love_among_the_chickens_-_cover_-_project_gutenberg_etext_20532.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/love_among_the_chickens_-_cover_-_project_gutenberg_etext_20532.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/10\/15\/love-among-the-chickens\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Love Among the Chickens\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"description\":\"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. Since 1953.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png\",\"width\":696,\"height\":696,\"caption\":\"The Paris Review\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/parisreview\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/parisreview\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/6b16ca558fc538230f135c3220dfd3c8\",\"name\":\"Dan Piepenbring\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6fde7ced443ba5b52db3b06239dca8a2eaeff111fccecd7bf483663c99d2762b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6fde7ced443ba5b52db3b06239dca8a2eaeff111fccecd7bf483663c99d2762b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Dan Piepenbring\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/author\/dpiepenbring\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"P. G. Wodehouse Was Born Today in 1881","description":"Read an excerpt from \u201cLove Among the Chickens, one of his earlier novels and strangest.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/10\/15\/love-among-the-chickens\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Love Among the Chickens by Dan Piepenbring","og_description":"October 15, 2014 \u2013 INTERVIEWER Of all the books you\u2019ve written, do you have any favorites? WODEHOUSE Oh, I\u2019m very fond of a book called Quick Service and another called Sam","og_url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/10\/15\/love-among-the-chickens\/","og_site_name":"The Paris Review","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/","article_published_time":"2014-10-15T23:23:53+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-10-16T00:40:14+00:00","og_image":[{"width":495,"height":555,"url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/love_among_the_chickens_-_cover_-_project_gutenberg_etext_20532.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Dan Piepenbring","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@parisreview","twitter_site":"@parisreview","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dan Piepenbring","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/10\/15\/love-among-the-chickens\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/10\/15\/love-among-the-chickens\/"},"author":{"name":"Dan Piepenbring","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/6b16ca558fc538230f135c3220dfd3c8"},"headline":"Love Among the Chickens","datePublished":"2014-10-15T23:23:53+00:00","dateModified":"2014-10-16T00:40:14+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/10\/15\/love-among-the-chickens\/"},"wordCount":340,"commentCount":5,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/10\/15\/love-among-the-chickens\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/love_among_the_chickens_-_cover_-_project_gutenberg_etext_20532.jpg","keywords":["birthdays","books","Love Among the Chickens","P.G. Wodehouse","the art of fiction"],"articleSection":["Weird Book Room"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/10\/15\/love-among-the-chickens\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/10\/15\/love-among-the-chickens\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/10\/15\/love-among-the-chickens\/","name":"P. G. Wodehouse Was Born Today in 1881","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/10\/15\/love-among-the-chickens\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/10\/15\/love-among-the-chickens\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/love_among_the_chickens_-_cover_-_project_gutenberg_etext_20532.jpg","datePublished":"2014-10-15T23:23:53+00:00","dateModified":"2014-10-16T00:40:14+00:00","description":"Read an excerpt from \u201cLove Among the Chickens, one of his earlier novels and strangest.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/10\/15\/love-among-the-chickens\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/10\/15\/love-among-the-chickens\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/10\/15\/love-among-the-chickens\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/love_among_the_chickens_-_cover_-_project_gutenberg_etext_20532.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/love_among_the_chickens_-_cover_-_project_gutenberg_etext_20532.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/10\/15\/love-among-the-chickens\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Love Among the Chickens"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/","name":"The Paris Review","description":"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. Since 1953.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization","name":"The Paris Review","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png","width":696,"height":696,"caption":"The Paris Review"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/","https:\/\/x.com\/parisreview","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/parisreview"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/6b16ca558fc538230f135c3220dfd3c8","name":"Dan Piepenbring","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6fde7ced443ba5b52db3b06239dca8a2eaeff111fccecd7bf483663c99d2762b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6fde7ced443ba5b52db3b06239dca8a2eaeff111fccecd7bf483663c99d2762b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Dan Piepenbring"},"url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/author\/dpiepenbring\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78097","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/38"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78097"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78097\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78108,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78097\/revisions\/78108"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}