Jerome K. Jerome

Biography

Jerome Klapka Jerome (1859–1927) was an English writer and humorist best known for the comic masterpiece Three Men in a Boat, one of the most beloved humorous novels in the English language. Born in Walsall, Staffordshire, Jerome grew up in poverty after his father’s business failures and worked as a railway clerk, journalist, actor, and schoolteacher before finding success as a writer. Three Men in a Boat (1889) brought him immediate fame and has never been out of print. Jerome also edited The Idler magazine, wrote novels, plays, and essays, and published the more serious Three Men on the Bummel (1900) and the allegorical novel Paul Kelver (1902). His autobiography, My Life and Times, provides a vivid portrait of late Victorian literary London. Though sometimes dismissed as merely a humorist, Jerome’s best work combines genuine comic brilliance with acute observation of human nature and a gentle, democratic sympathy for ordinary people and their foibles.