Sunshine Sketches Of A Little Town

by Stephen Leacock

Overview

Stephen Leacock originally published his collection of amusing and satirical short tales, Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town. The book gives a humorous portrait of its residents and their quirks in the imaginary tiny town of Mariposa, Ontario, Canada, where it is located. The interrelated stories include a variety of characters, including the pompous and conceited politician Josh Smith, the eccentric inventor Peter Pupkin, the domineering and gossipy Mrs. Josiah B. Flack, and the well-intentioned but inept town policeman Mr. Henry Mullins. Leacock makes fun of small-town life and the attitudes and behaviours of its residents in his humorous and amusing writing. Moreover, he utilises the tales to make political and social commentary on bigger topics, such as the rot in the political system and the rise of materialism in society. Sunny Sketches of a Small Town has persisted as a great work of Canadian literature despite its concentration on a particular age and location and continues to be cherished for its comedy and perceptive observation on human nature.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9789358010695
Publisher:	Double 9 Books
Publication date:	04/01/2023
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Sales rank:	937,415
File size:	665 KB

About the Author

Stephen Leacock was born in Swanmore, Hampshire, England, in 1869. His family emigrated to Canada in 1876 and settled on a farm north of Toronto. Educated at Upper Canada College and the University of Toronto, Leacock pursued graduate studies in economics at the University of Chicago, where he studied under Thorstein Veblen.

Even before he completed his doctorate, Leacock accepted a position as sessional lecturer in political science and economics at McGill University. When he received his Ph.D. in 1903, he was appointed to the position of lecturer. From 1908 until his retirement in 1936, he chaired the Department of Political Science and Economics.

Leacock’s most profitable book was his textbook, Elements of Political Science, which was translated into seventeen languages. The author of nineteen books and countless articles on economics, history, and political science, Leacock turned to the writing of humour as his beloved avocation. His first collection of comic stories, Literary Lapses, appeared in 1910, and from that time until his death he published a volume of humour almost every year.

Leacock also wrote popular biographies of his two favourite writers, Mark Twain and Charles Dickens. At the time of his death, he left four completed chapters of what was to have been his autobiography. These were published posthumously under the title The Boy I Left Behind Me.

Stephen Leacock died in Toronto, Ontario, in 1944.