A Treasury of Stephen Leacock

by Stephen Leacock

This book comprises three collections of short stories from Canada's best- loved humorist. Throughout his writing career, Leacock used his vivid imagination and dry wit to make light of the incidents, diversions, and quirks of everyday life.

Genres: Fiction, Humor, Canada, Classics, Short Stories

528 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1999

About the author

Stephen P. H. Butler Leacock, FRSC, was a Canadian teacher, political scientist, writer, and humorist. Between the years 1915 and 1925, he was the best-known English-speaking humorist in the world. He is known for his light humour along with criticisms of people's follies. The Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour was named in his honour.

Wikipedia article.

Reviews

[Angela]

Still relevant after a century. Although the stories are about simpler and slower-paced times, a lot of the topics are understandable and the language is hardly outdated at all. Leacock satirizes subjects like aging, education, travel, politics, investing, fads and fashion, and various hobbies. I enjoyed the first part, Literary Lapses the most. The subject matter seems more varied and the stories are only a few pages long. Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town reminded me a lot of the Canadian sitcom Corner Gas: the mundane exploits of ordinary townspeople (the reverend, the barber, the banker, the hotelier, the judge, the local politicians) that become humourous because of their foibles. This section wasn't bad but it wasn't great. The stories are 10-20 pages long and they seem to drag. The third part, Winnowed Wisdom was similar to the first, with shorter texts and more varied subjects, although it tended to be a little more political and, in my opinion, less funny. All in all, a solid collection that I will likely revisit again.

Stories that I liked:

"My Financial Career," "The Awful Fate of Melpomenus Jones," "How to Live to be 200," "Number Fifty-Six," "A Manual of Education," "The Passing of the Poet," "Saloonio," "An Appeal to the Average Man," "Back from Europe," "Epitaph on an Attaboy" (part of "A Little Study in Culture from Below Up"), "The Crossword Puzzle Craze," "All is Not Gold that Glitters" (from "Old Proverbs Made New"), "Have We Got the Year Backwards? Is Not Autumn Spring?," "All Aboard for Europe," "The Laundry Problem," "The Christmas Ghost."

[Mark Edlund]

Canadian fiction - this book is actually three of Leacock's novels; Literary Lapses, Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town and Winnowed Wisdom. I enjoyed Sunshine Sketches the most. There is a continuity of characters and plot lines. Leacock's observations are subtle and hilarious. I saw future Monty Python sketches and Keillor's characters in these books. He can also have a biting sarcastic tone in some of his political observations.
Too many Canadian references to mention.
Pharmacy references - several mentions of the pharmacist in Mariposa.

[David Westerveld]

A funny and insightfully sarcastic look at the world. Really enjoyed.

[Thomas Ray]

The Leacock roundabout :a treasury of the best works of Stephen Leacock, 422 pages

[Mike]

Read these stories before, and loved them. Wanted my own copy.