My Financial Career and Other Follies

by Stephen Leacock, David Staines

This original NCL collection brings together Leacock’s comic masterpieces, the many varieties of his remarkable humour. In one story a young man is seized by fear as he attempts to open his first bank account. In another, Lord Ronald, the beloved of Gertrude the Governess, “flung himself upon his horse and rode madly off in all directions.” In a third, the Mariposa Belle sinks in the shallow waters of Lake Wissanotti.

Completing these timeless comedies are two of Leacock’s own essays on humour.

Genres: Short Stories, Canada, Humor, Fiction, British Literature

224 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1993

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

[Gordon]

A mixed bag... Gertrude the Governess had me laughing out loud, while My Financial Career and The Awful Fate of Melpominus Jones were quite good, but on the whole the rest of the stories left me flat - I'm not sure whether that's because they are dated or repetitive. On the other hand, the essays on humour at the end were, in places, surprisingly moving:

"But the deep background that lies behind and beyond what we call humor is revealed only to the few who, by instinct or by effort, have given thought to it. The world's humor, in its best and greatest sense, is perhaps the highest product of our civilization. Its basis lies in the deeper contrasts offered by life itself: the strange incongruity between our aspiration and our achievement, the eager and fretful anxieties of today that fade into nothingness tomorrow, the burning pain and the sharp sorrow that are softened in the gentle retrospect of time, till as we look back upon the course that has been traversed, we pass in view the panorama of our lives, as people in old age may recall, with mingled tears and smiles, the angry quarrels of their childhood. And here, in its larger aspect, humor is blended with pathos till the two are one, and represent, as they have in every age, the mingled heritage of tears and laughter that is our lot on earth."

[KimStitch]

My Financial Career is one of the sweetest, truest stories Leacock has ever written. Who, going to the bank with a rather large sum of money to deal with, has not been rattled by the clerks, the wickets, the whole experience? That is the beauty of Leacock in this day and age; he may be writing about lodging houses, the difficulty of staying fit and the state of the rich in the twenties, it is still hilarious and still resonates in today's society.

[Keith Bruton]

3.7

[Ivan Velickovic]

1. Rather than reading yet another novel I decided to make a change and do one of my written responses on a short story. I found "My Financial Career" by simply clicking on a website that had hundreds of links to short stories and basically picked one of them at random.
2. His name is never revealed in the story so I would have to say my favourite character in this short story would have to be the main character. I really enjoyed this character as he/she is very funny and is a bit of an idiot and also clueless as to what they are actually doing and saying.
3."Fairly large," I whispered. I liked this quote because it made me laugh as it is very ironic for the main character to say this in the story.
4. From reading this short story it made me think more about people who don't actually have a clue about finances and how they are impacted by this in their daily lives.

[Kristine Morris]

Every time I read Stephen Leacock I cannot believe that he was born in 1869 - some of the stories in this volume were written at the end of the 19th century. His writing seems so contemporary. My favourites in this collection include "How we kept Mother's Day", "My Revelations as a Spy" and "The Love Story of Mr. Peter Spillikins".

Here's a piece of trivia I did not know: In 1900 Leacock married Beatrix Hamilton, niece of Sir Henry Pellatt.

[Ibis3]

Another collection of Leacock shorts. Humorous as usual. Interesting essay at the end about the grace of humour in a godless world.

[Dianne]

Stephen Leacock was brilliant. Were he alive today he might be a writer on SNL. Then again he might choose to continue to march to his own drummer. The world needs more Stephen Leacocks.

[Andrew Harris]

I highly recommend this series of short stories which were entertaining and humorous. I will be seeking more Leacock books in the future.

[Faizan]

not that funny..
but ya.. humorous..

[Liam]

Wikipedia currently states about Stephen Leacock: "From 1915 to 1925, he was the best-known English-speaking humourist in the world". This book, which collects short stories written in different periods of his life, dutifully provides evidence to support this notion. Stories vary in topic, including: the rattling experience of depositing money in a bank, the quiet courage of dentists, the struggles of "mediums" after familial deaths, and the travails of booksellers selling to the reading public; tethering the stories together is an expression of a humor that rests on the incongruities of life, as reconciliation for the mystery, sorrows, and shortcomings of our world where consolation is so difficult to find. Or more plainly: lighthearted literary laughs.

There were a number of parodies of genre in this that I mostly found unenjoyable, but ultimately I quite enjoyed this and am happy to have gotten a taste of some classic literary Canadiana.

[Apoorv129]

Every person feels a little anxious before going to a new place ,here the main character is filled with anxiety of going to open a bank account in bank and in the process of it does things which he not intends which creates funny situation . This story was easy to visualise during reading

[marcel]

This collection doesn't have the unity and charm that I loved about Sunshine Sketches but Leacock's writing is still funny and his parodies absurd and wonderful.

[Jeff Hobbs]

Read so far:

My financial career --2
The awful fate of Melpomenus Jones --3
Gertrude the governess: or, Simple seventeen --
*The marine excursion of the Knights of Pythias --
The dentist and the gas --
The love story of Mr. Peter Spillikins --
The reading public: a book store study --
The Snoopopaths or Fifty stories in one --
*My revelations as a spy --
Personal adventures in the spirit world --
War and peace at the Galaxy Club --
*Buggam Grange: a good old ghost story --
How we kept Mother's Day --3
Old junk and new money --3
A lesson on the links --2
Fifty cents' worth --
The perfect optimist or Day-dreams in a dental chair --
Ho for happiness --
My remarkable uncle --3
Good news! a new party! --
Humour as I see it --
The saving grace of humour--2
***
The errors of Santa Claus
The irreducible detective story (aka Hanged by a hair)--3
L'envoi, the train to Mariposa
Maddened by mystery, or the defective detective (aka The great detective)--1
The man in asbestos: an allegory of the future
Merry Christmas
A model dialogue--2
Soaked in seaweed--2
Who do you think did it? or The mixed-up murder mystery--2