Nonsense Novels

Stephen Leacock (1869-1944) was a Canadian teacher, political scientist, writer, and humourist. Between 1915-25 he was the best-known English-speaking humourist in the world. Born near Southampton in southern England, his family emigrated to Canada when he was six where their attempts at farming proved unsuccessful and Leacock’s father became an alcoholic, later deserting the family. Leacock attended Upper Canada College in Toronto where he was top of his class and chosen as head boy. He graduated in 1887 and started at the University of Toronto but could not continue his studies after his first year due to financial difficulties. On leaving university he took up teaching, an occupation he disliked immensely, but when he took a position at his alma mater he was able to simultaneously attend classes at the University of Toronto and in 1891 earned his degree through part-time studies. It was during this time that his first writing was published in The Varsity, a campus newspaper. Disillusioned with teaching, in 1899 he began graduate studies at the University of Chicago under Thorsten Veblen where he received a doctorate in political science and political economy, later moving to Montreal where he became the William Dow Professor of Political Economy and long-time chair of the Department of Economics and Political Science at McGill University. Early in his career Leacock turned to writing fiction and humourous pieces to supplement (and ultimately exceed) his income, his stories first appearing in magazines in the US and Canada before coming out in book form, the first collection entitled Literary Lapses being published in 1910. Nonsense Novels, a collection of 10 humourous sketches, followed in 1911, and in 1912 came Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town, a selection of pieces set in a thinly-disguised Mariposa based on gossip Leacock gleaned from the local barber when staying at his summer residence. Further collections came in swift succession, providing a mix of whimsy, parody, nonsense and satire. In works such as My Discovery of England (1922) Leacock’s humourous style was reminiscent of Mark Twain and Charles Dickens at their most comedic, but his Arcadian Adventures with the Idle Rich (1914) is a darker collection that satirizes city life. 3