In 1912, Stephen Leacock’s comic masterpiece Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town made him an international star overnight. He was published in magazines and newspapers across Canada and in New York and London. Charlie Chaplin asked him for a screenplay; a young F. Scott Fitzgerald expressed his admiration. Eminent historian Margaret MacMillan argues that, while much of what Leacock satirized in small-town Canada has disappeared, his humour endures. His skewering of pretension and his self-deprecating wit entertained thousands during his heyday, even as it defined a quintessentially Canadian stance. But Leacock, MacMillan points out, was also a public intellectual, engaged with questions about government, war, and a just society. Writing with her usual brio, MacMillan has created a wonderfully insightful and affectionate portrait of a man who mattered.
- ISBN10 0143055119
- ISBN13 9780143055112
- Publish Date 4 September 2012
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country CA
- Imprint Penguin Canada
- Format Paperback (US Trade)
- Pages 192
- Language English
- URL https://penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/isbn/9780143055112