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kurtwombat 's review for:
Nonsense Novels
by Stephen Leacock
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The delightful silliness of Stephen Leacock is a new discovery for me. I had never heard of him until he came up on two different podcasts that I frequent within a couple days of each other—a delicious coincidence considering he’s a now pretty obscure turn of the 20th century Canadian humorist. Clearly a man who loves word play, the jokes and gags in this collection of faux fantasy tales are rapid and plentiful. Each tale has a finely hewn logic that kept my smile from ever dimming. While Leacock was a fan of Mark Twain, enough to write a well-received biography of Twain, and I can see some influence in his work, I think a better description of Leacock as a humorist is James Thurber meets Monty Python. I can see the Python’s PHILOSOPHER’S PLAYING WORLD CUP SOCCER sketch (look it up on YouTube) being written by Leacock as well as emulating the mundane details of everyday life that Thurber blows up into bouts of lunacy. Apparently Groucho Marx was also a big fan and credits Leacock with inspiring his humor. I was surprised that this mind was writing over a hundred years ago—the writing is fresh and feels like it could be submitted for publication today.