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Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town

by Stephen LEACOCK (1869 - 1944)

Preface

Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town is a sequence of stories by Stephen Leacock, first published in 1912. It is generally considered to be one of the most enduring classics of Canadian humorous literature. The fictional setting for these stories is Mariposa, a small town on the shore of Lake Wissanotti. Although drawn from his experiences in Orillia, Ontario, Leacock writes in the introduction: “Mariposa is not a real town. On the contrary, it is about seventy or eighty of them. You may find them all the way from Lake Superior to the sea, with the same square streets and the same maple trees and the same churches and hotels.” This work has remained popular for its universal appeal. Many of the characters, though modelled on townspeople of Orillia, are small town archetypes. Their shortcomings and weaknesses are presented in a humorous but affectionate way. Often, the narrator greatly exaggerates the importance of the events in Mariposa compared to the rest of the world. For example, when there is a country-wide election, “the town of Mariposa, was, of course, the storm centre and focus point of the whole turmoil.” (Summary from Wikipedia)

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Listen next episodes of Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town:
L'Envoi. The Train to Mariposa , The Beacon on the Hill , The Candidacy of Mr. Smith , The Extraordinary Entanglement of Mr. Pupkin , The Fore-ordained Attachment of Zena Pepperleigh and Peter Pupkin , The Great Election in Missinaba County , The Hostelry of Mr. Smith , The Marine Excursion of the Knights of Pythias , The Mariposa Bank Mystery , The Ministrations of the Rev. Mr. Drone , The Speculations of Jefferson Thorpe , The Whirlwind Campaign in Mariposa