SOURCE: “The Leacock Persona and the Canadian Character,” in Mosaic, Vol. XIV, No. 2, Spring, 1981, pp. 77-92.

In the following essay, Raspovich examines the “little man” or “uncommon common man” persona in some of Leacock's most important works, including Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town, Arcadian Adventures with the Idle Rich, and Behind the Beyond.

Because Canada has often been interpreted as a puritan and sober culture—a country where survival has depended on hard work and where celebration has been at a premium—Canadian humor has seemed almost not to exist. In fact, among Canadians, “the myth of the mirthless Canadian” is a well worn phrase. It is, of course, a carefully rehearsed self-deprecating joke, proving not that the typical Canadian is dour but that he is capable of devious disguises and ironic, detached postures. As a matter of history, at least two Canadian humorists have been instrumental...