RECOMMEND
 ADD COMMENT  READ COMMENTS (0)  PRINT  EMAIL  SHARE  THE CANADIAN ENCYCLOPEDIA
0 people recommend this
Arguably Stephen LEACOCK's funniest book (1914), Arcadian Adventures is certainly one of his best and most popular works. It was published two years after SUNSHINE SKETCHES OF A LITTLE TOWN (1912), and numerous parallels between the two books in overall structure and detail make it a companion piece. The short story cycle portrays the full flowering in a large, unnamed American city (actually based on Montréal) of the seeds of corrupt materialism and individualism already detected in smalltown Mariposa. The plutocrats who inhabit Plutoria Avenue pursue money and power, and unrestricted capitalism corrupts the city's social, religious, educational, and political institutions. Arcadian Adventures exposes to laughter and ridicule the human greed, hypocrisy and pride behind such things as stock-market scams, the rage for mystical experience, the back-to-nature vogue, financially expedient ecumenism and muck-raking politics.

Unlike Sunshine Sketches, Arcadian Adventures shows sympathy not for those it satirizes but only for their hapless victims. In its bitter satire of the "conspicuous consumption" and leisure of the "idle rich," it shows the influence of The Theory of the Leisure Class (1899) by Thorstein Veblen, Leacock's teacher at the University of Chicago. As the book proceeds it becomes progressively darker; in its final chapter, "The Great Fight for Clean Government," the triumph of plutocratic totalitarianism grimly foreshadows the violence and tyranny of the 1920s and 1930s.

Haliburton, Thomas Chandler
Thomas Chandler Haliburton in a lithograph by E.U. Eddis (courtesy Library and Archives Canada/C-6086).

Author COLIN BOYD


Suggested Reading
Gerald Lynch, Stephen Leacock: Humour and Humanity (1988).

Feature Articles
Invention of Standard Time
Time waits for no man… and neither do trains...
MOST READ ARTICLES
Trudeau, Pierre Elliott
Pierre Elliott Trudeau, politician, writer, constitutional lawyer, prime minister of Canada 1968-79 and 1980-84 (b at ...
Great Depression
Few countries were affected as severely as Canada by the worldwide Depression of the 1930s. It is estimated that ...
Riel, Louis
Louis Riel, Métis leader, founder of Manitoba, central figure in the NORTH-WEST REBELLION (b at Red River ...
MOST RECOMMENDED ARTICLES
Group of Seven
The Group of Seven was founded in 1920 as an organization of self-proclaimed modern artists. The original members - ...
Macdonald, Sir John Alexander
Sir John Alexander Macdonald, lawyer, businessman, politician, first prime minister of Canada (b at Brunswick Place, ...
Great Depression
Few countries were affected as severely as Canada by the worldwide Depression of the 1930s. It is estimated that ...
MOST COMMENTED ON ARTICLES
Ware, John
John Ware, "Nigger John," horseman, rancher (b near Georgetown, SC 1845; d near Brooks, Alta 11 Sept 1905). ...
Créditistes
Créditistes, Québec party involved in federal politics. For nearly 2 decades before its 1958 formation ...
LaMarsh, Julia Verlyn
Julia Verlyn LaMarsh, "Judy," lawyer, politician, broadcaster, novelist (b at Chatham, Ont 20 Dec 1924; d at ...
newsletter subscription
* E-mail:
join us on facebook twitter
WIRE BLOG
Canada's Many Heroes and Heroines
by FRANCES CATION
WIRE BLOG
Welcome to the Memory Project: Stories of the Second World War Project blog!
by JENNA ZUSCHLAG MISENER
WIRE BLOG
Silence and Remembering
by JAMES MARSH
WIRE BLOG
A Message From George Brady
by CHRISTINA L
WIRE BLOG
The making of Hana's Suitcase by Director Larry Weinstein
by LARRY WEINSTEIN
INSIDE TCE
Gallery
Browse the rich visual resources of The Canadian Encyclopedia through thematic galleries of Canadian Art, History, Nature, People, and Science and Technology.
Interactive Resources
Illustrations, lively text, animations, sounds and games help make learning about Canadian history, art, geography, architecture and other topics entertaining as well as informative.
Canucklehead
The ultimate test of your knowledge of Canada, trivial and otherwise. You can choose from more than 60 dynamic quizzes with visual or text clues. Your scores depend on the speed with which you answer and the number of clues you need. Results are sent to you by email and high scores are posted on the site.
Timeline
This unique resource includes more than 6000 events from Canadian and world history. It can be searched by era, subject, keyword or date. To find out what happened on your birthday, select the month and day of your birth.
100 Greatest Events
This selection of the 100 "greatest" events in Canadian history was made by editor in chief James H. Marsh to draw attention to events that have left an indelible memory in the minds of later generations.
THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF MUSIC IN CANADA
Eckstein, Willie
Willie or Billy (William) Eckstein. Pianist, composer, b Pointe St-Charles (now Montreal), 6 Dec 1888, d Montreal 23 Sep 1963. He began playing piano at 3, and was billed at 12 in New York as 'The Boy Paderewski'. After spending ...


Who's Who at TCE    |    Our Partners The Canadian Encyclopedia © 2009 Historica-Dominion Copyright Information