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Unit 11: The Conjurers Revenge by Stephen Leacock

Stephen Leacock was born in Swanmore, Hampshire. He was the third of eleven children Notes
born to (Walter) Peter Leacock (b.1848), who was born and grew up at Oak Hill on the Isle
of Wight, an estate that his grandfather had purchased after returning from Madeira where
his family had made a fortune out of plantations and Leacock’s Madeira wine, founded in
1760.
Disillusioned with teaching, in 1899 he began graduate studies at the University of
Chicago under Thorstein Veblen, where he received a doctorate in political
science and political economy. He moved from Chicago, Illinois to Montreal, Quebec,
where he eventually became the William Dow Professor of Political Economy and long-
time chair of the Department of Economics and Political Science at McGill University.

Early in his career, Leacock turned to fiction, humour, and short reports to supplement
(and ultimately exceed) his regular income. His stories, first published in magazines in
Canada and the United States and later in novel form, became extremely popular around
the world. It was said in 1911 that more people had heard of Stephen Leacock than had
heard of Canada. Also, between the years 1915 and 1925, Leacock was the most popular
humourist in the English-speaking world.
The Stephen Leacock Associates is a foundation chartered to preserve the literary legacy of
Stephen Leacock, and oversee the annual award of the Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal
for Humour.

In 1900 Leacock married Beatrix (“Trix”) Hamilton, niece of Sir Henry Pellatt (who had
built Casa Loma, the largest castle in North America). In 1915 — after 15 years of marriage —
the couple had their only child, Stephen Lushington Leacock. While Leacock doted on the
boy, it became apparent early on that “Stevie” suffered from a lack of growth hormone.
Growing to be only four feet tall, he had a love-hate relationship with Leacock, who
tended to treat him like a child. His wife Beatrix Hamilton died in 1925 due to breast
cancer.
In 1947, the Stephen Leacock Award was created to recognize the best in Canadian literary
humour. In 1969, the centennial of his birth, Canada Post issued a six cent stamp with his
image on it.

Two Leacock short stories have been adapted as National Film Board of Canada animated
shorts by Gerald Potterton: My Financial Career and The Awful Fate of Melpomenus Jones.

In 2012, a screen adaptation based on Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town was aired on CBC
Television to celebrate both the 75th anniversary of the CBC and the 100th anniversary of
Leacock’s original collection of short stories. The recent screen adaptation featured Gordon
Pinsent as a mature Leacock.

11.4 Keywords

Adaptation: Adaptation refers to the change by which a specific organism becomes better
suited to its present surrounding or environment.
Awful: Something which is very bad or unpleasant.
Disillusion: It means having lost faith or trust in something : disappointed that something is not
as good, valuable, and true as it appeared.
Doctorate: It is the highest degree awarded by a university faculty or other approved educational
organization.

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