THE author of this book offers it to the public without apology. The reviewers of his previous work of this character have presumed, on inductive grounds, that he must be a young man from the most westerly part of the Western States, to whom many things might be pardoned as due to the exuberant animal spirits of youth. They were good enough to express the thought that when the author grew up and became educated there might be hope for his intellect. This expectation is of no avail. All that education could do in this case ...
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THE author of this book offers it to the public without apology. The reviewers of his previous work of this character have presumed, on inductive grounds, that he must be a young man from the most westerly part of the Western States, to whom many things might be pardoned as due to the exuberant animal spirits of youth. They were good enough to express the thought that when the author grew up and became educated there might be hope for his intellect. This expectation is of no avail. All that education could do in this case has been tried and has failed. As a Professor of Political Economy in a great university, the author admits that he ought to know better. But he will feel amply repaid for his humiliation if there are any to whom this little book may bring some passing amusement in hours of idleness, or some brief respite when the sadness of the heart or the sufferings of the body forbid the perusal of worthier things.
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This book is a send-up of various different literary genres: the detective story, the ghost story, the rags-to-riches story, etc. It?s very humorous and much better than the book I?d started before it, which deals with the supernatural, only not so amusingly.
I?ve read literary parodies before now. But those tend to deal with specific books and authors. Mr. Leacock decided to write books that parody style rather than target certain authors. It is a gentle poke at the inherent flaws that leave these genres open to ridicule. Nonsense? Yes. Foolishness. Perhaps not so much.