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Robertson Davies (1913–1995)

Forfatter af Fifth Business

83+ Works 23,141 Members 442 Reviews 232 Favorited

Om forfatteren

William Robertson Davies was born in Thamesville, Ontario in 1913. He taught English at the University of Toronto and was an actor, journalist, and newspaper editor before winning acclaim as a novelist with Tempest-Tost, the first of his Salterton trilogy. His most famous trilogy, The Deptford vis mere Trilogy--Fifth Business, The Manticore, and World of Wonders--develops the earlier Salterton novels. The locale is a fictitious Ontario city that prizes its English tradition, including the Anglican Church and the genealogy of the old families. Robertson's novels have been translated into approximately 20 languages. His masterful story-telling encompasses such issues as evil, love, fear, tradition, and magic as he brings his characters to life with wisdom and humor. Robertson Davies died in 1995. (Bowker Author Biography) Robertson Davies (1913-1995) had three successive careers during the time he became an internationally acclaimed author: first as an actor with the Old Vic Company in England; then as publisher of "The Peterborough Ontario Examiner"; & finally as professor & first master of Massey College at the University of Toronto. With twelve novels & several volumes of essays & plays to his credit, Davies was the first Canadian to be inducted to the American Academy & Institute of Arts & Letters. His last novel, "The Cunning Man" (Viking 1995), was a national bestseller. (Publisher Provided) vis mindre

Serier

Værker af Robertson Davies

Fifth Business (1970) 3,219 eksemplarer
The Deptford Trilogy (1970) 2,527 eksemplarer
What's Bred in the Bone (1985) 1,912 eksemplarer
De oprørske engle (1981) 1,657 eksemplarer
The Manticore (1972) 1,568 eksemplarer
The Cunning Man (1994) 1,561 eksemplarer
The Lyre of Orpheus (1988) 1,391 eksemplarer
World of Wonders (1975) 1,337 eksemplarer
Murther and Walking Spirits (1991) 1,182 eksemplarer
The Salterton Trilogy (1951) 1,089 eksemplarer
The Cornish Trilogy (1981) 1,030 eksemplarer
Leaven of Malice (1954) 586 eksemplarer
High Spirits (1982) 579 eksemplarer
Tempest-Tost (1951) 531 eksemplarer
A Mixture of Frailties (1958) 500 eksemplarer
The Papers of Samuel Marchbanks (1985) 378 eksemplarer
One Half of Robertson Davies (1977) 204 eksemplarer
The Enthusiasms of Robertson Davies (1979) 175 eksemplarer
A Gathering of Ghost Stories (1995) 137 eksemplarer
Reading and Writing (1993) 51 eksemplarer
Samuel Marchbanks' Almanack (1967) 47 eksemplarer
The Diary of Samuel Marchbanks (1947) 37 eksemplarer
Thrice the Brinded Cat Hath Mew'd (1955) 10 eksemplarer
A Masque of Mr. Punch (1963) 9 eksemplarer
A Masque of Aesop (1952) 7 eksemplarer
A Christmas Carol Re-harmonized (1995) 7 eksemplarer
Animal U. (1995) 5 eksemplarer
Stephen Leacock (1970) 5 eksemplarer
A jig for the gypsy 4 eksemplarer
Hunting Stuart & Other Plays (1972) 3 eksemplarer
At My Heart's Core (1950) 3 eksemplarer
Question time : a play 2 eksemplarer
Selected plays (2008) 1 eksemplar
Renown at Stratford 1 eksemplar
Dickens Digested 1 eksemplar

Associated Works

The Literary Ghost: Great Contemporary Ghost Stories (1991) — Bidragyder — 75 eksemplarer
Moonbeams from the Larger Lunacy (1915) — Introduktion, nogle udgaver64 eksemplarer
Northern Suns : The New Anthology of Canadian Science Fiction (1999) — Bidragyder — 63 eksemplarer
Arthurian Poets: Edwin Arlington Robinson (1990) — Note, nogle udgaver22 eksemplarer
The Oxford Book of Canadian Ghost Stories (1990) — Bidragyder — 19 eksemplarer
Curiosity Recaptured: Exploring Ways We Think & Move (1996) — Forord — 15 eksemplarer
Cat Encounters: A Cat-Lover's Anthology (1979) — Bidragyder — 10 eksemplarer
Not to be Taken at Night (1981) — Bidragyder — 6 eksemplarer

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Discussions

Canadian Author Challenge — January: Robertson Davies & Kim Thúy i 75 Books Challenge for 2016 (februar 2016)
Davies - The Deptford Trilogy - discussion i Literary Centennials (december 2012)
Davies - The Toronto Trilogy - discussion i Literary Centennials (december 2012)
Davies - The Salterton Trilogy i Literary Centennials (december 2012)
Davies - The Cornish Trilogy - discussion i Literary Centennials (december 2012)

Anmeldelser

In the second volume of the Deptford trilogy we see the Staunton family through the eyes of David, the son and hard drinking criminal lawyer. But most remarkably we see Jungian analysis at work, as the greater part of the novel is concerned with David's analysis. He has moved to Zurich to pursue this course, following his alarming outburst at Eisengrim's show in Toronto that closed [b:Fifth Business|76896|Fifth Business (The Deptford Trilogy #1)|Robertson Davies|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1368313688s/76896.jpg|603433]. He fears he is losing control of himself and seeks treatment, which exposes him to the expression of Jungian archetypes throughout his life and leaves him with the question of whether or not he can live as the Hero, exploring his true self.

The Jungian core of the novel is interesting and got me looking at Jung's [b:The Red Book: Liber Novus|6454477|The Red Book Liber Novus|C.G. Jung|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1349565532s/6454477.jpg|6644707], which quickly proved too much to handle lightly; serious dedication will be required to get through that work. It is the wellspring of Jung's system and thought, what the character Liesl is referring to when she talks to David in the book's latter, more philosophical and inspirational coda about Jung, and Freud, and Adler:
Davey, did you ever think that these three men who were so splendid at understanding others had first to understand themselves? It was from their self-knowledge that they spoke. They did not go trustingly to some doctor and follow his lead because they were too lazy or too scared to make the inward journey alone. They dared heroically. And it should never be forgotten that they made the inward journey while they were working like galley-slaves at their daily tasks, considering other people's troubles, raising families, living full lives. They were heroes, in a sense that no space-explorer can be a hero, because they went into the unknown absolutely alone.


… (mere)
 
Markeret
lelandleslie | 32 andre anmeldelser | Feb 24, 2024 |
In an age when all the best books fill five hundred pages with ten years of a character's life, this fresh breeze billows through seventy years in under three hundred. It's an erudite novel, full of references to psychology and mythology, with a capable hand reaching into the realm of religion, bringing out miracles and magic. Much to my surprise it also revealed the origin of Eisenheim, "The Illusionist", as Davies' Eisengrim, who would travel through Milhauser's Ellis Island before emerging under his changed name in cinema.

This first novel in the Deptford Trilogy is told by Dunstan (Dunstable) Ramsay, born in rural Canada to Scots parentage. Though becoming a history master at a private boys school in Toronto, he remains enmeshed with the lives of three people from his native village. Boy (Percy Boyd) Staunton threw a vindictive snowball at him as a child, and the two maintain a mutually beneficial friendship as Boy becomes a business tycoon, government minister, and one of the richest men in Canada. That vindictive snowball hit the head of Mary Dempster, wife of the unintelligently devout Methodist minister. Mary becomes Ramsay's fool-saint and lodestar, though held in a private psychiatric hospital. That vindictive snowball sent Mary into premature labor, and her son Paul, later Eisengrim, was born. Ramsay, surveying saints, and Paul, mastering magic, reunite first in Europe, later in Mexico, and decades hence in Toronto, with terrible consequences for Boy.

This smart and entertaining novel is said to be Davies' best; how well his two sequels continue the story down different paths, I am eager to discover.

I am an old man and my life has been spent as a soldier of Christ, and I tell you that the older I grow the less Christ's teaching says to me. I am sometimes very conscious that I am following the path of a leader who died when He was less than half as old as I am now. I know things He seems never to have known. Everybody wants a Christ for himself and those who think like him. Very well, am I at fault for wanting a Christ who will show me how to be an old man? All Christ's teaching is put forward with the dogmatism, the certainty, and the strength of youth: I need something that takes account of the accretion of experience, the sense of paradox and ambiguity that comes with years! I think after forty we should recognize Christ politely but turn for our comfort and guidance to God the Father, and to the Holy Ghost, who possesses a wisdom beyond that of the incarnated Christ.
… (mere)
 
Markeret
lelandleslie | 86 andre anmeldelser | Feb 24, 2024 |
Book 2 in Deptford trilogy. This went from 3 to 4 stars at the end. A character study that helped me reflect on myself. Still thinking about it.
 
Markeret
wvlibrarydude | 32 andre anmeldelser | Jan 14, 2024 |
Not an easy book to review. A character study that delves into how a single act will drive further actions for the central character throughout his life and others. Davies mixes myth, religion, and psychology into a wonderful first person memoir. This "story" is of course told by someone who has made his life's work the study of saints. As the first in the Deptford Trilogy, I am intrigued about the other two books.
 
Markeret
wvlibrarydude | 86 andre anmeldelser | Jan 14, 2024 |

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Statistikker

Værker
83
Also by
11
Medlemmer
23,141
Popularitet
#914
Vurdering
4.1
Anmeldelser
442
ISBN
447
Sprog
18
Udvalgt
232

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