Product Description

First published in the U.S. last year, this updated collection contains the best of Robertson Davies' newspaper and magazine articles written over the past 50 years. "Each piece is entertaining and enlightening. . . ."--Publishers Weekly.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1295085 in Books
• Published on: 1991-07-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

From Publishers Weekly
In this collection of 93 reprinted newspaper and magazine articles, Davies discusses such figures as Chaucer, Jung, Whitman and Wodehouse; reviews books; and describes his own interests: Shakespeare, book collecting and scrapbook keeping. "Each piece is entertaining and enlightening," said PW . "Regardless of the subject matter . . . Davies has something amusing and original to say."
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
He may be Canada's best living writer, but Davies's work is like Cajun Popcorn: one taste leads to life-long addiction or a nervous avoidance. Readers who devour every novel (the most recent being The Lyre of Orpheus , LJ 1/89) will be delighted by Grant's gathering of reviews, articles, and autobiographical essays. Davies, a master of style, weaves wit and intelligence into a prose that compells our attention. Whether the subject is Tess or Lolita , Freud or O'Casey, "Book Collecting" or "The Pleasures of Love," Davies both provokes and entertains while cutting through academic cant. There is something for all readers in this wonderful collection. A joy to read, it will enhance his reputation and gain him more readers.
- Vincent D. Balitas, Allentown Coll., Center Valley, Pa.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author
Robertson Davies was born and raised in Ontario and was educated at a variety of schools, Upper Canada College, Queen’s University, and Balliol College, Oxford. He had three successive careers: first as an actor with the Old Vic Company in England; then as publisher of the Peterborough Examiner; and most recently as a university professor and first Master of Massey College at the University of Toronto, from which he retired in 1981.

He was without doubt one of Canada’s most distinguished men of letters, with over thirty books to his credit, among them several volumes of plays, as well as collections of essays, speeches, and belles lettres. As a novelist he gained fame far beyond Canada’s borders, especially for his Deptford trilogy, Fifth Business, The Manticore, and World of Wonders, and for his last five novels, The Rebel Angels, What’s Bred in the Bone, The Lyre of Orpheus, Murther & Walking Spirit, and The Cunning Man.

His career was marked by many honours: he was, for example, the first Canadian to become an honorary Member of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. He was a Companion of the Order of Canada, and Honorary Fellow of Balliol, and received an honorary D.Litt. from Oxford.

Robertson Davies passed away in 1995.

Customer Reviews

As eclectic in his non-fiction as in his fiction
I took a break from Davies fiction this month to read this collection of non-fiction, culled from over thirty years of essays, and grouped into three broad categories: Characters, Books, and Robertson Davies. I say broad because Davies was not thinking of these categories as he wrote these essays. Instead, these were written to fill his column at the Peterborough Examiner ("A Writer's Diary") or book reviews for various American publications such as Harper's, The Washington Post, or The Atlantic Monthly. Characters, however, tends to be about "lives"--either the lives of authors (including Wodehouse and Freud), literary creations (mehitabel), or theater figures (Emma Calve and Melli Nelba). Okay, I'll admit it--I didn't know who Calve and Nelba were either, but that's because I'm a book person, not a theater person. Even so, some of the authors and books covered here do stretch even my prodigious reading (not to mention my memory), partly due to the age of some of these essays (some as early as 1942) and partly due to Davies quite eclectic interests. That's why I like him, however. Eclecticism is the mark of someone not afraid of change.

The Books section is just as varied, covering Graves' King Jesus and Hardy's Tess of the d'Urbervilles. What was interesting for me is his comment on the Mervyn Peake's fantasy classic, The Gormenghast Trilogy, which I have tried to read several times and never found it to catch my interest. I must have another go at it sometime in the near future. In this section of book reviews, it is interesting to note the progression (the articles are arranged in chronological order) of how the writer views the writing of his forebears and his peers, especially in the light of the wonderful writer Davies himself was becoming. The essay that hits closest to home is his essay on Joyce Cary's novels and their inventive method of retelling tales using the same characters, which Davies was to modify for his three trilogies.

Finally, the section entitled Robertson Davies gives you a personal glimpse into the writer at work, as well as the curmudgeon at play. The essay entitled "A Chat with a Great Reader" alone is worth the price of the book. In it, Davies recalls a conversation with a fellow at a party who claims to be a "Great Reader" and is delighted to meet Davies, a "Critic." The distinctions are quite telling, and an indictment on those who play at the game of knowledge and entertainment. While not everything here is as funny or insightful, these two to five page essays are the perfect compliment to your bedstand or reading chair, as bon bons to your main meal of words.

A Treasure Chest of Gems
Robertson Davies lives up to his reputation as Canada's distinguished man of letters of the twentieth century. In addition to establishing his abilities as a novelist and a playwright, he reveals in the showcased selections in "The Enthusiasms of Robertson Davies" how talented and perceptive a reviewer he was, covering a wide variety of writers and books.

Davies' superb economy of expression shines as the reader is treated to pristine vignettes about Thomas Mann, Vladimir Nabokov, James Agate, P.G. Woodehouse, Somerset Maugham, D.H. Lawrence and many others. His wit sparkles and he effectively and succinctly pinpoints the elements which made these writers succeed.

Short essays and "plays" about everything
For the reader who has yet to read any Robertson Davies, this book is a great place to start. It is informative, easy reading that will frequently make you laugh. I recommend it highly.