Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #235896 in Books
• Published on: 1991-11-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 808 pages

Customer Reviews

Quaint? I think not
Robertson Davies' "Salterton Trilogy" is a well-written, often funny and sometimes poignant look at the realistically odd occupants of Salterton, the deceptively quaint Canadian city with two cathedrals and one university.

"Tempest-Tost" opens with the organization of an amateur production of Shakespeare's "The Tempest." A motley crew of actors join it, including an exuberent professor, his quiet daughter, a quiet mama's boy, a beautiful rich girl, a womanizing soldier, and an infatuated schoolteacher. Love, ambition, jealousy and infatuation rapidly tangle together, climaxing in an unusually dramatic opening night.

"Leaven of Malice" is half satire and half mystery. The Salterton Bellman announces that Solly Bridgetower and Pearl Vambrace are engaged -- the only problem is that it isn't true. Professor Vambrace sees it as a personal affront, and sues the paper. Pearl and Solly are haunted by false rumors, reports, and claims about who faked the announcement. All they can do is try to find out themselves.

"Mixture of Frailties" opens with the death of Solly's domineering mother. Her will leaves money to Solly's family only if he produces a male heir with his wife Veronica (previously known as Pearl); until then, her money is to be used in a trust for a young female artistic hopeful, who will go to Europe for a few years to study whatever she is good at. And finding the right girl is only the start of Solly's problems.

The tone of the Salterton Trilogy is lighter and less introspective than Davies' other books. Sometimes it's outright hilarious (there's a girl called The Torso, for crying out loud!). The first book is perhaps the funniest and most real-seeming, but it's also rather unfocused because there is no plot. The second and third books are tighter, but a little more rarified in humor and a little more surreal in tone.

Solly Bridgetower is the unacknowledged center of the trilogy. He barely registers in "Tempest-Tost," but becomes the central figure of the second and third books. He's not a strong person, but he is a likable one. Pearl is only a little more prominent at first, but it's great to see her break out of her shell and become her own person. And without a doubt, Humphrey Cobbler is Davies' best character -- a vivid, devil-may-care artistic genius who winks and nudges in every book.

The Salterton Trilogy is often eclipsed by Davies' better-known Deptford Trilogy, but that doesn't mean it's bad. By no means. It's a pleasant and warmly amusing trio of interconnected stories, and ones you won't forget in a hurry. Highly recommended.

The books of Robertson Davies in my opinion.
It is not often that I get to give my opinion on a book, let alone to write one. I, however, felt a great need for writing this and sharing it with whomever wants to read it.
I came across Davies's writings by mere accident. Sometime in the early 1990's I was on a train going from London to Edinburgh. I was to attend there an astronomical meeting at which I was going to present some of my original research and, since I am not a native English speaker I was worrying about the way my presentation would go. Suddenly I noticed that the passenger sitting in front of me was reading a book, which by its title; Murther and Walking Spirits, attracted my attention. Firstly, because I thought there was a mispelling, later I decided that either murther meant something different from murder, or it was an ancient way of spelling the word. At my arrival in Edinburgh I consulted a dictionary and was very pleased to realise that murther meant indeed murder and that my second guess had been correct.I went immediately to the first book shop I could find and acquired the book, which I read voraciously, finding it one of the best books I had read in my life. This little book had whetted my apetite and I was determined to read more by this Davies fellow whom I had never before encountered, in spite of being quite a fan of reading books in English

I read High Spirits, then Fifth Business. Having found these books extraordinary, I bought The Deptford Trilogy, The Cornish Trilogy, The Salterton Trilogy and read them all finding every time magnificent stories, written with a pleasant and most delicate style. Something which was very worthwhile, not only because of what it said, but because of the way it was said. Sometime later I saw there was a new book The Cunning Man, and having read it my opinion of Davies grew more and more with every word read. I undertook a long quietus, hoping to see more books by Davies appear, I did not know he had died in December 1995. Early this year I came across Happy Alchemy. This book contains a series of most delightful essays. Reading it brought back to me the exquisite memories I have about the other books by him that I have read.

Robertson Davies is, in my opinion, one of the greatest English writers of the 20th century.

Lighter than Deptford, and more fun
In the Deptford Trilogy, Davies weaves stories through concept: the characters are vivid, but they also exist to reveal facets of Davies' Jungian philosophy. The Salterton Trilogy, on the other hand, takes a healthy dose of humorous, memorable (and often stereotypical) characters, tosses them in the pot with a dash of conflict, and lets them simmer.

The first two books--Tempest Tost and Leaven of Malice--carry this formula forward with great success and humor. Tempest Tost brings amateur players with varying degrees of ineptitude together for a community performance of The Tempest. The characters introduced here continue on in Leaven of Malice to quarrel over a practical joke: a faulty marriage announcement in a local newspaper.

The third book (A Mixture of Frailties) departs from this formula, leaving the small town for the London classical music scene, and though preexisting characters play a minor role, the focus rests on a single new character. The book reads as a rite-of-passage tale for its protagonist, Monica Gall, who develops into something of a renaissance woman under the tutelage of her three magi (a conceit which I could have done without, but about which little is made).

The first two books are light reads, and quite fun. The second especially is wonderfully comic, and I'd recommend it as a starting place for anyone wanting a gentle introduction to Davies. The third book is far more reflective, reminding me at times of "The Fifth Business", and echoing the binding conflict of The Deptford Trilogy in a scene near the end.

As with all Davies' writing I have experienced so far, the breadth of his knowledge in the subjects he chooses to write about is humbling. Music, newswriting, play production: if it's an art, Davies seems to know what there is to know.