The Cornish Trilogy

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Description

Woven around the pursuits of the energetic spirits and erudite scholars of the University of St. John and the Holy Ghost, this dazzling trilogy of novels lures the reader into a world of mysticism, historical allusion, and gothic fantasy that could only be the invention of Canada's grand man of letters.

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Customer Reviews

Good to the last page...
A friend encouraged me to put the Cornish trilogy on my list of books-to-get-to-someday. Eight years later, I have finally read it, and am so glad I did. I found the reading itself to be remarkably easy-- the plots are not complicated or unreasonably challenging for someone like me, who is not interested in being confused. The books are really less about plot than about characters and ideas. Like others, I found the author/characters to be much like the best of my college professors: able to take big ideas and lay them out in a way that makes sense and lets me absorb them.

The three arts-- literature, painting and music-- explored in the three novels left me feeling like I know a little more about each. And here I want to defend the third novel which some other reviewers have dismissed as unremarkable or even unreadable. I came to Lyre with more knowledge of the theme (with my music degree in my hip pocket, as it were) than to the others. I found the discussions of the role of composition vs. libretto to be amusing and insightful-- the fight among the levels of creators in an opera isn't unlike the parallel struggle for control of the Cornish foundation. The need of musicians for sponsors was well played out. The exploration of the Arthur legend in all of its bastardizations, including the one played out in the novel, was also engaging.

For me, the last novel was the most accessible because I came to it with the most understanding of the topic. But all three challenged me enough to make this more than just an average summer read. Find sustained reading time-- this is a group of books to be savored and digested, not just sucked down and tossed aside.

2010-07-16 | raisinmountaineer (Flagstaff, AZ United States) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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AMAZING, AMAZING
Impossible not to enjoy, especially for some of the lesser characters. Not to spoil anybody's reading: the male gypsy and the jerk from an American University who appears toward the end of the last volume are priceless.

2009-08-12 (London) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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Find Your Undine
Well, what exactly to say about this trilogy stretching to over eleven hundred pages? So many things come to mind, and it would be impossible to give them all due consideration without writing a review at least half as long as the book(s). -- I'll deal with what I don't particularly fancy about the trilogy as a start: I don't like being confronted with gypsy Tarot readers who put menstrual blood in a fellow's drink to besot him, female spies with bedazzling psychic powers who also offer a good tumble when the praeternatural reading is over and art connoisseurs endowed with a very effective "evil eye" who bequeath their fortunes in Swiss numbered bank accounts upon their demise (and such like figures) around every corner. But such are the characters who populate all three books of the trilogy and whom we are supposed to take (to a certain extent at least) seriously. But these improbable characters are merely bothersome, it seems to me, on a rather comedic level. My deeper problem (and this was a problem with The Deptford Trilogy as well) is Davies's professorial tone here. Another reviewer has already remarked on his lack of passion. I should rather frame it thusly: Davies writes quite well and extensively ABOUT passion and characters - to borrow from Yeats, as Davies frequently does herein - full of passionate intensity, but he does not write WITH passion. He is not lyrical, not a stylist, not poetic. Rather, parts of this book read like Jungian sermons (coming, of course from Simon Darcourt, so obviously an alter ego of Davies himself). - This is, summarily, what I find problematic and dislike about the trilogy.

What I appreciate about The Cornish Trilogy is that it at least makes an attempt, however excruciating in the execution, to deal with the depths in us all. This is the reason I would recommend it, despite misgivings, to any literate and contemplative reader; there is at least a trace, certainly of Simon Darcourt, probably of Francis Cornish, in anybody even considering reading this opus - not to the exclusion of other characters, however rum.

E.T.A. Hoffman, as Davies portrays him, shuffling about in Limbo, awaiting his Fate, exclaims, "Undine- yes, my wonderful tale of the water nymph who marries a mortal, and at last claims him for her underwater kingdom; what does it not say about the need for modern man to explore the deep waters that lie beneath his own surface?"

Somewhere in this rambling, shaggy dog trilogy full of parodies, grotesqueries and academic in-jokes, the persevering reader is destined to come upon his or her undertow into the depths. - Reason enough to read, I say.

2008-02-19 (Greenville, SC USA) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 4

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A fascinating story told beautifully
The Cornish Trilogy is a beautiful work of fiction as Robertson Davies takes the reader on a trip across Europe and North America to unravel the mysteries of the rather unusual Cornish family. It sheds light on the human condition as it explores such things as culture traditions, societal class barriers, love, desire, power, altruism and morality as part of a historical journey.

2006-08-03 (Ohio University, Athens, OH USA) | Helpful Votes: 6 | Rating: 5

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But is it art?
Davies's Cornish trilogy should be read by anyone with an interest in the philosophy of art -- questions of attribution, forgery and fakery, and authenticity pervade all three novels, which deal with literature, painting and music respectively. Art in general, and art objects in particular, take on a shadowy, slippery aspect in spite of the very palpable (and almost erotically desirable) qualities they have for Davies's characters. Aesthetic and spiritual experience are intertwined. But the style, while elevated, is never dry or preachy -- the characters are rounded and often delightfully vulgar and even the most intellectual threads of the story are brimming with life and humour.

2005-07-23 | totality denier (County Louth, Eire) | Helpful Votes: 12 | Rating: 5

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The Deptford Trilogy

Product Details

• ISBN13: 9780140147551
• Circumstances: New
• Notes: BUY WITH Conviction, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and putting into play to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed

Description

Around a mysterious death is woven a glittering, fantastical, cunningly contrived trilogy of novels: "Fifth Business", often described as Robertson Davies' finest novel; "The Manticore", and "World of Wonders". Luring the reader down labyrinthine tunnels of myth, history and magic, "The Deptford Trilogy" provides an exhilarating antidote to a world from where 'the fear and dread and splendour of wonder have been banished. 'His books will be recognized with the very best works of this century' - "The New York Times" Book Review.

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"Who killed Boy Staunton?"

This is the question that lies at the heart of Robertson Davies's elegant trilogy comprising Fifth Business, The Manticore, and World of Wonders. Indeed, Staunton's death is the central event of each of the three novels, and Rashomon-style, each circles round to view it from a different perspective. In the first book, Fifth Business, Davies introduces us to Dunstan Ramsey and his "lifelong friend and enemy, Percy Boyd Staunton," both aged 10. It is a winter evening in the small Canadian village of Deptford, and Ramsey and Boy have quarreled. In a rage, Boy throws a snowball with a stone in it, misses his friend and hits the Baptist minister's pregnant wife by mistake. She becomes hysterical and later that night delivers her child prematurely, a baby with birth defects. Even worse, she loses her mind. The snowball, the stone, the deformed baby christened Paul Dempster--this is the secret guilt that will bind Ramsey and Staunton together through their long lives:

I was perfectly sure, you see, that the birth of Paul Dempster, so small, so feeble, and troublesome, was my fault. If I had not been so clever, so sly, so spiteful in hopping in front of the Dempsters just as Percy Boyd Staunton threw that snowball at me from behind, Mrs. Dempster would not have been struck. Did I never think that Percy was guilty? Indeed I did.

Boy, however, "would fight, lie, do anything rather than admit" he feels guilty, too, and so the subject remains unresolved between them right up until the night Boy's body is found in his car, in a lake, with a stone in his mouth. The second novel, The Manticore, follows Staunton's son, David, through a course of Jungian therapy in Switzerland, while World of Wonders concentrates on Magnus Eisengrim, a renowned magician and hypnotist with ties to both Ramsey and Boy Staunton.

When it came to writing, three was Davies's favorite number. Before the Deptford books, he wrote The Salterton Trilogy (Tempest-Tost, Leaven of Malice, A Mixture of Frailties), and after it came The Cornish Trilogy (The Rebel Angels, What's Bred in the Bone, The Lyre of Orpheus). Excellent as these and Davies's other novels are, The Deptford Trilogy is arguably the masterpiece for which he'll best be remembered, as the combination of magic, archetype, and good, old-fashioned human frailty at work in these novels is a world of wonders unto itself, and guarantees these three books a permanent place among the great books of our time. --Alix Wilber

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Customer Reviews

Expected more
After reading the reviews I expected more. The 2nd book was especially bad, being a piece of dated Jungian propaganda and not particularly interesting. If you are looking for big themes that cover a life lived in the 20th century I recommend Earthly Powers by Anthony Burgess or The New Confessions by William Boyd. Both do a much better job without inserting speeches into their characters' mouths.

2010-01-02 (Asia) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 3

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Going somewhere?
I can keep this short: I came away ultimately disappointed after making it most of the way through the second book because, simply, the story never really went anywhere. The writing was vivid and interesting, but the story was lacking. Not worth my time to continue on. There's too many other good books out there. Sorry Davies!

2009-09-21 (Chicago, IL) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 2

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Just wonderful
Everything Davies wrote is wonderful, but the Trilogy is just the best. An incredible writer!

2009-07-12 | Amy (Chicago, IL USA) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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A Masterpiece
I was once told that this trilogy has a prominent place at the Jung Center library in Zurich. Not sure if that's true, but it certainly isn't a far-fetched assertion. These books will tell you more about the teaching of the good doctor than any textbook. They also pack more into a paragraph or two about -- you name it -- life, love, longing, spirit, saints, archetypes, interiority, false self, true self, vanity, than most books can manage in their full length. Each one individually is a gem, but together, well, I've yet to find anything to match.

I make sure to re-read them at least once every three to five years. And Christmastime is the perfect time to pick up Fifth Business and ride the wave right on through to the end of World of Wonders. If these books don't change your life, then you either aren't paying attention or just don't want your life changed.

2008-12-19 | JAP MAN | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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Personal truth from the 5th
Fifth Business is beautiful. The story of Dunstan is compelling and subtly craftly. The story follows his journey for personal truth and an understanding of his own personal mythology. There are gems throughout:

"They were anxious to make men of us, by which they meant making us like themselves."

"We all forget the things we do, especially when they do not fit into the characer we have chosen for ourselves."

"...you've made a God of yourself and the insufficiency of it forced you to become an atheist."

The story, including its conclusion, is intricate and thoroughly satisfying.

The other two books, "The Manticore" and "World of Wonders", though flawed, complete the Deptford story in a very necessary way. How can a story fully convey the idea of personal truth and subjectivity without relating the story from another perspective? This is what the other two books set out to do.

The Manticore is very interesting, but not as compelling as Fifth Business. It's the pieced together narrative of Boy Staunton's son, David, as he goes through Jungian psychoanalysis. As a fan of Jung, I think the concept is brilliant, but the execution falters as David is not as endearing as Ramsay, and his narrative is uneven. At times, he is too defensive and at other times, his progress is a bit contrived.

World of Wonders tells the story of Magnus Eisengrim, and how he became the world's greatest illusionist. Another beautiful, subtly crafted story. Though slow at points and filled with a healthy dose of pretentiousness (the banter between Liesl and Magnus is a little much sometimes), it's incredibly enjoyable.

There is no doubt that Fifth Business is the masterpiece in this trilogy. The other two do not match its brilliance. However, they do serve to reinforce the underlying themes in the work and provide the reader with a more full experience of the personal mythologies that make up the Deptford history.

If you love the first, read the next two!

2008-09-13 | Helpful Votes: 2 | Rating: 5

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The Salterton Trilogy: Tempest-Tost Leaven of Malice a Mixture of Frailties

Description

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Customer Reviews

Entertaining and Well Written
I'd read the Cornish Trilogy and some of the Deptford Trilogy a few years before picking up the Salterton Trilogy. I read the Salterton books straight through, and enjoyed them. Unlike the other two, the Salterton Trilogy struck me as just a little dated, not because it doesn't discuss email or reflect recent political developments, but because social mores have changed somewhat over the last half-century, and so at times it seems a bit quaint. I could be quite wrong, but I suspect that even in a small, conservative Canadian town, folks may not be as prissy today as the characters in these books sometimes are.

Davies' style here also is "old school;" there's nothing experimental, or even modern, about his prose, which could have been written in the nineteenth century. But unless the reader would avoid any novels written more than twenty years ago as being too old fashioned (like some people won't watch a movie from the 1940s), none of this really detracts much from the experience, which is still a lot of fun.

Particularly compared with the other trilogies, the Salterton novels are light; there are many funny elements throughout the other trilogies, but the first two Salterton novels are frankly comedies, and the third is melodrama. The plots of all of them are rather slight, and in Leaven of Malice in particular, the ending is broadcast almost from the start. The characters, though, are very well developed, if a bit cartoonish. Davies is a masterful wordsmith, and excels at psychological detail. He delights in revealing imperfections; in fact, he seems unable to resist poking fun at all of his characters, so none of them comes off as particularly admirable, but at the same time none of these books shows any real darkness.

A number of the characters are found in each of the three novels, and there's just enough that ties them together to make reading them in order a good idea, so having the trilogy is convenient.

2006-08-24 | Helpful Votes: 4 | Rating: 4

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Should Be the Last Davies Book You Read
I am an incredible Davies fan, and have lived in and/or travelled to many of the places he writes about. This trilogy takes place in "Salterton", a thin veiling for Kingston, Ontario, Canada, and Queen's University, located there.

Unlike his other university-set novels, Salterton features contempt for the frivolity of faculty and persons who live in a small town. While not entirely inaccurate in his portrayal of a small university-centered Canadian town, it doesn't relish academia in the way that the Cornish trilogy does.

As always, the pages are rife with attention to detail and tangential storylines are fleshed out with loving care. It is as if seven or eight short stories collide into three great novels. If you enjoy these, I strongly recommend the Deptford and Cornish trilogies; both are better examples of Davies' literary gifts.

2004-09-03 | CG (Wisconsin) | Helpful Votes: 4 | Rating: 3

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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.

2003-11-03 | ea_solinas (MD USA) | Helpful Votes: 21 | Rating: 4

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The wonder and fun starts here
This is Davies first trilogy, and, if I remember correct, his first novel was the lead-off to this, Tempest-Tost. Before writing novels, however, Davies had written several plays, so his first novel is quite accomplished. The Salterton trilogy is almost misnamed--yes, it does center around the town of Salterton, but the real center of the three books is Solomon Bridgetower. Although he is almost a minor character in the first book, he and his family are front stage in books two and three.

Tempest-Tost is about an amateur production of Shakespeare's The Tempest. The Salterton players assume they can have the use of the garden of their most famous citizen, and it is this assumption of community use that leads them into trouble. While no characters in the book undergo a sea-change, several characters do awaken from passive slumber to new lives, sometimes with mixed results. For anyone who has ever been involved in amateur theater, this is an extremely amusing tale. Others might find it belabored.

Not so with the second novel, which is about class and prejudice, but told in a Wodehousian manner. Winner of the Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour (a Canadian award for best humor novel--I wish I could find a list of past award winners), Leaven of Malice concerns an engagement announcement in the local paper that was placed by neither bride nor groom. The resulting conflict between the two families brings up old academic rivalry, the worst of the new goody-two-shoe couple in town, and an escalation of lawyers. In some ways it is a mystery, too, as the two "lovers" attempt to find who had the malice to link their names in the public eye.

The concluding volume, A Mixture of Frailties, is about a trust established by Solomon's mother, and how it must be awarded to a specific individual. But finding the individual is only the start of Solomon's trouble, and the story follows two separate lines: one regarding Solomon and his need for a heir to rid himself of his mother's legacy, and one regarding the lucky trust recipient, and her entry into the world of opera.

There were certain things near to Davies' experience, it seems: theater, academic life, and trusts. Trusts can be found in both A Mixture of Frailties and the second and third books of the Cornish trilogy, academic life is featured in Leaven of Malice and The Rebel Angels, and theater productions in Tempest-Tost and The Lyre of Orpheus. I can easily see myself rereading Davies in ten years, and rediscovering all of this once again.

2003-02-23 | www.engel-cox.org (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) | Helpful Votes: 8 | Rating: 5

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The Best Beach Book Ever
And I don't actually mean that in a derogatory sense. What I do mean is that the Salterton Trilogy is a compelling romp of a read with enough intelligence and wit to cause one to want to read it in front of the fire come February. BUT...you can put it down and pick it up again weeks later and not feel disconnected.
I came rather late to Robertson Davies (university age), even though I grew up in Toronto and even went to Trinity College, U of Toronto, the fictionalized setting for "Rebel Angels"; my problem was that we were force-fed "Fifth Business" in high school. I hated the book (as it was taught, at least) so much that I never wanted to have anything else to do with Robertson Davies, ever. Fortunately, a friend in my sophmore year urged me to pick up Tempest-Tost, and a die-hard convert was born. Again, perhaps. The Cornish Trilogy is certainly more complex, and the Deptford astonishingly onion-like in its layers, but the Salterton is the most fun. Although the town of Salterton (in reality Kingston, Ontario, a charming old Loyalist city on the river) seems to exist as a somewhat rarefied sugarplum of 1950s sensibilities and prejudices, the characters are remarkably believeable and personable, the plots well paced and the action eminently suited to a comfy chair and a cup of tea.

The best characters in Tempest-Tost are Freddie Webster and Hector Mackilwraith, but Humphrey Cobbler is perhaps the most memorable. He manages to assert himself in all three of the books, if memory serves correctly, and it's a good thing. He is the epitome of the mad musical genius without being a complete cariacture.

The Salterton Trilogy is a perfect introduction to a great Canadian author, and a great cheer-up if life has been treating you shabbily.

2002-12-17 | heather@hoffmang.com (Emerald Hills, CA USA) | Helpful Votes: 6 | Rating: 5

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Robertson Davies: A Portrait in Mosaic

Description

National bestseller and a Globe and Mail Best Book

A fascinating, larger-than-life character, Davies left a treasure trove of stories about him when he died in 1995 — expertly arranged here into a revealing portrait.

From his student days onward, Robertson Davies made a huge impression on those around him. He was so clearly bound for a glorious future that some young friends even carefully preserved his letters. And everyone remembered their encounters with him.

Later in life, as a world-famous writer, perhaps Canada’s pre-eminent man of letters (who “looked like Jehovah”), he attracted people eager to meet him, who also vividly remembered their meetings. So when Val Ross set out in search of people’s memories, she was faced with a wonderful embarrassment of riches.
The one hundred or so contributors here range very widely. There are family memories, of course, and memories from colleagues in the academic world who knew him as a professor and the founding master of Massey College at the University of Toronto.

Predictably, there are other major writers like Margaret Atwood and John Irving. Less predictably, there are people from the world of Hollywood, such as Norman Jewison and David Cronenberg (who remembers Davies on-set, peering through a camera lens as he researched his newest novel). And we even hear from his barber, and from his gardener, Theo Henkenhaf.

Some speakers contribute just a lively paragraph; others several pages. Yet all of them, through the magic of Val Ross’s art, help to create an intriguing, full-colour portrait of a complex man beloved by millions of readers around the world.


From the Hardcover edition.

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Customer Reviews

A biography from over one hundred contributors who paint a unique collective picture of the man and his work
Some authors sell books, other make an impact that lasts for years after. "Robertson Davies: A Portrait in Mosaic" is a biography from over one hundred contributors who paint a unique collective picture of the man and his work. and what he left behind. From his family to those who met with in his everyday life to those influenced by his work and his contemporaries, "Robertson Davies" is well worth the consideration for any literary biography collections.

2009-12-12 (Oregon, WI USA) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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Best writer
Robertson Davies is the best writer of the last century. It was illuminating readin this book about him. A must read!

2008-12-05 | Jill (Ojai, California) | Helpful Votes: 1 | Rating: 5

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World of Wonders (Penguin Classics)

Product Details

• Notes: BUY WITH Self-reliance, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and professional care to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed
• Quarters: New
• ISBN13: 9780143039143

Description

Hailed by the Washington Post Book World as "a modern classic," Robertson Davies’s acclaimed Deptford Trilogy is a glittering, fantastical, cunningly contrived series of novels, around which a mysterious death is woven. World of Wonders—the third book in the series after The Manticore—follows the story of Magnus Eisengrim—the most illustrious magician of his age—who is spirited away from his home by a member of a traveling sideshow, the Wanless World of Wonders. After honing his skills and becoming better known, Magnus unfurls his life’s courageous and adventurous tale in this third and final volume of a spectacular, soaring work.

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Customer Reviews

good books bad ordering proceedures
The books were fine. The web site/order process was another matter. I ordered 4 books and should have received free shipping. When I tried to change the shipping address the web site wouldn't let me. instead it put the order through though I didn't request it too. Since one of the books was to be a present that week, I had to order another copy, paying $10.++ instead of $4.++, plus a few more dollars in postage due when a forwarded book arrived.

2009-04-26 (CT) | Helpful Votes: 1 | Rating: 5

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Overview of "World of Wonders"
The theme of the novel "World of Wonders" by Robertson Davies, is "search for self"(Warlton 4) Through ought the novel, there is a constant search for who the main character, Mangus Eisengrim, truly is. The majority of the novel is Mangus telling his life story. During this story, Mangus lives "four different lives"(Warlton 5) First he was born with the given name Paul Dempster, a Reverend's. At the age of ten he ran away with the carnival and became Cass Fletcher and controlled a mechanical card-playing machine as a carnival act. Later he named himself Fastus LeGrand and worked as a stunt double in a travelling play. He finally became Mangus Eisengrim, a world famous illusionist. Countless times during his story he asks the question, "Who was I?"(61).

At the beginning of Paul Dempster's life there was no trouble with who he was. He was born prematurely and so, right from the start, he was a survivor. He also was a Reverend's son, and his mother was known to others as a "hoor"(24). He knew exactly who he was, but anted to be someone else. After running away with the carnival, or as he said "The carnival ran away with me.", he recalls that he was "prepared to do anything rather than go home." At the carnival he became known as Cass Fletcher. This initial change in who he was was the first sign that there was a conflict with who he was.

His time spent as Cass Fletcher, roughly eight years, was the most conflicting time of his life. In the carnival Cass operated a card-playing machine called "Abdullah"(49). He would sit inside the machine spy on his opponent's cards and slip better ones into Abdullah's hand. At point in his life Cass spent most of his time inside this contraption, perfecting his spying and card slipping and when he ate, and that was seldom, he would do it inside Abdullah as well. He was almost never seen or spoken too. This neglect and abuse led him to believe that he was nobody. He mentions "I was Nobody... I did not exist.". At this time his "search for self" came to the most obscure solution possible. He believed himself to be Nobody. However, when he was seen and acknowledged, it was mostly when he was on stage as "Abdullah, the undefeatable card-playing machine". This caused him to think that when he was not Nobody, he was Abdullah. His answer to "Who [am] I?" was either Abdullah, an inanimate object and a machine to trick an audience, or nobody at all. It wasn't until he was about eighteen, when the carnival he was working for went out of business, that he escaped being trapped in Abdullah. He moved to France and became a street performer. His fake passport had "Fastus LeGrand" as his name. So finally he was no longer, and would never again be, Nobody.

Early in Fastus LeGrand's career as a street performer he was offered a job as an actor in a play called "Scaramouche"(162). He was hired as a stunt double for a man named Sir John. All Fastus had to do was walk a tightrope and juggle some plates, but he had quite a problem imitating Sir John. A fellow actor said that he couldn't "get Sir John's rhythm."(167). As he began to get the idea, he realized that he was again hiding from the audience as he had done with Abdullah.

Was this to be another Abdullah? It was, but in a way I could not have foreseen. Experience never repeats itself in quite the same way. I was beginning another servitude, much more dangerous and potentially ruinous, but far removed from the squalor of my experience with [Abdullah]. I had entered upon a ling apprenticeship to an [egotism].

Fastus had to become Sir John. Eventually he succeeded, so much so that he was later accused of eating Sir John. "You ate Sir John... You ate the poor old ham."(224). Another crisis in his identity. Fastus learned to walk, act, speak, move, stand and probably even blink exactly the same as Sir John himself. During Fastus's time with the play he was known to most as Mungo Fetch. The name was decided on by other actors who thought it sounded appropriate for a man whose job it was to copy someone else. Fastus LeGrand, the only name he picked for himself, was thought to be far too noticeable, and a stunt double was to be kept secret. Again he needed to be hidden from the world. But when Sir John retired, Fastus was no longer Mungo Fetch, nor Sir John. He was beginning to win himself back. Once again, he was known only by a single name. But "Fastus LeGrand was still not who [he] truly was, or who he was meant to be."(Pierce 318)

Soon after Fastus stopped acting in Scaramouche, he was hired to fix toys for an old rich man. It took months just to fix a single toy because of the minute tinkering took to perfect the movement. But there were hundreds of toys that needed to be fixed. So Fastus spent almost every waking hour of his time working on them. Thus, he had virtually no contact with the outside world. He was even given residence with his employer, so he didn't even have to leave the old mans mansion. Now, instead of hiding behind Abdullah or Sir John, he was hiding behind his work. It was during his time fixing toys that Fastus changed once again. As he continued fixing toys for the old man, Fastus met the old mans niece, Lisel, whom he fell in love with. Since Fastus LeGrand was not his real name and he didn't care for it much they decided to change it again. Fastus would by no means return to being Paul Dempster, and even less so did he want to go back to Cass Fletcher. So Lisel named him Mangus Eisengrim. Becoming Mangus was the "final conflict with who he was."(Pierce 553) Mangus was finally rid of his former lives and had come to the end of his search for self. He had answered the question "Who [am] I?". He lived life as Mangus and became a world famous illusionist and eventually returned to acting, since he had such a skill with imitating people. He was, from then on, Mangus Eisengrim.

2003-12-15 (Paris, Ont Canada) | Helpful Votes: 4 | Rating: 4

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a satisfying end to the trilogy
I've just finished a Davies marathon: the whole Deptford trilogy in 3 days. I think it a testament to Davies' great storytelling ability that I could not put down any of the three books. I suggest reading them in close succession because the second book (The Manticore) sheds a lot of light on the other two books. It's interesting that in this book (the 2nd), we get 250 pages or so written from the point of view of a minor character: Boy Staunton's son. If you stop to think about it, the whole trilogy is structured around the question "Who killed Boy Staunton," so it shouldn't be surprising to read an account by his drunken son, the famous lawyer of his counseling sessions in Zurich. Rarely does one find such well-drawn characters these days in novels -- by the end, you'll feel like you've known Paul Demster for years, along with the simian Liesl, level-headed Ramsey and of course Demster's character, Eisengrim.

This book is a bit "deeper" than the first two as we find ourselves transported to an almost magic-realism portrait of myth and fantastical events in the World of Wonders. I actually enjoyed the first two books more although I still think this last book is a master work. Occassionaly Eisengrim's recounting of his life gets a bit tedious, but only because we are dying to resolve the mystery which finally gets solved in the closing pages. All in all, a memorable trilogy and a gripping read by one of the great 20th century writers.

2001-04-19 | book queen | Helpful Votes: 9 | Rating: 5

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Davies' Deptford Trilogy - A must-read
The only bad thing about Robertson Davies' Deptford Trilogy (FIFTH BUSINESS, THE MANTICORE, WORLD OF WONDERS) is that it had to end! Sparklingly clever, bawdy, poignant, erudite, and laugh-out-loud funny, Davies entertains in a wonderfully rich, old-world style.

A friend of mine (who recommended the books, and to whom I will be forever grateful) put it this way: "Reading Robertson Davies is like sitting in a plush, wood-paneled library--in a large leather chair with a glass of excellent brandy and a crackling fire--and being captivated with a fabulous tale spun by a wonderful raconteur."

1999-07-14 (Piscataway, NJ USA) | Helpful Votes: 11 | Rating: 5

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The greatest novel of the twentieth century
This is the best novel of the century's best English language novelist. The plot is sure-fire (kid runs away with the carnival), the characters memorable (sideshow freaks, revealed to be--human beings! theater people, great and small, revealed to be--human beings!), the sins enormous (pederasty, pride, perhaps even murder), the virtues marvelous (love, devotion to love). The theme of this book, as with the other books in the trilogy, is search for self--the main character of this book lives four different lives during his life. This book works on every level; it reads well as a story, gives you something to think about, and stands up to any number of readings you'd care to give it. (I've given it at least five.)

1998-12-26 | Helpful Votes: 11 | Rating: 5

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The Lyre of Orpheus (Cornish Trilogy)

Description

Davies triumphantly concludes the trilogy begun with The Rebel Angels. The Cornish Foundation is thriving under the tutelage of Arthur Cornish, art expert, collector, connoisseur, and notable eccentric.

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Customer Reviews

A fine tune on the "Lyre".
Robertson Davies' last major novel trilogy, "Cornish", concludes with this book, which is in many respects my favourite of the set. "The Rebel Angels" introduced us to the characters who inhabit the world of the College of St John and the Holy Ghost (a thinly-disguised version of Trinity College at Toronto); "What's Bred in the Bone" went back in time to give us the life story of Frank Cornish, the man whose death drove the plot of the first novel. Now in "Lyre" the strands of both novels come together, and Davies, having previously indulged his love of Rabelais, theology, and Medieval art, now takes us into the machinations of opera. Plot details discussed herein.

Much as "The World of Wonders" concluded "The Deptford Trilogy" by bringing back the first book's narrator, Dunstan Ramsay, so this third book in the trilogy sees the return of Simon Darcourt as focal character, though only partially, as Davies here indulges more in omniscient third-person narration than in the past. This includes segments narrated by the deceased poet and musician E. T. A Hoffmann from Limbo, the place for deceased artists who never achieved their potential (Hoffmann's parts introduce a surreal element akin to the commentating angels from "What's Bred in the Bone"). But rescue may be at hand for Hoffmann, as the messy graduate student Hulda Schnakenburg proposes to finish his last opera, "Arthur of Britain", using notes left behind. The attempt to stage this opera drives the plot and, as in other Davies novels, the mythic meta-echoes of Arthurian story reflect and influence the lives of the characters.

Without having read Davies, many might assume that his novels would stuffy, 19th century affairs, but this work, especially, defies that idea. Davies depicts some fairly frank sexuality, largely of a homosexual nature here, with the arrival of the splendidly-named Dr. Gunnila Dahl-Soot, a Nordic music instructor called in to assist. The modern day Arthur/Guinevere/Lancelot triangle is rather odd, though; you would think Arthur and Maria would be a bit more put off by Geraint and his motivation. But, whatever, it's all archetypal. Davies was always fascinated with opera, and yearned to write one himself, something eventually realized, though he did not live to see it performed. Here he gives us an intriguing depiction of the art as it exists today and existed in the early 19th century in Britain and Germany, before Wagner.

Recommended.

2010-01-30 (Charlottetown, PE, Canada) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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An intellectual romp
This is the third book in a trilogy. I hadn't read the first two, which in one way was an advantage: there is a certain amount of background material provided which would no doubt be dull for someone already familiar with it. At the same time, while I found many of the secondary characters nicely developed and interesting, I was left cold by two of the main characters, Arthur and Maria, and perhaps they would have meant more to me had I read the whole trilogy. The gypsy angle seemed forced and would better have been edited out.

In any event, the major reason for reading this novel is the sparkling conversation, whether it be about the personal, or about painting and especially opera; aesthetics, criticism, music, theater, myth, current and historical perspectives and stagecraft are all discussed in a fun manner, and all are germane to the plot. The novel is truly an intellectual romp.

2008-02-25 | algo41 (cinnaminson, nj United States) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 4

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Characters are the Treasure Here
The Lyre of Orpheus is the concluding novel in Robertson Davies's Cornish Trilogy, and it stands as a strong work within the context of that collection. Like The Rebel Angels (the first book), The Lyre of Orpheus is very much dependent upon the two other books and does not do well as a stand-alone.

In many ways, The Lyre of Orpheus was surprising to this reader. Its plot revolves around an Arthurian quest (loosely) to put on a production of a long-dead composer whose opera had fallen short of completion at the time of his death in the early 19th century. The task was to write an opera that was sufficiently of his spirit, so as to be called his, and then produce it according to the conventions of the theatre of the day. Honestly, I would be hard-pressed to think of a plot that would be less likely to rouse my interest, personally (my apologies to all those truly devoted to early 19th century opera!). Having invested myself in the first two books of the trilogy, however, I resigned myself to the task of reading this last installment (lest I have to chastise myself in future years for having gone so far and then turned back). The `round table' of this tale was, for me, the most tedious of experiences (except when a drunken, rude Scandinavian music scholar provided me with some humour to console my page-turning drudgery). Indeed, the book often wanders with Davies's own apparent unclear quest to find his way from one cover to the next. BUT - all of that said, I found myself falling in love with this book, the more I read of it.

Robertson Davies has (though he is gone, he is not really) a delightful gift of making us find joy in the chatter and company of our own lives. This book, perhaps more than many of his creation, takes us through a luxurious indulgence in the meanderings of days strung together whose meaning can only be guessed, or retroactively assigned. The `round table,' though often a great annoyance to this reader, began to feel as beloved (and despised) as the Thanksgiving table filled with family and friends. The treasure of this book is to be found in the characters, not in the plot (which is a mere backdrop - and excuse for the story - just as the libretto is an excuse for the opera's music (according to Davies)).

I give high marks to this book. I expected not to like it; but I did. Very much so, in fact. I commend it to your reading.

2003-10-28 | gam2saints (Boston, MA United States) | Helpful Votes: 5 | Rating: 4

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Unless your an Welsh Opera fanatic
After reading "The Rebel Angels" and "What's Bred in the Bone", two five star novels, I expected to thoroughly enjoy the last segment of the trilogy. Well, the only reason I made it through the novel was that I wanted to say that I read the entire trilogy. The book completely changes in tone from the first two. Professors I respected in the first books are buffoons in this one. There are an untold number of quotations from opera librettos, medieval poems, etc. that were not relevant to me at all. One of the characters is incapable of appearing without making multiple references to Wales, Welsh literature and history. This would not have been a problem except that this is one of the main characters. The whole gypsy theme, which was so fascinating in the rebel angels gets overwhelmed by the Welshness.

In sum, it turned its back on wonderful characters, made obscure references to poems I never read, focused too much on opera and changed in tone from the first two books in a rather dissappointing way. Alas.

2001-01-31 (Denver, CO USA) | Helpful Votes: 4 | Rating: 1

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Fun, But The Weakest of the Trilogy
The Lyre of Orpheus continues the story of the characters introduced in The Rebel Angels -- Maria and Arthur Cornish, Simon Darcourt, Clement Hollier, etc. I read the Cornish Trilogy straight through, and while I very much enjoyed it, I thought Davies ran out of gas somewhere in the Lyre of Orpheus. What I liked so much about the first two books was Davies' delving into the personalities of the characters; What's Bred in the Bone deals more with Francis Cornish, but goes very deeply into the forces that shaped his life. Davies has great insight into human nature. In The Lyre of Orpheus, the characters' motivations are not well explored. For example, we learn that a character's wife has an affair that results in pregnancy, and that the man, with apparently little ado, not only forgives his wife and treats her with undiminished devotion, but also continues to regard her lover as the dear friend he had been. Well, that's great, but uncommon, and Davies makes no attempt to explain this astounding level of generosity other than to analogize it to the Arthurian legend (but that was a legend). Similarly, we learn that Simon Darcourt has taken something of a new path in his life, but for motivation we are told little more than that, after taking a walk in woods, he has decided to view his life differently. Instead of helping us to relate to these characters, Davies spends a great deal of time educating us about how to produce an opera, evidently a great love of his. Opera fans will find this great fun, but it doesn't make for a great story. Finally, the analogizing to Arthurian legend of the characters' lives that permeates the entire work as a leitmotif becomes increasingly heavyhanded as time wears on, almost to the point of self-parody. In short, it's an entertaining read, but not up to the level of the first two parts of the trilogy.

2000-09-07 | Helpful Votes: 8 | Rating: 3

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