The Deptford Trilogy: Fifth Business, The Manticore, World of Wonders

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I cannot stand this book. It may be technically interesting, and good archetype study, but its entire premise fails. Dunny's contention is that his life WAS interesting, despite indications otherwise. Too bad he told the story in the most long winded and torpor-inducing way possible. The character's life was certainly eventful, but not at all interesting. This is a mind-bogglingly boring book to read. You know Grandpa Simpson's "onion on my belt, which was the style at the time" speech? This is the literary equivalent. My eyes were so glazed you could have sold them at Tim Horton's. 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.

The novel is presented as a long, confessional letter Ramsay writes, on the occasion of his retirement, to the headmaster of the boys’ school where he taught history for 45 years. Staunton, later known simply as “Boy,” becomes a sugar magnate and politician; Paul becomes a world-renowned illusionist known by various stage names. Both Paul and Ramsay are obsessed with the unexplained and impossible, but where Paul manipulates appearances and fictionalizes the past, Ramsay looks for miracles. The Fool, the Saint and the Devil are generic characters we’re invited to ponder; perhaps they also have incarnations in the novel? Dunstan (Dunstable) Ramsay – The protagonist and narrator. Ramsay has been offended by his retirement notice in the College Chronicle and intends to prove he has had an interesting life. He served in World War I and received a Victoria Cross. He becomes a scholar of saints and myths, and spends time with Bollandist scholars. Albert Brown is the father of Audrey and Arthur. A strange force compels him to enter the sewers where he meets a horrible end at the claws of Jupiter. His disappearance sets the story in motion. Davies and Dunstan are at pains to illustrate just how fluid the concept of historical fact really is, and that it is not so distinct from the suppositions of mythic thinking. Dunstan questions the extent that he can provide an accurate account of the events of his childhood or his participation in World War I campaigns, because what he recalls is surely distinct from the 'consensually accepted reality'.Overall, Davies presents a nuanced and complex portrayal of religion and spirituality in The Deptford Trilogy. While it can be a source of comfort and guidance for some characters, it can also be a tool for manipulation and abuse for others. Ultimately, it is up to each individual to determine their own relationship with faith and spirituality. The Importance of History and Memory Davies discusses several themes in the novel, perhaps the most important being the difference between materialism and spirituality. Davies asserts religion is not necessarily integral to the idea—demonstrated by the corrupt Reverend Leadbeater who reduces the Bible to mere economic terms. Oswald Chitter is a frail albino mouse whose mother fusses over him. Because of how tall and awkward he is, to his chagrin he is sometimes mistaken for a rat. He has the ability to find lost objects with a divining rod.

The high school friend who managed - somehow - to hitch me with my lifelong soulmate and wife from a distance of thousands of miles away, many, many years ago, was FIFTH BUSINESS!The first book in Robertson Davies’s acclaimedThe Deptford Trilogy,with a new foreword by Kelly Link The Deptford Trilogy (published 1970 to 1975) is a series of inter-related novels by Canadian novelist Robertson Davies. Orfeo and Eldritch are bat brothers who can see into the future. The problem is that they intentionally make their visions as vague as possible so no one can interpret them until the events actually happen. I like the concept- that a character's life is not special, in itself, but how that character influences other character's lives gives the first character meaning, a bit like Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in Hamlet- but the book itself is just... Words on paper. I did not care at all about any of the characters. I found the main character to be boring, flat, uninteresting, and whinny. As the book is told in first person, I found "being in his head" to be as enjoyable as having teeth pulled. He seriously spends his whole life obsessing about this one incident that happens at the beginning of the book, and indeed the book ends with him talking about that incident. Honestly, let it go! The influence of Jungian psychology is evident throughout Robertson Davies’ The Deptford Trilogy. Davies, a Canadian novelist, was deeply interested in the works of Carl Jung and incorporated many of his ideas into his writing. Jungian psychology emphasizes the importance of the unconscious mind and the role it plays in shaping our behavior and personality. This theme is explored in depth in the trilogy, particularly in the character of Dunstan Ramsay, who undergoes a profound transformation as he confronts his own unconscious desires and fears. The trilogy also explores the concept of individuation, which is the process of becoming one’s true self. This is a central theme in Jungian psychology and is exemplified in the character of Magnus Eisengrim, who undergoes a journey of self-discovery and transformation throughout the trilogy. Overall, the influence of Jungian psychology is a significant aspect of The Deptford Trilogy and adds depth and complexity to the characters and themes explored in the novels. The Role of Religion and Spirituality

Pressured by his publisher to define "Fifth Business," Davies added this opening quotation. Queried later by the book's Norwegian translator Sigmund Hoftun who failed to find the quotation in the (authentic) Danish book, Davies wrote to him 13 August 1979, "it is not from Overskou, because I invented it." [5] Principal characters [ edit ] Something about the Author: Facts and Pictures about Authors and Illustrators of Books for Young People (181ed.). Cengage Gale. 5 November 2007. pp.94–95. ISBN 9780787688059. This book could be considered a historical novel since the author comes of age at the time of the Great War. He's a contemporary of my grandparents, then, and for readers in middle adulthood, the age of your great grandparents. Yet the book has a very contemporary feel.

Wikipedia citation

First published by Macmillan of Canada in 1970, it is the first installment of Davies' best-known work, the Deptford Trilogy, [1] and explores the life of the narrator, Dunstan Ramsay. It was the novel that brought Davies to international attention. [2] Plot summary [ edit ]

The Dark Portal is a dark fantasy novel for children by British author Robin Jarvis. The first book in The Deptford Mice trilogy and Jarvis's debut novel, it follows the story of Audrey Brown, a mouse girl who is looking for her missing father. Her search takes her into the sewers of Deptford where, with the help of her friends and family, she must face an army of evil rats and their living god, a mysterious being known as Jupiter. [1] Davies φαίνεται να παρουσιάζει ένα σκοτεινό κόσμο, ο άνθρωπος είναι έρμαιο των αδυναμιών του και θα πληρώσει για αυτό αργά ή γρήγορα. Lloyd Alexander called The Dark Portal "a grand-scale epic" that is "filled with high drama, suspense, and some genuine terror", [15] while Madeleine L'Engle said that "Robin Jarvis joins the ranks of Kenneth Grahame, Richard Adams, and Walter Wangerin in the creation of wonderfully anthropomorphic animals. Audrey and Arthur Brown tell us a lot about ourselves." [16] Peter Glassman, owner of the New York City children's bookstore Books of Wonder, obtained a copy of The Dark Portal while on a trip to London. He greatly enjoyed it and would now and then come across others who had as well. [17] The author of The Outsiders, S. E. Hinton, once told Glassman that The Deptford Mice novels became her son's favorites after finding them in Britain, but she could not understand why they were not yet available in the United States. Glassman would eventually obtain the rights for his company, SeaStar Books, to publish the trilogy and make it more readily available to American readers. [18] Adaptations [ edit ] Cancelled film [ edit ]

The fact that it's a staple of grade 12 reading lists is a travesty. Do a bunch of teenagers care about a stodgy old well-off white dude's struggles? His guilt is uninspiring. The characters are two-dimensional and their motivations incomprehensible. "I like saints!" Nobody cares. Following the birth of her son David, Leola becomes increasingly unhappy with her marriage to Boy, finding herself unable to adjust to high-society life due to her provincial upbringing. The Stauntons' marital difficulties culminate in Leola unsuccessfully attempting suicide on Christmas Eve in 1936 after a fight with Boy. When Leola dies of pneumonia a few years later, Ramsay suspects that she intentionally brought about her death by leaving her window open.