Robertson Davies
Paperback | Pages: 874 pages Rating: 4.32 | 7531 Users | 371 Reviews
Mention Of Books The Deptford Trilogy: Fifth Business/The Manticore/World of Wonders (The Deptford Trilogy #1–3)
| Title | : | The Deptford Trilogy: Fifth Business/The Manticore/World of Wonders (The Deptford Trilogy #1–3) |
| Author | : | Robertson Davies |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Deluxe Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 874 pages |
| Published | : | October 1st 1983 by Penguin (first published 1975) |
| Categories | : | Fiction. Fantasy. Cultural. Canada |
Interpretation Toward Books The Deptford Trilogy: Fifth Business/The Manticore/World of Wonders (The Deptford Trilogy #1–3)
How do I even begin this? I spent about two weeks reading this and that's a lot of time for people to be asking: "so what is it about?"It's usually non-readers who ask such questions because readers know better than to ask what a 800 page book is about. But I thought about it and decided that it was mostly about subjectivity of experience. Not that it made sense to anyone who asked.
It was three books and each one of them a different kind of wonderful. It all starts in a small village of Deptford, Ontario.
Fifth Business was like a better version of Prayer for Owen Meany. There were saints, magic and a lot of symbolism but not as heavy handed as in John Irving’s books. It’s the life story of Dunstan Ramsay, a man who has never played the main character. Even as a narrator he reduces himself to a catalyst needed for certain things to happen. As it is, it as much a story about Dunstan as it is a story about Boy Staunton, his best friend and his enemy. Dunstan is an honest and self-aware narrator but as every first person narrator should be approached with caution. After all, he does specialize in myths and likes to attribute more meaning to things than other people think it’s reasonable.
The Manticore looks on many events from The Fifth Business from a different perspective and through a different medium – Jung style psychoanalysis which Boy Staunton’s son is undergoing. It’s clear that Robertson Davies is a big fan of Jung and weirdly enough this was the book I have read the quickest of all three. Nothing more exciting than uncovering different layers of a person’s psyche. It made me want to embrace and explore my own Shadow, i.e. all that’s nasty about me (like that I am a judgmental bitch).
World of Wonders is when the last missing puzzle of Deptford finds its place. It’s a story about illusions and legends that we like to believe about ourselves. It really explores the theme of the first person narrator, the autobiographer – unreliable by definition. It’s also a very bizarre but beautiful love story, although Davies might be falling in his own Jung trap, because his female characters in all three books are more of Anima archetypes than characters but it’s possible he meant them to be this way as every book is written from a male point of view.
Davies writes the hell out of every sentence. There aren’t any false notes. Its perfection left me amazed and I am afraid my hackneyed review won’t do it justice. I don’t even want to use any of the adjectives the blurb writers have cheapened over decades of book marketing. This review is so vapid it makes me want to cry because all I want to do is to get everyone to read this book.
Specify Books Concering The Deptford Trilogy: Fifth Business/The Manticore/World of Wonders (The Deptford Trilogy #1–3)
| Original Title: | The Deptford Trilogy |
| ISBN: | 0140118594 (ISBN13: 9780140118599) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Series: | The Deptford Trilogy #1–3 |
Rating Of Books The Deptford Trilogy: Fifth Business/The Manticore/World of Wonders (The Deptford Trilogy #1–3)
Ratings: 4.32 From 7531 Users | 371 ReviewsCommentary Of Books The Deptford Trilogy: Fifth Business/The Manticore/World of Wonders (The Deptford Trilogy #1–3)
I found these to be a strangely smooth, soothing reading experience. Plus, I got to learn about obscure hagiography and Jungian psychoanalysis.This is tough to say but I think I feel a little let down by this trilogy. It came well recommended by people I really respect and the first volume convinced me that I wasn't misled in taking it up. A great panorama of the time and place (and not many wrote about Canada then, just as they don't now or maybe we just don't get to read many). And in that same first volume, we're introduced to these very intriguing characters, a grandiose narrator writing letters to someone else who may never read
I am forever indebted to my friend Donna Durham (Donna, where are you now?) for introducing me to Robertson Davies and The Deptford Trilogy. Some have described these books as examples of magical realism; well, yes, sort of, as written by a Canadian. The trilogy consists of three books: Fifth Business, The Manticore, and World of Wonders. The books each tell the same story from the point of view of a different character and center around the murder of Percy "Boy" Staunton. Fifth Business, my
Read most of this book under the shadow of Cortez's Cathedral in Mexico sitting by a pool and smoking really bad pot. Anyways, somebody I barely know suggested it. I'm glad he did...it got me through a tough time. Took my mind to another place when it was in another place to begin with. Something quaint and imaginative about the way he writes, like a master storyteller with no other agenda than the story at hand.
Robertson Davies was a big fan of Jungian psychology, so if you enjoy archetypes in literature this will be a true character identification feast. How each narrator perceives the world around them plays also a big part in solving the Mysterious Death that drives the plot, so you get to play the shrink-detective.The Best: * The dialogue. Except when Magnus rambles, where it gets a bit stiff. * The female characters (except for Leola Cruikshanks and Doctor Jo) and the fact the sexiest woman in the
I guess I was at something of a low point when this book called to me from my shelves. My copy looked awful, bent and blackened, and it was only on a whim that I, a month or so earlier, decided to relieve my parents shelves of it where it had stood for 10years with little hope of being read again. That my current state should make me call for the Deptford Trilogy made perfect sense. I had read all of Robertson-Davies novels during a 2 year period about a decade or so ago. Murther and walking
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