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Hunting Stuart, about an Ottawa civil servant's royal connection, and The Voice of the People, a one-act play about a letter to the editor, are among Robertson Davies' best plays. ... Read more

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This compendium volume includes three volumes of newspaper columns by Davies' alter-ego, Samuel Marchbanks, a character Davies invented when he had a vacancy for a columnist on "The Peterborough Examiner". Previously published works include "What's Bred in the Bone" and "The Deptford Trilogy". ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A first class Canadian Wit
Humor has moved to tv/movies.There are very few really funny writers around.Robertson Davies is a gem, all the rarer for being in such sparse company.This book has at least two or three laughs per page.It is a compendium of miscelleanous writing by one Samuel Marchbanks (Davies' alter ego) who keeps diaries and writes columns.I find myself giggling on my way to work on the subway as I race through these short aphoristic pieces.Highly recommend for any scrooges who refer to babies in terms appropriate for judging a ham and can stand dogs only in newspaper reports about their valorous deeds.

Robertson Davies' Alter Ego
Samuel Marchbanks is a grouchy old newspaperman who struggles with his coal furnace, garden, and neighbours in an attempt to live life as he feels is proper. He is witty, open-minded, well-read, and likes to shock hisacquaintances.

The Diary is a record of his day-to-day life over a year,with several amusing plot-lines running through it. The Table Talk is justthat--a collection of Marchbanks' favourite prandial conversations (ormonologues as the case may be). The Miscellanea are letters and variouspapers, as well as an interview of Marchbanks by Davies.

This is anextremely funny collection of fiction. Although knowledge of earlytwentieth-century Canadian life helps, it's not necessary. ... Read more

Product Description
People who do not know Salterton call it dreamy and old world. they say it is the place where Anglican clergymen go when they die. The real Saltertonians, however, know that there is nothing quaint about the place at all. With its two cathedrals, its one university, and its native sons and daughters busily scheming for their dreams, Salterton is very much in the real world. 'Ingenious, erudite, entertaining ...Davies displays all the qualities of a latter-day. Trollope and shows us what modern Canada is like' - Anthony Burgess in the "Observer Books of the Year". ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

To Salterton
Robertson Davies is known for his deep, detailed look at communities and strange happenings. "The Salterton Trilogy" is no exception:a well-written, often funny and sometimes poignant look at the 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.

In contrast, "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 real 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. ... Read more

Product Description
This is nonfiction commentary. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Chapters: Books by Robertson Davies, Novels by Robertson Davies, Short Story Collections by Robertson Davies, Fifth Business, the Manticore, the Rebel Angels, What's Bred in the Bone, Leaven of Malice, the Cunning Man, Murther and Walking Spirits, the Quotable Robertson Davies, World of Wonders, High Spirits, a Mixture of Frailties, Samuel Marchbanks' Almanack, the Diary of Samuel Marchbanks, the Lyre of Orpheus, the Table Talk of Samuel Marchbanks, Discoveries, the Papers of Samuel Marchbanks, for Your Eye Alone, Happy Alchemy, the Merry Heart, a Voice From the Attic, the Enthusiasms of Robertson Davies, Tempest-Tost, the Well-Tempered Critic. Source: Wikipedia. Free updates online. Not illustrated. Excerpt: Fifth Business is a 1970 novel by Canadian novelist, playwright, critic, journalist, and professor Robertson Davies. It is the first installment of the Deptford Trilogy and is a story of the life of the narrator, Dunstan Ramsay. It is Davies' best-known novel, and considered his finest. First published by Macmillan of Canada in 1970, Fifth Business was selected 40th on the American Modern Library's "reader's list" of the 100 best novels of the 20th century. Ramsay's passion for hagiology and his guilty connection to Mary Dempster provide most of the impetus and background for this novel. He spends much of the book struggling with his image of Mary Dempster as a fool-saint and dealing with issues of guilt that grew from a childhood accident. The entire story is told in the form of a letter written by Ramsay on his retirement from teaching at Colborne College, addressed to the school Headmaster. 1.The story of Dunstan (then called Dunstable) Ramsays life begins in 1908 when Ramsay is ten years old. He and his "lifelong friend and enemy" Percy Boyd Staunton...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=391497 ... Read more