| Search | About | Preferences | Interact | Help | |
| 150 million books. 1 search engine. | ||
Robertson Davies
new books, used books, rare books by Robertson Davies
› Find all books by 'Robertson Davies' and compare prices› Find signed collectible books by 'Robertson Davies'
-
The Deptford Trilogyby Robertson DaviesISBN 0140065008 (0-14-006500-8)
Softcover, Penguin Books
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'The Deptford Trilogy'Book summary:"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 [via]
More editions of The Deptford Trilogy:
-
Fifth Businessby Robertson DaviesISBN 014004387X (0-14-004387-X)
Hardcover, Penguin Books
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'Fifth Business'Book summary:The first book of Robertson Davies's Deptford Trilogy tells the story of three men destined to be crucial players in each others' lives. The story is, in fact, the memoir of Dunstan Ramsay, a long-time boarding-school teacher, set to retire. Written to the headmaster of the school, the memoir intends to disprove the common belief that Ramsay is nothing more than a senile old professor, "doddering into retirement with tears in his eyes and a drop hanging from his nose." The story includes two other main characters, the outcast and eventual circus performer Paul Dempster and socialite Boy Staunton, with his "too glossy perfection."
The story of Ramsay's life begins when he is 10 years old, living in a small Canadian town called Deptford. A snowball thrown by Boy Staunton, intended for Ramsay, hits the pregnant mother of Paul Dempster, forcing her into labour early. She gives birth to a premature and deformed Paul. Ramsay feels responsible for this, and thus begins his guilty friendship with Paul, as well as his grudging friendship with Boy. Eventually, Dunstan Ramsay goes off to fight in the First World War, where he earns a Victoria Cross. He later travels throughout Europe and Mexico to pursue his interest in saints and write several books about them. He even attempts to prove that Paul's mother, whom he had taken a liking to over the years, is in fact a saint. Paul and Boy keep crossing paths with Dunstan, for good and ill, for the rest of his life. This fascinating, absorbing classic of Canadian literature is punctuated with elements of the comic, the supernatural, and the magical (even touching on the occult), while the writing itself is always elegant and at times exquisite. --Mark Frutkin [via]
More editions of Fifth Business:
-
High Spirits : A Collection of Ghost Storiesby Robertson DaviesISBN 0140065059 (0-14-006505-9)
Softcover, Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'High Spirits : A Collection of Ghost Stories'Book summary:This collection of "spooky" stories was written for and read at the annual gaudy night each year at Massey College, where the author was master for many years. The ghost stories parody, in an affectionate manner, the usual high-flown gothic language in which most ghost stories are told. [via]
More editions of High Spirits : A Collection of Ghost Stories:
Leaven of Maliceby Robertson DaviesISBN 0140054332 (0-14-005433-2)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'Leaven of Malice'More editions of Leaven of Malice:
The Lyre of Orpheusby Robertson DaviesISBN 0140114335 (0-14-011433-5)
Softcover, Penguin Books, Limited
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'The Lyre of Orpheus'-
The Manticoreby Robertson DaviesISBN 0140043888 (0-14-004388-8)
Hardcover, Penguin Books
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'The Manticore'Book summary:Hailed by the Washington Post Book World as "a modern classic," Robertson Daviess acclaimed Deptford Trilogy is a glittering, fantastical, cunningly contrived series of novels, around which a mysterious death is woven. The Manticorethe second book in the series after Fifth Businessfollows David Staunton, a man pleased with his success but haunted by his relationship with his larger-than-life father. As he seeks help through therapy, he encounters a wonderful cast of characters who help connect him to his past and the death of his father. [via]
More editions of The Manticore:
A Mixture of Frailtiesby Robertson DaviesISBN 0140054324 (0-14-005432-4)
Softcover, Penguin Group (Canada)
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'A Mixture of Frailties'More editions of A Mixture of Frailties:
-
One Half of Robertson Daviesby Robertson DaviesISBN 0140049673 (0-14-004967-3)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'One Half of Robertson Davies'Book summary:One Half Of Robertson Davies, by Davies, Robertson. 3d ptg. 4 1/4 x 7. [via]
More editions of One Half of Robertson Davies:
The Papers of Samuel Marchbanksby Robertson DaviesISBN 0002231689 (0-00-223168-9)
Softcover, HarperCollins Canada, Limited
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'The Papers of Samuel Marchbanks'More editions of The Papers of Samuel Marchbanks:
The Rebel Angelsby Robertson DaviesISBN 0140061762 (0-14-006176-2)
Softcover, Penguin Books, Limited
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'The Rebel Angels'-
The Salterton Trilogy: Tempest-Tost, Leaven of Malice and a Mixture of Frailtiesby Robertson DaviesISBN 0140084460 (0-14-008446-0)
Softcover, Penguin
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'The Salterton Trilogy: Tempest-Tost, Leaven of Malice and a Mixture of Frailties'More editions of The Salterton Trilogy: Tempest-Tost, Leaven of Malice and a Mixture of Frailties:
Stephen Leacockby Stephen Leacock, Robertson DaviesISBN 0140058907 (0-14-005890-7)
Softcover, Penguin Group (Canada)
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'Stephen Leacock'
Tempest-Tostby Robertson DaviesISBN 0140054316 (0-14-005431-6)
Softcover, Penguin Group (Canada)
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'Tempest-Tost'More editions of Tempest-Tost:
What's Bred in the Boneby Robertson DaviesISBN 0140096825 (0-14-009682-5)
Softcover, Penguin Group (Canada)
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'What's Bred in the Bone'-
World of Wondersby Robertson DaviesISBN 0140043896 (0-14-004389-6)
Softcover, Penguin Books
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'World of Wonders'Book summary:This is the third novel in Davies's major work, The Deptford Trilogy. This novel tells the life story of the unfortunate boy introduced in The Fifth Business, who was spirited away from his Canadian home by one of the members of a traveling side show, the Wanless World of Wonders. [via]
More editions of World of Wonders:
![[powered by Muze Inc.]](http://i.bookfinder.com/images/site/muze/powered_by_muze.gif){kind=small}