The Author No One Recommends

In the well over twenty years of my adult reading life not once has anyone said to me "You must read Roberston Davies, he's amazing."

They have said it, or something similar, about Paul Auster, Tom Robbins, Haruki Murakami, Anne Tyler, Iain Banks, Martin Amis (they were wrong about that one, so very wrong), Georges Perec and many others. But never about Robertson Davies.

However, whenever I tell people I am reading one of his books I typically get this response:

"Oh, I love Robertson Davies. He's amazing."

What's that all about? I have yet to come across someone who has read his books and not loved them, but he doesn't seem to be recommended as much as other authors. I am baffled.

And I am baffled because he really is amazing.

I read The Rebel Angels, the first book in The Cornish Trilogy, a couple of years ago and reviewed it at the time. I have just finished What's Bred in the Bone, which is the second. It is every bit as good.

Rather than a straight sequel, it instead looks back on the life of Francis Cornish, the character who dies at the beginning of the first book, so you don't need to have read the previous volume. Actually, you could argue that it is better to read this first.

Whatever. It is a splendid jaunt across much of the 20th Century, taking in Edwardian England, Canada between the wars, Austria during the rise of Hitler and both Europe and North America in its aftermath. It sees Cornish from pre-conception to his deathbed, from amateur artist to collector of international reknown, charts the ups and downs of his love life and features a supporting cast of memorable characters. It is one of the finest fictional life stories I have read.

So, you see, Robertson Davies really is amazing. You should all read him. I am going to seek out everything he has written.

Comments

[friend of rachel worth]

I've got both the cornish and the deptford trilogies on my to read shelf - will move the cornish one a bit higher up the pile

[FlossieT]

I get "read Robertson Davies, he's amazing" a fair bit - from American friends, though. I've had the Cornish trilogy on the shelf for *ages* but not got to it.This year, then...

[dan]

I reckon the Deptford Trilogy and particularly The Manticore is even better. The Cunning Man and Murther and walking Spirits also worth putting on your TBR pile.

[Scott Pack]

Friend - yes, you should. I cannot imagine you would be disappointed from what I know of your tastes.

Flossie - do make it this year. Ditto to the above.

Thanks Dan, I plan to read all of his stuff if I can.

[Dan (not the one above)]

The Deptford & Cornish Trilogies are both utterly fantastic. His last two novels, The Cunning Man and Murther & Walking Spirits are also very decent, but we will never see the third volume of the Toronto Trilogy - apparently it only existed as loose notes before his death. The earlier Salterton Trilogy is a different kettle of fish. It was written in the fifties and has a very different feel to the later books, less erudite, more smalltown, not as widescreen. Worth reading for completeness' sake, but my least favourite of his works.

Do you know the crime writer Chris Brookmyre? Across his books he has given us characters called Simon Darcourt and Jack Parlabane, and a key scene set in art gallery where the protagonists are admiring a painting of the Marriage at Cana by the Unknown Master....

[Persephone]

See, I *loved* the Salterton Trilogy (especially A Mixture of Frailties). The Rebel Angels was the first Robertson Davies novel I read and as a result, I bought everything he wrote. I did find some of his later stuff a tad repetitive. He was a fabulous public reader; his theatrical background really came out.

[Dan]

to clarify...a "least favourite Robertson Davies book" is still going to be better than 80% of what's on the shelves in any bookshop you care to name....

[Sjón]

Thanks, Scott, for bringing Robertson Davies' name back into the discussion. I binged on his trilogies in the 90's. He was truly a wise old man, as well as a great storyteller and essayist. I have always envied his wast knowledge of all things nice and how he brings it so effortlessly into play in the novels.