New Releases by Robertson Davies

“A splendid gallimaufry of the eminent Canadian’s talks and essays, mostly about literature and the creative life . . . a thought-filled and amusing book.”—The Washington Post For devotees of Davies and all lovers of literature and language, here is the “urbanity, wit, and high seriousness mixed by a master chef,” vintage delights from an exquisite literary menu (Cleveland Plain Dealer). Robertson Davies’s rich and varied collection of writings on the world of books and the miracle of language captures his inimitable voice and sustains his presence among us. Coming almost entirely from Davies’s own files of unpublished material, these twenty-four essays and lectures range over themes from “The Novelist and Magic” to “Literature and Technology,” from “Painting, Fiction, and Faking,” to “Can a Doctor Be a Humanist?” and “Creativity in Old Age.” Davies himself says merely: “Lucky writers . . . like wine, die rich in fruitiness and delicious aftertaste, so that their works survive them.” “Splendid—wise, witty, wide-ranging.”—The New York Times Book Review “Some of Davies’s ideas are iconoclastic, and will delight those who share them while stimulating those who do not. All his judgments are interesting, steeped in humanism, and most elegantly put.”—The Atlantic Monthly “The inimitable novelist gives an exuberant posthumous performance in this eclectic collection of (mostly) previously unpublished addresses, talks, and incidental pieces . . . Davies diffuses his opinions entertainingly, if occasionally superficially, but never loses his audience.”—Kirkus Reviews

A collection of speeches on literature, academia, and more by the “extremely entertaining novelist and public speaker” (The Washington Post). These public addresses by the acclaimed Canadian man of letters and New York Times-bestselling author Robertson Davies provides portraits of literary personalities, advice on writers and writing, and comments on academia and the modern world. Whether giving advice to schoolgirls, discussing the Age of Aquarius as seen by alchemists, exploring Jungian psychology in the theater and insanity in literature, or telling us how to design a haunted house, Davies brings to all his subjects the same intensity and marvelous craftsmanship that are the hallmarks of his fictional creations.

A collection of essays “filled with pleasantly rambling opinions about everything from self-help books to erotica” from the celebrated Canadian author (The Chronicle Journal). An urbane, robust, and wonderfully opinionated voice from Canada, sometimes called “America’s attic,” speaks here of the delights of reading, and of what mass education has done to readers today, to taste, to books, to culture. With his usual wit and breadth of vision, Robertson Davies ranges through the world of letters—books renowned and obscure, old and recent; English, Irish, Canadian, and American writers both forgotten and fondly remembered. “Sweet reason in the raiment of well-woven prose? Most assuredly. Good humor agraze over broad literary demesnes? No doubt of it. Forgotten popular favorites rescued and rehabilitated? Certainly. A parade of agreeable prejudices? He would not be a true Canadian if he did not have them. Lightheartedness where needed? Yes. Seriousness where it counts? Yes. Wit, satirical touches, firm indignations, sound sense, good taste, judiciousness, cosmopolitan breadth of view, urbanity, sanity, unexpected eccentricities, educated humanism? By all means. It is indeed by all these means and more that this book of essays and observations bestows its multiple benefactions, and anyone picking it up is bound north to pleasure and profit.”—The New York Times

Cuando el padre Hobbes muere misteriosamente en Toronto durante la celebración del Viernes Santo, el doctor Jonathan Hullah, cuyos heterodoxos métodos clínicos le han valido el apodo de «el Hombre Astuto», decide averiguar el porqué. Azuzado por una joven periodista que investiga la figura del padre Hobbes, Hullah, el protagonista de esta memorable historia, vuelve la vista atrás en busca de respuestas y repasa una vida plagada de acontecimientos y personajes inolvidables. Con su excepcional inteligencia narrativa, hecha de una rara combinación de ritmo y atención por el detalle y un sentido del humor tan demoledor como hilarante, Davies se sirve de un extraordinario personaje para demostrar que la religión y la ciencia, la poesía y la medicina, son los diferentes caminos que el hombre emprende para intentar desentrañar el misterio de la existencia. El resultado es una fascinante novela, la última y seguramente una de las mejores de Robertson Davies, que confirmó a su autor como uno de los más destacados novelistas del siglo xx. «Un autor que, en su canto de cisne, parece haberlo dado todo: una novela llena de ideas, un juego intelectual donde la vida resulta fácil de soportar.» Diego Gándara (La Razón) «Leyendo este libro se comprende todo lo bueno que Davies aprendió de Dickens y todo lo bueno que John Irving sacó de Davies (de quien llegó a ser amigo). Y se concluye que sólo Iris Murdoch o Anthony Burgess estuvieron a la altura de Davies a la hora de elevar y fundir la alta cultura con el puro acontecer del más noble y ocurrente de los folletines.» Rodrigo Fresán (ABC Cultural) «Es el más brillante, divertido e inteligente novelista de nuestro tiempo, y me atrevería a decir, de nuestro siglo.» John Kenneth Galbraith «La cálida energía de Davies y su atención por los detalles conducen la historia de este particular doctor y sus amigos. Una historia ingeniosa, impredecible y absorbente.» San Francisco Chronicle «Davies compone una suerte de gran ópera novelada, repleta de personajes emblemáticos, intrigas arquetípicas, arias conmovedoras y un reparto brillante.» The Washington Post Book Word «Una delicia, una novela que recorre setenta años de historia; un libro sobre el amor y la sabiduría, sobre la pérdida y la ironía.» The Boston Sunday Globe «Esta es una novela sabia, humana y tremendamente entretenida. La curiosidad y el talento de Davies resultan tan ágiles como siempre y su repertorio de conocimientos, un placer constante.» The New York Times

Connor Gilmartin, director de la sección de espectáculos del Advocate, un periódico de Toronto, sorprende a su mujer en la cama con otro hombre. El amante, que casualmente es un crítico del mismo diario, termina asesinando al atónito marido.Sin embargo, este hecho no supondrá la completa desaparición de Connor, ya que su fantasma perseguirá al homicida hasta un importante festival de cine. Y mientras el crítico se esfuerza en analizar los largometrajes que proyectan, espectro y lectores nos convertimos en espectadores privilegiados de unas peculiares películas sobre la historia de la familia Gilmartin. En la oscuridad de la sala, sentado junto a su asesino, realidad y ficción terminarán por confundirse... Con su tono más humorístico, Davies nos ofrece el fantástico retrato de un hombre cuya vida se ve repentinamente truncada, pero que renace a otro tipo de existencia mucho más lúcida y libre. En la cumbre de su talento, el maestro canadiense nos regaló una de sus mejores obras, una nueva muestra de su talento que aúna reflexión y entretenimiento, sabiduría y emoción. Asesinato y ánimas en pena nos devuelve a Robertson Davies en estado puro.

Robertson Davies (1913-1995) had a remarkable literary career that extended through the entire second half of the 20th century. Chronicling his time as editor of the Peterborough Examiner, his role as the founding master of Massey College and most of all his life as a writer - from the failure of a play in New York to the beginnings of an idea for a novel that would become Fifth Business (1970) - A Celtic Temperament is entertaining and illuminating and a major addition to Davies'' body of work.

Fifth Business, which one critic said was "as masterfully executed as anything in the history of the novel," might be described simply as the life of a schoolteacher named Dunstan Ramsay. But such description would not even suggest the dark currents of love, ambition, vengeance, and death that flow through this powerful work, cast in the form of Ramsay''s memoirs. Fifth Business is the first novel in the celebrated Deptford Trilogy, which also includes The Manticore and World of Wonders--it also stands alone as the story of a rational man who discovers that the marvelous is only another aspect of the real.

«A pesar de la afición que he tenido toda la vida a los cuentos de fantasmas jamás se me ocurrió escribir ninguno hasta que fui a Massey College, facultad y residencia universitaria de la Universidad de Toronto, en 1963. Por Navidad celebrábamos siempre una fiesta a la que invitábamos a algunos amigos y era preciso dar algo de espectáculo. Abundaban las personas de talento, como poetas y músicos, pero se esperaba que yo hiciera también alguna aportación, y se me ocurrió que podía ser un relato de fantasmas, el primero del presente libro. Durante los dieciocho años que estuve en la residencia, todas las Navidades me pedían que escribiera un cuento, y aquí están, reunidos en un libro, con la esperanza de que los disfruten otros entusiastas de esta clase de literatura.» Así explicaba Robertson Davies en el prólogo a la primera edición de este libro, de 1982, la razón de ser del mismo. Los fantasmas de Dickens, la reina Victoria o Ibsen son algunos de los espíritus festivos que habitan un libro en el que la maestría de Davies se muestra en todo su esplendor. Unos fantasmas que el lector llegará a necesitar «como quien necesita un suplemento dietético, unas vitaminas para atajar una de las dolencias modernas más temibles: el raquitismo racional». «Davies es uno de esos narradores —de ahí que lo suyo suene tan vital y despierto— que producen la sensación de estar a nuestro lado, yendo apenas dos o tres líneas por delante, soltando risitas de placer anticipando lo que nos espera.»Rodrigo Fresán (ABC) «Davies es un mago cuya puesta en escena no tiene tramoya ni apela a la superstición; sus herramientas son la imaginación y la felicidad, ambas afinadas por lo que él mismo calificaba de “compromiso vitalicio con la compasión”.» Nadal Suau (El Cultural)

Fruto de su larga experiencia teatral, la primera novela que escribió Robertson Davies es un divertido homenaje a las grandezas y miserias de los escenarios y a la vida que revolotea en torno a ellos. El Teatro Joven de Salterton, una compañía amateur, va a poner en marcha una representación de La tempestad de Shakespeare en los bellos jardines de St. Agnes, la vetusta y extravagante residencia de George Alexander Webster y sus hijas, Griselda y Freddy. Los preparativos de la obra revolucionan St. Agnes, para desesperación del abnegado jardinero Tom, pero también la vida de cuantos participan en ella. En especial la del taciturno profesor de matemáticas y tesorero de la compañía Hector Mackilwraith, que se propone variar su anodina vida presentándose al casting y que asombrosamente consigue hacerse con uno de los papeles. De ahí a sumarse a la larga lista de pretendientes de la joven Griselda y perder la cabeza, sólo hay un paso. A merced de la tempestad, publicada por primera vez en 1951, está ambientada en la ciudad imaginaria de Salterton, donde Davies situaría las otras dos novelas que junto a ésta forman la Trilogía de Salterton.

Robertson Davies wrote in most forms: plays, novels, diaries, articles, book reviews, play reviews, editorials, children’s and adult short stories (including ghost stories), television plays, libretti, an oratorio, poems, and speeches. The greater part of this collection is speeches, made throughout his life; also included are three articles and a poem.

The Foundation, looking for a worthy undertaking upon which to expend its considerable monies, decides to fund the doctoral work of Hulda Schnakenburg, an extraordinarily talented music student. Her task is to complete the score of an unfinished opera.

Robertson Davies gave many speeches over the years, and one of his favourite topics at these events was reading. The greater part of this collection is speeches, made throughout his life; also included are essays, ghost stories, and a children''s short story.

Robertson Davies engages us in the fascinating history of Francis Cornish, a wealthy and mysterious Canadian collector and patron of the arts who has just died. Beginning with the chance circumstances that lead to his parents’ marriage, and including his unorthodox artistic formation and his sexual initiation, the novel narrates the various stages of his life and recounts the development of his character. This is how we discover the source of his fortune as well as his past as a painting restorer and falsifier, talents which led him to become a part of British espionage during World War II and to participate in a plot to sell falsified artwork to Nazis. With this novel, Davies weaves an ingenious tale about the reasons, passions, and intrigue that drive the art world. Although it can be read independently, this novel is the second installment of The Cornish Trilogy. Robertson Davies nos sumerge en la fascinante historia de Francis Cornish, un acaudalado y misterioso mecenas y coleccionista de arte canadiense que acaba de morir. Comenzando con las azarosas circunstancias que propician el matrimonio de sus padres, y pasando por su heterodoxa formación artística y su iniciación amorosa, la novela va recorriendo las distintas etapas de su vida y dando cuenta del desarrollo de su carácter. Es así como se descubre el origen de su fabulosa fortuna y se desvela su pasado como restaurador de pintura y falsificador, habilidades que durante la segunda guerra mundial le llevarían a formar parte del espionaje británico y a participar en una trama de venta de obras de arte falsas a los nazis. Davies crea en esta novela un ingenioso relato sobre las razones, pasiones e intrigas que mueven el mundo del arte. Aunque puede ser leída independientemente, esta novela es el segundo libro de la Trilogía de Cornish.

En El mundo de los prodigios, cierre y espectacular colofón de la Trilogía de Deptford, se resuelve el misterio que rodea la muerte del magnate Boy Staunton. Acciones en apariencia inocentes -una pelea con bolas de nieve o el aprendizaje de juegos de manos- se revelarán como acontecimientos decisivos en la vida de Paul Dempster, un niño de Deptford al que Staunton había conocido en su infancia y que, andando el tiempo, se convertiría en Magnus Eisengrim, el prestidigitador más famoso de su época. En esta novela, es Eisengrim quien contará su vida, ofreciendo su particular visión de la muerte de Staunton y explicando cómo aprendió su oficio y llegó a convertirse en un ilusionista de fama mundial. Su relato revelará hasta qué punto el camino hacia el éxito es más arduo y trágico de lo que parece a simple vista y cómo, una figura brillante, puede contar también con un oscuro pasado. El mundo de los prodigios, continuación de El quinto en discordia y Mantícora, retrata los entresijos del teatro, la magia y el cine con la habitual maestría de Davies y, para muchos, es el mejor y más emocionante libro de la trilogía. «Uno de los más cultivados, entretenidos y logrados novelistas de nuestro tiempo y de todo el siglo.»John Kenneth Galbraith «Davies es autor de una de las obras narrativas más consistentes del siglo XX.»Xavi Ayén (La Vanguardia) «Uno de los hallazgos literarios de la temporada.»Toni Montesinos (La Razón)

La misteriosa muerte del magnate canadiense Boy Staunton -al que han encontrado ahogado dentro de su coche en el fondo del puerto de Toronto- ha trastornado a su hijo David, quien al contrario que la policía, está convencido de que su padre fue asesinado. Decidido a librarse de su obsesión, David viaja a Zúrich para psicoanalizarse en el Instituto Jung. Obligado por los psiquiatras a indagar en su memoria, David irá sacando a la luz una extraordinaria galería de personajes y recuerdos que le permitirán enfrentarse con sus propios demonios y, sobre todo, con la memoria de su padre. Aunque puede ser leída de manera independiente, esta novela constituye la segunda parte de la Trilogía de Deptford, tras El quinto en discordia /i. Esta vez Davies se adentra en las regiones más profundas de la mente humana, en aquellas donde se agazapan nuestros monstruos. A través de los laberínticos túneles de la historia, el mito y la magia, la Trilogía de Deptford proporciona un estimulante antídoto contra un mundo donde, por decirlo en palabras del autor, «el miedo, el terror y el esplendor de lo maravilloso han desaparecido». «La de Davies es una escritura de carácter simbólico anclada en un realismo lleno de inventiva, imaginación y agudeza. Un regalo esplendoroso en estos tiempos de facilonería y falsedad, vamos.»José María Guelbenzu (El País) «Davies es el eslabón perdido entre Charles Dickens y John Irving.»Rodrigo Fresán «Lo menos que se puede decir de él es que es un escritor maduro y sabio.»Anthony Burgess

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. "World of Wonders"the third book in the series after "The Manticore"follows the story of Magnus Eisengrimthe most illustrious magician of his agewho 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 lifes courageous and adventurous tale in this third and final volume of a spectacular, soaring work. Robertson Davies is one of the great modern novelists. Malcolm Bradbury, "The Sunday Times" (London) Robertson Davies is a novelist whose books are thick and rich with humor, character and incident. They are plotted with skill and much flamboyance. "The Observer" (London)

The second book in Robertson Davies''s acclaimed The Deptford Trilogy, with a new foreword by Kelly Link 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. The Manticore—the second book in the series after Fifth Business—follows 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. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

The third book in Robertson Davies''s acclaimed The Deptford Trilogy, with a new foreword by Kelly Link 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. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

Robertson Davies, one of the twentieth century''s most distinguished authors, brought his characteristic great sense of style to everything he wrote. Whether it was a letter to his daughter or a formal letter to the editor disemboweling a hostile review, he wrote with care, zest, and in a distinctive voice. Penned during the height of his fame-between the years 1976 and 1995-these letters were sent to a wide range of recipients, from Sir John Gielgud to Margaret Atwood, from publishers to fans and critics of his writings. The letters are frequently testy, tart, and not always "politically correct"; but whether they are funny, moving, or thought provoking, they provide a rare glimpse of the private Davies, as r evealed in his own words.

The first book in Robertson Davies''s acclaimed The Deptford Trilogy, with a new foreword by Kelly Link Ramsay is a man twice born, a man who has returned from the hell of the battle-grave at Passchendaele in World War I decorated with the Victoria Cross and destined to be caught in a no man''s land where memory, history, and myth collide. As Ramsay tells his story, it begins to seem that from boyhood, he has exerted a perhaps mystical, perhaps pernicious, influence on those around him. His apparently innocent involvement in such innocuous events as the throwing of a snowball or the teaching of card tricks to a small boy in the end prove neither innocent nor innocuous. Fifth Business stands alone as a remarkable story told by a rational man who discovers that the marvelous is only another aspect of the real. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

The Happy Alchemy in this delightful book blends witty entertainment with thought-provoking instruction. Touching on everything from Shakespeare’s Falstaff to Canada’s constitutional wrangles (“our own version of a civil war”) and from “How I Write a Book” to Richard Wagner, “that extraordinary genius and dreadful crook,” this is in every way a worthy companion to The Merry Heart. This book also draws on the polished but unpublished speeches, book reviews, and other articles that Robertson Davies left behind. Here, too, the book’s editors, Jennifer Surridge and Brenda Davies, have produced tantalizing quotes from his private diaries to help introduce each of the book’s thirty-three pieces of prose (and verse, libretto, and even screenplay). Most of the pieces deal with the theatre – from the day-long ancient Greek drama festivals “with an audience of 17,000 Athenians looking on,” through Shakespeare’s theatre and on to Davies’ own youthful “Prologue to The Good Natur’d Man” (accepted at the Old Vic as pure Oliver Goldsmith), to his beloved nineteenth-century theatre and melodrama. Since, in his words, “melodrama lives in our opera houses,” it is a short step from there to his passion for opera and from Verdi to the surprising confessions of “My Musical Career.” Many readers will be astonished by his knowledgeable enthusiasm for folk-song; few by his acknowledgement of his great debt to C.G. Jung in his work. At the end of this stimulating and revealing book he returns to his love of the theatre and his admiration for the great playwrights, summed up in his haunting final line “…and I applaud them across the centuries.” Across the years the distinctive, absolutely unmistakable voice of Robertson Davies will continue to ring out from these pages.

Qui se cache derrière la fondation Cornish ? Une secte d''adorateurs du Graal ? Ou, tout simplement, un groupe de mécènes fidèles à l''esprit de leur bienfaiteur ? Mystères. Une chose est sûre : lorsqu''ils décident de monter un opéra d''Hoffmann, dont le livret inachevé vient d''être retrouvé, ils ignorent que cette initiative va provoquer une réaction en chaîne incontrôlable. Ainsi s''achève la " trilogie de Cornish ", fresque littéraire dont chaque volet est indépendant des autres, mais dont l''ensemble forme une saga unique en son genre.

An Ottawa civil servants royal connection and a letter to the editor are the themes from two of Davies best plays.

Two plays from the 1940s by the most important Canadian playwright of the postwar period.

This humorous novel explores the reactions of a small town to a false engagement notice in the local paper.

Anthony Burgess listed Davies'' The Rebel Angels among the 99 best novels of our time and declared that Davies himself is "without doubt Nobel Prize material". In this unusual novel, Davies'' protagonist is murdered in the first sentence of the book, but he lingers as a ghost to view the exploits of his ancestors, from the American Revolution to the present.

Woven around the pursuits of the energetic spirits and erudite scholars of the University of St. John and the Holy Ghost, this dazzling trilogy of novels lures the reader into a world of mysticism, historical allusion, and gothic fantasy that could only be the invention of Canada''s grand man of letters.

Murdered by his wife''s lover, Gil must spend his afterlife seated next to his murderer at a film festival, where he views the exploits of his ancestors from the Revolutionary era to his parents'' time