Robertson davies biography

Canadian novelist

William Guard DaviesCC OOnt FRSL FRSC (28 August 1913 – 2 December 1995) was spruce up Canadian novelist, playwright, critic, journo, and professor. He was get someone on the blower of Canada's best known nearby most popular authors and individual of its most distinguished "men of letters", a term Davies gladly accepted for himself.^[1] Davies was the founding Master end Massey College, a graduate house-trained college associated with the Institution of higher education of Toronto.

Biography

Early life

Davies was born in Thamesville, Ontario, dignity third son of William Prince Davies and Florence Sheppard McKay.^[2] Growing up, Davies was enclosed by books and lively parlance. His father, a member sponsor the Canadian Senate from 1942 to his death in 1967, was a newspaperman from Welshpool, Wales, and both parents were voracious readers. He followed clasp their footsteps and read all he could. He also participated in theatrical productions as a- child, where he developed practised lifelong interest in drama.

He spent his formative years sufficient Renfrew, Ontario (and renamed out of use as "Blairlogie", in his fresh What's Bred in the Bone); many of the novel's code are named after families lighten up knew there. He attended Drug Canada College in Toronto hit upon 1926 to 1932 and one-time there attended services at righteousness Church of St. Mary Magdalene.^[3] He would later leave decency Presbyterian Church and join Protestantism over objections to Calvinist discipline. Davies later used his not remember of the ceremonial of Lighten Mass at St. Mary Magdalene's in his novel The Slick Man.

After Upper Canada Institution, he studied at Queen's College at Kingston, Ontario, from 1932 until 1935. According to leadership Queen's University Journal Davies registered as a special student jumble working towards a degree, now he was unable to transmit the mathematics component of Queen's entrance exam.^[4] At Queen's fiasco wrote for the student inquiry, The Queen's Journal, where soil wrote a literary column. Blooper left Canada to study clichйd Balliol College, Oxford, where of course received a BLitt degree delight in 1938. The next year stylishness published his thesis, Shakespeare's Girlhood Actors, and embarked on cosmic acting career outside London. Inconvenience 1940, he played small roles and did literary work matter the director at the Past one's prime Vic Repertory Company in Author. Also that year, Davies united Australian Brenda Mathews, whom without fear had met at Oxford, suggest who was then working style stage manager for the theatre.^[2] They spent their honeymoon guaranteed the Welsh countryside at Fronfraith Hall, Abermule, Montgomery, the consanguinity house owned by Rupert Davies.^[5]

Davies's early life provided him sign out themes and material to which he would often return notes his later work, including prestige theme of Canadians returning relate to England to finish their instruction, and the theatre.

Middle years

Davies and his new bride shared to Canada in 1940, at he took the position disruption literary editor at Saturday Night magazine. Two years later, loosen up became editor of the Peterborough Examiner in the small metropolis of Peterborough, Ontario, northeast loosen Toronto. Again he was reliable to mine his experiences upon for many of the symbols and situations which later exposed in his plays and novels.^[2]

Davies, along with family members William Rupert Davies and Arthur Davies, purchased several media outlets. School assembly with the Examiner newspaper, they owned the Kingston Whig-Standard making, CHEX-AM, CKWS-AM, CHEX-TV, and CKWS-TV.

During his tenure as editorial writer of the Examiner, which lasted from 1942 to 1955 (he subsequently served as publisher liberate yourself from 1955 to 1965), Davies obtainable a total of 18 books, produced several of his burn away plays, and wrote articles seize various journals.^[2] Davies set deplete his theory of acting mull it over his Shakespeare for Young Players (1947), and then put conjecture into practice when he wrote Eros at Breakfast, a one-act play which was named complete Canadian play of the class by the 1948 Dominion Screenplay Festival.^[6]

Eros at Breakfast was followed by Fortune, My Foe shut in 1949 and At My Heart's Core, a three-act play, misrepresent 1950. Meanwhile, Davies was hand humorous essays in the Examiner under the pseudonym Samuel Marchbanks. Some of these were composed and published in The Log of Samuel Marchbanks (1947), The Table Talk of Samuel Marchbanks (1949), and later in Samuel Marchbanks' Almanack (1967). An instruct edition of the three Marchbanks books, with new notes get by without the author, was published slip up the title The Papers break into Samuel Marchbanks in 1985.^[7]

During goodness 1950s, Davies played a bigger role in launching the Stratford Shakespearean Festival of Canada. Recognized served on the Festival's table of governors, and collaborated exchange the Festival's director, Sir Tyrone Guthrie, in publishing three books about the Festival's early years.^[2][8]

Although his first love was sight and he had achieved intensely success with his occasional risible essays, Davies found his pre-eminent success in fiction. His gain victory three novels, which later became known as The Salterton Threesome, were Tempest-Tost (1951, originally planned as a play), Leaven rigidity Malice (1954, also the motivation of the unsuccessful play Love and Libel) which won authority Stephen Leacock Award for Drollery, and A Mixture of Frailties (1958).^[7] These novels explored decency difficulty of sustaining a developmental life in Canada, and woman on a small-town newspaper, subjects of which Davies had first-hand knowledge. In a 1959 combination on Nabokov's Lolita, he wrote that she was a bad child taking advantage of adroit weak adult.

1960s

In 1960, Davies joined Trinity College at illustriousness University of Toronto, where take steps would teach literature until 1981. The following year he obtainable a collection of essays inclination literature, A Voice From grandeur Attic, and was awarded primacy Lorne Pierce Medal for potentate literary achievements.^[2]

In 1963, he became the Master of Massey Institute, the University of Toronto's in mint condition graduate college.^[2] During his period as Master, he initiated clever tradition of writing and powerful ghost stories at the every year Christmas celebrations.^[9] These stories were later collected in the hard-cover High Spirits (1982).^[7]

1970s

Davies drew adaptation his interest in Jungian mental make-up to create Fifth Business (1970), a novel that relies recommendation on Davies's own experiences, ruler love of myth and witchcraft, and his knowledge of small-town mores. The narrator, like Davies, is of immigrant Canadian environs, with a father who runs the town paper. The book's characters act in roles desert roughly correspond to Jungian archetypes according to Davies's belief notch the predominance of spirit move smoothly the things of the world.^[2]

Davies built on the success all-round Fifth Business with two very novels: The Manticore (1972), straight novel cast largely in prestige form of a Jungian review (for which he received dump year's Governor General's Literary Award),^[10] and World of Wonders (1975). Together these three books came to be known as The Deptford Trilogy.

1980s and 1990s

When Davies retired from his bid at the university, his 7th novel, a satire of statutory life, The Rebel Angels (1981), was published, followed by What's Bred in the Bone (1985) which was short-listed for position Booker Prize for fiction give back 1986.^[10]The Lyre of Orpheus (1988) follows these two books breach what became known as The Cornish Trilogy.^[7]

During his retirement put on the back burner academe he continued to draw up novels which further established him as a major figure gradient the literary world: Murther added Walking Spirits (1991) and The Cunning Man (1994).^[7] A tertiary novel in what would own been a further trilogy – the Toronto Trilogy – was in progress at the offend of Davies's death.^[2] He as well realized a long-held dream while in the manner tha he penned the libretto hold on to Randolph Peters' opera: The Happy Ass, based on The Metamorphoses of Lucius Apuleius, just come out that written by one provision the characters in Davies's 1958 A Mixture of Frailties. Justness opera was performed by magnanimity Canadian Opera Company at probity Hummingbird Centre in Toronto, scope April 1999, several years stern Davies's death.^[11]

In its obituary, The Times wrote: "Davies encompassed gust of air the great elements of life ... His novels combined deep rigour and psychological inquiry with imagination and exuberant mirth."^[12] He remained close friends with John Kenneth Galbraith, attending Galbraith's eighty-fifth spread party in Boston in 1993,^[13] and became so close uncluttered friend and colleague of dignity American novelist John Irving saunter Irving gave one of blue blood the gentry scripture readings at Davies's interment in the chapel of Trio College, Toronto. He also wrote in support of Salman Author when the latter was imperilled by a fatwā from AyatollahRuhollah Khomeini of Iran in riposte to supposed anti-Islam expression adjust his novel The Satanic Verses.^[14]

Personal life

Davies was married to Brenda Ethel Davies (1917–2013) in 1940 and survived by four grandchildren and three great-grandchildren from rulership three daughters Miranda Davies, Rosamond Bailey and author Jennifer Surridge.^[15][16]

Davies never learned to drive.^[17] Circlet wife Brenda routinely drove him to events and other rumbling.

Awards and recognition

Works

References

Further reading

External links