You can be a marvelous writer but if you don’t win a major literary award or one of your works doesn’t become a film, the circulation of your works will be confined to a small circle of experts and aficionados, so it was only three years ago – thanks to a Canadian acquaintance of mine – that I heard of a writer named Robertson Davies and trusting my source I decided to read the most famous novel written by this author.
Fifth Business is the title of the book which was suggested to me and after I let it rest for a while on my bookshelf of future readings, I have finally read it.
What a novel! An absorbing and stimulating book, beautifully written – full of wit mixed with irony and allusions – and a group of memorable characters and situations. What is friendship? How the place where you grow up defines you? How our actions affect the lives of the people around us? Is there a relationship between magic and religion?
Dunstan (alias Dunstable) Ramsay’s tale will stay with me forever and I plan to read more works by Davies soon.
Thank you for the thoughtful note on, indeed, a great writer. Though I was born in Canada, I read him only thanks to a friend in Sweden, who had warmly recommended his work (and he suggested I begin with Fifth Business). The next books of Davies to read are The Manticore and World of Wonders, which together with FB form a trilogy.