''The Cunning Man'', published by

McClelland and Stewart McClelland & Stewart Limited is a Canadian publishing company. It is owned by Penguin Random House of Canada, a branch of Penguin Random House, the international book publishing division of German media giant Bertelsmann. History It was found ...

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson ...

, is the last novel written by

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others asp ...

Robertson Davies William Robertson Davies (28 August 1913 – 2 December 1995) was a Canadian novelist, playwright, critic, journalist, and professor. He was one of Canada's best known and most popular authors and one of its most distinguished " men of letters" ...

. ''The Cunning Man'' is the memoir of the life of a

doctor Doctor or The Doctor may refer to: Personal titles * Doctor (title), the holder of an accredited academic degree * A medical practitioner, including: ** Physician ** Surgeon ** Dentist ** Veterinary physician ** Optometrist *Other roles ** ...

, Dr. Jonathan Hullah, living in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

. Hullah is a

holistic Holism () is the idea that various systems (e.g. physical, biological, social) should be viewed as wholes, not merely as a collection of parts. The term "holism" was coined by Jan Smuts in his 1926 book '' Holism and Evolution''."holism, n." OED On ...

physician — a ''cunning'' diagnostician who can often get to the root of problems that have baffled others. A young

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...

's query about the circumstances surrounding an Anglican priest's death at the high altar on Good Friday leads Hullah to reflect on his own life and career. As is typical in Davies' work, the novel's themes are wide-ranging: miraculous cures,

halitosis Bad breath, also known as halitosis, is a symptom in which a noticeably unpleasant breath odour is present. It can result in anxiety among those affected. It is also associated with depression and symptoms of obsessive compulsive disorder. ...

, cannibalism, medical solutions to literary mysteries, and more. Dunstan Ramsay, the narrator of ''

Fifth Business ''Fifth Business'' (1970) is a novel by Canadian writer Robertson Davies. First published by Macmillan of Canada in 1970, it is the first installment of Davies' best-known work, the ''Deptford Trilogy'', and explores the life of the narrator, Dun ...

'' and a major character in Davies' Deptford Trilogy, makes a brief appearance here. A fictionalised version of Toronto's Church of St. Mary Magdalene features prominently. Unlike most of Davies' previous novels, ''The Cunning Man'' was not part of a trilogy. However, there is some speculation that, had Davies lived long enough, this novel and his previous one, '' Murther and Walking Spirits'' (

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phi ...

), would have been the first two volumes in another trilogy. For example, "Gil" Gilmartin, the narrator of ''Murther and Walking Spirits'', reappears in ''The Cunning Man'' as Hullah's godson. In fact, in his introduction to ''

The Merry Heart William Robertson Davies (28 August 1913 – 2 December 1995) was a Canadian novelist, playwright, critic, journalist, and professor. He was one of Canada's best known and most popular authors and one of its most distinguished " men of letters" ...

'' ( 1996), a collection of Davies' writings published posthumously, Davies' publisher, Douglas Gibson, tells how Davies had been researching and preparing the novel which would have followed ''The Cunning Man'' and would have been the third in the series. Gibson speculates that this unfinished trilogy might have been called the "Toronto Trilogy".

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cunning Man, The 1994 Canadian novels Novels by Robertson Davies Novels set in Toronto McClelland & Stewart books

See also

External links