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", a term Davies gladly accepted for himself. Davies was the founding Master of Massey College, a graduate residential college associated with the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

Biography

Early life

Davies was born in Thamesville, Ontario, the third son of

William Rupert Davies (William) Rupert Davies (12 September 1879 – 11 March 1967) was a Welsh-Canadian author, editor, newspaper publisher, and politician. Davies was born in Welshpool, Montgomeryshire, Wales and immigrated to Canada in the late 1800s after his fa ...

and Florence Sheppard McKay. Growing up, Davies was surrounded by books and lively language. His father, senator of

Kingston, Ontario Kingston is a city in Ontario, Canada. It is located on the north-eastern end of Lake Ontario, at the beginning of the St. Lawrence River and at the mouth of the Cataraqui River (south end of the Rideau Canal). The city is midway between Toro ...

, from 1942 to his death in 1967, was a newspaperman from Welshpool,

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

, and both parents were voracious readers. He followed in their footsteps and read everything he could. He also participated in theatrical productions as a child, where he developed a lifelong interest in drama. He spent his formative years in Renfrew, Ontario (and renamed it as "Blairlogie", in his novel ''What's Bred in the Bone''); many of the novel's characters are named after families he knew there. He attended

Upper Canada College Upper Canada College (UCC) is an elite, all-boys, private school in Toronto, Ontario, operating under the International Baccalaureate program. The college is widely described as the country's most prestigious preparatory school, and has produce ...

in Toronto from 1926 to 1932 and while there attended services at the Church of St. Mary Magdalene. He would later leave the

Presbyterian Church Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

and join

Anglicanism Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of the ...

over objections to

Calvinist Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Ca ...

theology. Davies later used his experience of the ceremonial of High Mass at St. Mary Magdalene's in his novel ''The Cunning Man''. After Upper Canada College, he studied at

Queen's University Queen's or Queens University may refer to: *Queen's University at Kingston, Ontario, Canada *Queen's University Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK **Queen's University of Belfast (UK Parliament constituency) (1918–1950) **Queen's University of Belfast ...

Kingston Kingston may refer to: Places * List of places called Kingston, including the five most populated: ** Kingston, Jamaica ** Kingston upon Hull, England ** City of Kingston, Victoria, Australia ** Kingston, Ontario, Canada ** Kingston upon Thames, ...

, Ontario, from 1932 until 1935. According to the ''

Queen's University Journal Queens is a borough of New York City. Queens or Queen's may also refer to: Arts and entertainment * Queens (group) Queens is a Polish girl trio formed in February 2005 by Polish Music Agency. The group is one of the best known girl bands in ...

'' Davies enrolled as a special student not working towards a degree, because he was unable to pass the mathematics component of Queen's entrance exam. At Queen's he wrote for the student paper, '' The Queen's Journal'', where he wrote a literary column. He left Canada to study at

Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. One of Oxford's oldest colleges, it was founded around 1263 by John I de Balliol, a landowner from Barnard Castle in County Durham, who provided the f ...

, where he received a BLitt degree in 1938. The next year he published his thesis, ''

Shakespeare's Boy Actors William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

'', and embarked on an acting career outside London. In 1940, he played small roles and did literary work for the director at the Old Vic Repertory Company in London. Also that year, Davies married Australian Brenda Mathews, whom he had met at Oxford, and who was then working as

stage manager Stage management is a broad field that is generally defined as the practice of organization and coordination of an event or theatrical production. Stage management may encompass a variety of activities including the overseeing of the rehearsal p ...

for the theatre. They spent their honeymoon in the Welsh countryside at

Fronfraith Hall Fronfraith Hall is a mid-Victorian house in the historic parish of Llandyssil in the shire area of Montgomeryshire in Powys. Fronfraith also appears in records as ''Bronfraith'' and ''Vronvraith''. Fronfraith was also a township within the parish ...

Abermule Abermule ( cy, Aber-miwl) is a village lying on the River Severn 6 km (4 miles) northeast of Newtown in Powys, mid Wales. The A483 Swansea to Chester trunk road, the Cambrian Line railway, connecting Aberystwyth to Shrewsbury, and the M ...

, Montgomery, the family house owned by Rupert Davies. Davies's early life provided him with themes and material to which he would often return in his later work, including the theme of Canadians returning to England to finish their education, and the theatre.

Middle years

Davies and his new bride returned to Canada in 1940, where he took the position of literary

editor Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, photographic, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, orga ...

at '' Saturday Night'' magazine. Two years later, he became editor of the '' Peterborough Examiner'' in the small city of

Peterborough Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...

, Ontario, northeast of Toronto. Again he was able to mine his experiences here for many of the characters and situations which later appeared in his plays and novels. Davies, along with family members William Rupert Davies and Arthur Davies, purchased several media outlets. Along with the ''Examiner'' newspaper, they owned the ''

Kingston Whig-Standard ''The Kingston Whig-Standard'' is a newspaper in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. It is published five days a week, from Tuesday to Saturday. It publishes a mix of community, national and international news and is currently owned by Postmedia. It has ...

'' newspaper, CHEX-AM,

CKWS-AM CKWS-FM is a Canadian radio station, broadcasting at 104.3 FM broadcasting, FM in Kingston, Ontario, Kingston, Ontario. The station airs a hot adult contemporary format branded on-air as ''104.3 Fresh Radio (Canada), Fresh Radio''. The station i ...

CHEX-TV CHEX-DT (channel 12) is a television station in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada, part of the Global Television Network. Owned-and-operated station, Owned and operated by network parent Corus Entertainment, the station maintains studios on Monaghan ...

, and

CKWS-TV CKWS-DT (channel 11) is a television station in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, part of the Global Television Network. Owned and operated by network parent Corus Entertainment, the station maintains studios on Queen Street in downtown Kingston, and ...

. During his tenure as editor of the ''Examiner'', which lasted from 1942 to 1955 (he subsequently served as publisher from 1955 to 1965), Davies published a total of 18 books, produced several of his own plays, and wrote articles for various journals. Davies set out his theory of acting in his '' Shakespeare for Young Players'' (1947), and then put theory into practice when he wrote ''

Eros at Breakfast In Greek mythology, Eros (, ; grc, wikt:Ἔρως, Ἔρως, Érōs, Love, Desire) is the Greek god of love and sexual intercourse, sex. His Roman mythology, Roman counterpart was Cupid ("desire").''Larousse Desk Reference Encyclopedia'', T ...

'', a one-act play which was named best Canadian play of the year by the 1948 Dominion Drama Festival. ''Eros at Breakfast'' was followed by '' Fortune, My Foe'' in 1949 and ''At My Heart's Core'', a three-act play, in 1950. Meanwhile, Davies was writing humorous essays in the ''Examiner'' under the pseudonym

Samuel Marchbanks Samuel Marchbanks is a fictional character who wrote editorials for the '' Peterborough Examiner'' newspaper in the small city of Peterborough, Ontario, northeast of Toronto, during the middle of the 20th century. Marchbanks was, in fact, a pseud ...

. Some of these were collected and published in '' The Diary of Samuel Marchbanks'' (1947), ''

The Table Talk of Samuel Marchbanks ''The Table Talk of Samuel Marchbanks'', published by Clarke Irwin in 1949, is the second of the Samuel Marchbanks books by Canadian novelist and journalist Robertson Davies. The other two books in this series are '' The Diary of Samuel Marchban ...

'' (1949), and later in '' Samuel Marchbanks' Almanack'' (1967). An omnibus edition of the three Marchbanks books, with new notes by the author, was published under the title ''

The Papers of Samuel Marchbanks ''The Papers of Samuel Marchbanks'', published by Irwin in 1985, constitutes a collection of the writings of Samuel Marchbanks, a character created in 1944 by Canadian novelist and journalist Robertson Davies when he was editor of the ''Peterbor ...

'' in 1985. During the 1950s, Davies played a major role in launching the Stratford Shakespearean Festival of Canada. He served on the Festival's board of governors, and collaborated with the Festival's director, Sir

Tyrone Guthrie Sir William Tyrone Guthrie (2 July 1900 – 15 May 1971) was an English theatrical director instrumental in the founding of the Stratford Festival of Canada, the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and the Tyrone Guthrie Centre at his ...

, in publishing three books about the Festival's early years. Although his first love was drama and he had achieved some success with his occasional humorous essays, Davies found his greatest success in fiction. His first three novels, which later became known as

The Salterton Trilogy ''The Salterton Trilogy'' consists of the first three novels by Canadians, Canadian novelist Robertson Davies: ''Tempest-Tost'' (1951 in literature, 1951), ''Leaven of Malice'' (1954 in literature, 1954), and ''A Mixture of Frailties'' (1958 in li ...

, were ''

Tempest-Tost ''Tempest-Tost'', published in 1951 by Clarke Irwin, is the first novel in '' The Salterton Trilogy'' by Canadian novelist Robertson Davies. The other two novels are ''Leaven of Malice'' (1954) and '' A Mixture of Frailties'' (1958). The series ...

'' (1951, originally conceived as a play), ''

Leaven of Malice ''Leaven of Malice'', published in 1954 in literature, 1954, is the second novel in ''The Salterton Trilogy'' by Canadian novelist Robertson Davies. The other two novels are ''Tempest-Tost'' (1951 in literature, 1951) and ''A Mixture of Frailties ...

'' (1954, also the basis of the unsuccessful play ''Love and Libel'') which won the

Stephen Leacock Award for Humour The Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour, also known as the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour or just the Leacock Medal, is an annual literary award presented for the best book of humour written in English by a Canadian writer, published or self ...

, and ''

A Mixture of Frailties ''A Mixture of Frailties'', published by Macmillan in 1958, is the third novel in '' The Salterton Trilogy'' by Canadian novelist Robertson Davies. The other two novels are ''Tempest-Tost'' (1951) and ''Leaven of Malice'' (1954). The series was al ...

'' (1958). These novels explored the difficulty of sustaining a cultural life in Canada, and life on a small-town newspaper, subjects of which Davies had first-hand knowledge.

1960s

In 1960, Davies joined

Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...

at the University of Toronto, where he would teach literature until 1981. The following year he published a collection of essays on literature, '' A Voice From the Attic'', and was awarded the Lorne Pierce Medal for his literary achievements. In 1963, he became the Master of Massey College, the University of Toronto's new graduate college. During his stint as Master, he initiated a tradition of writing and telling

ghost stories A ghost story is any piece of fiction, or drama, that includes a ghost, or simply takes as a premise the possibility of ghosts or characters' belief in them."Ghost Stories" in Margaret Drabble (ed.), ''Oxford Companion to English Literature''. ...

at the yearly Christmas celebrations. These stories were later collected in the book '' High Spirits'' (1982).

1970s

Davies drew on his interest in Jungian psychology to create '' Fifth Business'' (1970), a novel that relies heavily on Davies's own experiences, his love of

myth Myth is a folklore genre consisting of Narrative, narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or Origin myth, origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not Objectivity (philosophy), ...

and

magic Magic or Magick most commonly refers to: * Magic (supernatural), beliefs and actions employed to influence supernatural beings and forces * Ceremonial magic, encompasses a wide variety of rituals of magic * Magical thinking, the belief that unrela ...

, and his knowledge of small-town mores. The narrator, like Davies, is of immigrant Canadian background, with a father who runs the town paper. The book's characters act in roles that roughly correspond to Jungian

archetypes The concept of an archetype (; ) appears in areas relating to behavior, historical psychology, and literary analysis. An archetype can be any of the following: # a statement, pattern of behavior, prototype, "first" form, or a main model that ot ...

according to Davies's belief in the predominance of spirit over the things of the world. Davies built on the success of ''Fifth Business'' with two more novels: '' The Manticore'' (1972), a novel cast largely in the form of a Jungian analysis (for which he received that year's Governor General's Literary Award), 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 position at the university, his seventh novel, a satire of academic life, ''

The Rebel Angels ''The Rebel Angels'' is Canadian author Robertson Davies's most noted novel, after those that form his '' Deptford Trilogy''. First published by Macmillan of Canada in 1981, ''The Rebel Angels'' is the first of the three connected novels of Da ...

'' (1981), was published, followed by ''

What's Bred in the Bone ''What's Bred in the Bone'' is the second novel in the Canadian writer Robertson Davies' Cornish Trilogy. It is the life story of Francis or Frank Cornish, whose death and will were the starting point for the first novel, '' The Rebel Angels''. ...

'' (1985) which was short-listed for the

Booker Prize The Booker Prize, formerly known as the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a Literary award, literary prize awarded each year for the best novel written in English and published in the United King ...

for fiction in 1986. ''

The Lyre of Orpheus ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'' (1988) follows these two books in what became known as '' The Cornish Trilogy''. During his retirement from academe he continued to write novels which further established him as a major figure in the literary world: ''

Murther and Walking Spirits ''Murther and Walking Spirits'', first published by McClelland and Stewart in 1991 in literature, 1991, is a novel by Canadian novelist Robertson Davies. ''Murther and Walking Spirits'' is, in a way, another ghost story, a genre Davies visited i ...

'' (1991) and ''

The Cunning Man ''The Cunning Man'', published by McClelland and Stewart in 1994, is the last novel written by Canadian novelist Robertson Davies. ''The Cunning Man'' is the memoir of the life of a doctor, Dr. Jonathan Hullah, living in Toronto. Hullah is a ho ...

'' (1994). A third novel in what would have been a further trilogy – the Toronto Trilogy – was in progress at the time of Davies's death. He also realized a long-held dream when he penned the

libretto A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the t ...

Randolph Peters Randolph Peters (born 28 December 1959) is a Canadian composer who is known for his output of roughly 100 film scores made mostly for Canadian films. Early life and education Peters was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He graduated from the Universit ...

' opera: '' The Golden Ass'', based on ''

The Metamorphoses The ''Metamorphoses'' ( la, Metamorphōsēs, from grc, μεταμορφώσεις: "Transformations") is a Latin Narrative poetry, narrative poem from 8 Common Era, CE by the Ancient Rome, Roman poet Ovid. It is considered his ''Masterpiece, ...

'' of

Lucius Apuleius Apuleius (; also called Lucius Apuleius Madaurensis; c. 124 – after 170) was a Numidian Latin-language prose writer, Platonist philosopher and rhetorician. He lived in the Roman province of Numidia, in the Berber city of Madauros, modern-day ...

, just like that written by one of the characters in Davies's 1958 ''A Mixture of Frailties''. The opera was performed by the Canadian Opera Company at the Hummingbird Centre in Toronto, in April 1999, several years after Davies's death. In its obituary, ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'' wrote: "Davies encompassed all the great elements of life ... His novels combined deep seriousness and psychological inquiry with fantasy and exuberant mirth." He remained close friends with John Kenneth Galbraith, attending Galbraith's eighty-fifth birthday party in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

in 1993, and became so close a friend and colleague of the American novelist John Irving that Irving gave one of the scripture readings at Davies's funeral in the chapel of

Trinity College, Toronto Trinity College (occasionally referred to as The University of Trinity College) is a college federated with the University of Toronto, founded in 1851 by Bishop John Strachan. Strachan originally intended Trinity as a university of strong Angli ...

. He also wrote in support of

Salman Rushdie Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie (; born 19 June 1947) is an Indian-born British-American novelist. His work often combines magic realism with historical fiction and primarily deals with connections, disruptions, and migrations between Eastern and Wes ...

when the latter was threatened by a '' fatwā'' from

Ayatollah Ayatollah ( ; fa, آیت‌الله, āyatollāh) is an Title of honor, honorific title for high-ranking Twelver Shia clergy in Iran and Iraq that came into widespread usage in the 20th century. Etymology The title is originally derived from ...

Ruhollah Khomeini Ruhollah Khomeini, Ayatollah Khomeini, Imam Khomeini ( , ; ; 17 May 1900 – 3 June 1989) was an Iranian political and religious leader who served as the first supreme leader of Iran from 1979 until his death in 1989. He was the founder of ...

of Iran in reaction to supposed anti-Islam expression in his novel '' The Satanic Verses''.

Personal life

Davies was married to Brenda Ethel Davies (1917–2013) in 1940 and survived by four grandchildren and three great-grandchildren from his three daughters Miranda Davies, Rosamond Bailey and author

Jennifer Surridge Jennifer or Jenifer may refer to: People *Jennifer (given name) * Jenifer (singer), French pop singer * Jennifer Warnes, American singer who formerly used the stage name Jennifer * Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer * Daniel Jenifer Film and televi ...

. Davies never learned to drive. His wife Brenda routinely drove him to events and other excursions.

Awards and recognition

*Won the Dominion Drama Festival Award for best Canadian play in 1948 for ''Eros at Breakfast''. *Won the Stephen Leacock Award for Humour in 1955 for ''Leaven of Malice''. *Won the Lorne Pierce Medal for his literary achievements in 1961. *Won the Governor-General's Literary Award in the English language fiction category in 1972 for ''The Manticore''. *Short-listed for the Booker Prize for Fiction in 1986 for ''What's Bred in the Bone''. *Honorary Doctor of Letters,

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

, 1991. *First Canadian to become an Honorary Member of the

American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters The American Academy of Arts and Letters is a 300-member honor society whose goal is to "foster, assist, and sustain excellence" in American literature, music, and art. Its fixed number membership is elected for lifetime appointments. Its headqua ...

. *Companion of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the ...

. *Park in Toronto named after him in 2007.

Works

Novels

** ''

'' (1951) ** ''

'' (1954) ** ''

'' (1958) * The Deptford Trilogy **'' Fifth Business'' (1970) **'' The Manticore'' (1972) **'' World of Wonders'' (1975) * The Cornish Trilogy **''

'' (1981) **''

'' (1985) **''

'' (1988) * The "Toronto Trilogy" (incomplete) **''

'' (1991) **''

'' (1994)

Essays

Fictional essays *'' The Diary of Samuel Marchbanks'' (1947) *''

'' (1949) *'' Samuel Marchbanks' Almanack'' (1967) edited by the author into: *''

'' (1985) Criticism *''

'' (1939) (as W. Robertson Davies) *'' Shakespeare for Young Players: A Junior Course'' (1942) *'' Renown at Stratford'' (1953) (with

) *'' Twice Have the Trumpets Sounded'' (1954) (with Tyrone Guthrie) *''

Thrice the Brindled Cat Hath Mew'd Thrice is an American rock band from Irvine, California, formed in 1998. The group was founded by guitarist/vocalist Dustin Kensrue and lead guitarist Teppei Teranishi while they were in high school. Early in their career, the band was known ...

'' (1955) (with Tyrone Guthrie) *'' A Voice From the Attic'' (1960) also published as ''The Personal Art'' *'' A Feast of Stephen'' (1970) *'' Stephen Leacock'' (1970) *'' One Half of Robertson Davies'' (1977) *''The Enthusiasms of Robertson Davies'' (1979; revised 1990) (edited by

Judith Skelton Grant Judith Skelton Grant (born 1941) is a Canadian writer, editor and biographer. Life Grant has written about Leonard Cohen Leonard Norman Cohen (September 21, 1934November 7, 2016) was a Canadian singer-songwriter, poet and novelist. His work ...

) *'' The Well-Tempered Critic'' (1981) (edited by

) *'' The Mirror of Nature'' (1983) *''

Reading and Writing ''Reading and Writing'' is an academic journal of the processes, acquisition, and loss of reading and writing skills. It is published by Springer Science+Business Media. The editor is R. Malatesha Joshi (Texas A&M University). External links< ...

'' (1993) (two essays, later collected in ''The Merry Heart'') *'' The Merry Heart'' (1996) *'' Happy Alchemy'' (1997) (edited by

and Brenda Davies)

Plays

*'' Overlaid'' (1948) *''

'' (1948) *'' Hope Deferred'' (1948) *''King Phoenix'' (1948) *''

At the Gates of the Righteous AT or at may refer to: Geography Austria * Austria (ISO 2-letter country code) * .at, Internet country code top-level domain United States * Atchison County, Kansas (county code) * The Appalachian Trail (A.T.), a 2,180+ mile long mountaino ...

'' (1949) *'' Fortune My Foe'' (1949) *'' The Voice of the People'' (1949) *''

At My Heart's Core AT or at may refer to: Geography Austria * Austria (ISO 2-letter country code) * .at, Internet country code top-level domain United States * Atchison County, Kansas (county code) * The Appalachian Trail (A.T.), a 2,180+ mile long mountaino ...

'' (1950) *''

A Masque of Aesop A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes'' ...

'' (1952) *'' Hunting Stuart'' (1955) *''

A Jig for the Gypsy A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes'' ...

'' (1955) *''

General Confession The General Confession is a prayer of contrition in various Christian denominations, including Anglicanism, Methodism, and Roman Catholicism. Anglicanism and Methodism In Anglicanism, the "General Confession" is the act of contrition in Thomas ...

'' (1956) *''

A Masque of Mr. Punch A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes'' ...

'' (1963) *'' Question Time'' (1975) *''

Brothers in the Black Art A brother is a man or boy who shares one or more parents with another; a male sibling. The female counterpart is a sister. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to refer to non-familia ...

'' (1981)

Short story collection

*'' High Spirits'' (1982)

Libretti

*'' Doctor Canon's Cure'' (1982) *'' Jezebel'' (1993) *'' The Golden Ass'' (1999)

Letters and diaries

*''

For Your Eye Alone ''For Your Eye Alone'', published by McClelland and Stewart in 2000, is a collection of letters by Canadian novelist Robertson Davies. Editor Judith Skelton Grant provides a selection of letters written by Davies from the period starting in 1976 ...

'' (2000) (edited by

) *''Discoveries'' (2002) (edited by

) *''A Celtic Temperament: Robertson Davies as Diarist'' (2015) (edited by Jennifer Surridge and Ramsay Derry)

Collections

*''Conversations with Robertson Davies'' (1989) (Edited by J. Madison Davies) *'' The Quotable Robertson Davies: The Wit and Wisdom of the Master'' (2005) (collected by James Channing Shaw) *''The Merry Heart: Reflections on Reading Writing, and the World of Books'' (New York: Viking, 1997).

References

Sources

* Grant, Judith Skelton, ''Robertson Davies: Man of Myth'', Viking, Toronto, 1994. (hard cover); (paperback)

External links

* * *
Robertson Davies' Personal Library
(Queen's University at Kingston)
Robertson Davies fonds (R4939)
at

Library and Archives Canada Library and Archives Canada (LAC; french: Bibliothèque et Archives Canada) is the federal institution, tasked with acquiring, preserving, and providing accessibility to the documentary heritage of Canada. The national archive and library is th ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Davies, Robertson 1913 births 1995 deaths Canadian Anglicans Canadian literary critics Canadian monarchists Canadian newspaper editors Canadian male journalists Canadian male novelists Canadian people of Scottish descent Canadian people of Welsh descent Companions of the Order of Canada Converts to Anglicanism from Presbyterianism Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada Governor General's Award-winning fiction writers Writers from Ontario Magic realism writers Members of the Order of Ontario World Fantasy Award-winning writers People from Chatham-Kent Queen's University at Kingston alumni Upper Canada College alumni Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford University of Toronto faculty Fellows of the Royal Conservatory of Music Stephen Leacock Award winners 20th-century Canadian novelists 20th-century Canadian dramatists and playwrights Canadian male dramatists and playwrights Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature 20th-century Canadian male writers Massey College, Toronto