The inaugural Robertson Davies Reading Week is Lory Hess’ dream child, drawing attention to a distinguished Canadian author who deserves to be even better known — I’d certainly not heard of him until recently!
Running from today, 25th August, to 31st August, Lory (Emerald City Book Review) will be featuring guest posts from Lizzie (Lizzie Ross, writer), Naomi (Consumed by Ink), Marcie (Buried in Print) and myself on several of RD’s works, including The Merry Heart, For Your Eye Alone, High Spirits, Murther and Walking Spirits, and The Deptford Trilogy (this last by yours truly).
Lory is publishing a schedule today on Emerald City Book Review, her introductory post telling you all you need to know about why you should investigate this fine author’s works if you don’t already know of them.
A brief preview of what’s in this blog’s pipeline:
- A review of Charlotte Brontë’s Shirley (1849) and a couple of companion posts in which I delve a little deeper into the novel
- A repost of my Robertson Davies piece which I wrote for Lory’s RD reading week and which will appear there first
- A preview of Witch Week 2019, the annual literary event which is due to take place here from 30th October to November 6th
Plenty to look forward to, Chris!
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That’ll teach me to pretend I’m organised, Sandra, now it’s out there I shall feel obliged to follow up on my promises! 🙂
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Absolutely! 😁 (Unless you change your mind of course! 😉 )
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Nil desperandum!
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Naomi already tempted me with this author some time ago but, as always, I’ve still to get around to him. Let’s see if you can persuade me to shove him up the priority list… 😉
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I’ll try my damnedest! 😁
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Oh, I actually just finished my first Davies’ book – I took up your recommendation, Chris, and read Fifth Business, and let me tell you, I loved it 😀 I was thinking of writing a review this week, prompted by Lory’s RD Reading Week event – jumping on the bandwagon, so to speak 😉
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I’d love to see your review, Ola, and I’m so pleased to have converted another reader! Fifth Business is stunning, isn’t it, and while critics damn him with faint praise by suggesting he’s a 20th-century Victorian writer he has none of that obscurity in language that 19th-century writers can have. I hope you go on to read the rest of the trilogy!
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I’d compare him much more readily to Thomas Mann and his masterpiece, Magic Mountain – not only because of the strong Jesuit presence 😉
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Now the Mann is on my wishlist to read, so that’s an added incentive! I’ve only read The Holy Sinner, and that was many years ago, so it must be time for another foray.
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I cannot recommend his works enough – Magic Mountain, certainly, but also Doctor Faustus. Both are on my all-time masterpieces list!
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I’m looking forward to this week’s posts and to getting to know more about other Davies’ readers too. One thing that always surprises me about his work is the humour in it: a nice surprise, that is.
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My partner has just read the Salterton trilogy straight after Deptford, and she was pleasantly surprised by the humour in it too! I too am glad Lory has set this week up so I can read about RD’s range of writing.
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