The Deptford Trilogy is—and I say this knowing full well the word now gets thrown around to describe every two-bit miniseries with gunmetal colour grading and streambait mise-en-scène—a masterpiece. One of my many gripes with the KKKanadian state is that Fifth Business, a novel that has afforded me so much aesthetic pleasure, gets assigned to bleary high schoolers as reflexively as The Great Gatsby is down south (not that we weren’t assigned Fitzgerald, too). Both are indisputably artworks of language, and while I waver on the question of foisting the classics on teenagers, I know far too many poor souls who parted forever with Austen and Shakespeare because they were forced to midnight-skim the books smack dab in the muddled emotional miseries of being seventeen.
But yes, the trilogy, much like MA, is a world conjured by magicians of narrative and self-invention, masters of performance, symbol, and religious spectacle. Unlike MA, of course, it charts Canada’s twentieth century: from bluenose Protestant moralism into something, briefly, stranger and dreamier, more Jungian, more theatrical—a flickering, tentative selfhood now seemingly lost, though hope springs eternal. To crib from Davies's U of T dinner companion, it moves from visual space to acoustic space, and shows how a country might begin to sense its mythic unconscious. The books get weirder as they go (the first is playfully stiff, like a starched collar in a school pageant), as if a national psyche were quickening into myth and metaphor. You can probably find a copy of Fifth Business in any library, but if not (I say this sincerely), DM me a PO Box or address and I’ll mail you one.
Thanks, David! I idly scanning the Goodreads reviews and one from 2014 said it shouldn't be taught in KKKanadian high schools because it's about an "old white guy." Your description of the whole trilogy makes it sound like essential reading. I was able to check Fifth Business out of the library, but thank you for your offer of international shipping. Now that I've found the book I just need to find the time to read it!
After Robertson Davies, read Mordecai Richler! Not sure if a Montreal Jew counts as a woke choice, he offended pretty well everyone, but one of the great Canadian storytellers
Thanks for citing my "Rain Taxi" review, John! It's interesting that John Irving was a model for you...I actually referenced "The World According to Garp" in the draft I submitted, but the editors whittled it out.
Davies was MY middle-school model of the literary author. Sneaking "The Manticore" out of my Dad's bookcase was a formative event. By all means read him!
As a palate-cleanser: I also think you'd like my new graphic novel, *Monday*, recently published by Uncivilized Books. An alt-Eden fable that touches on a few of the same themes you explore. Not to claim company with the greats. I'd be happy to send you a copy, if you're interested.
You're welcome, Andy! I actually checked your book out of the library along with Fifth Business—looking forward to it, ironically I reviewed a couple of Uncivilized's previous books positively for Rain Taxi. Thanks!
Interesting about the comic script possibility for Major Arcana. Is this something you actually wrote out and then ditched, or did it not get beyond the conceptual stage?
An enby for one year!
My faith in literature is restored.
The Deptford Trilogy is—and I say this knowing full well the word now gets thrown around to describe every two-bit miniseries with gunmetal colour grading and streambait mise-en-scène—a masterpiece. One of my many gripes with the KKKanadian state is that Fifth Business, a novel that has afforded me so much aesthetic pleasure, gets assigned to bleary high schoolers as reflexively as The Great Gatsby is down south (not that we weren’t assigned Fitzgerald, too). Both are indisputably artworks of language, and while I waver on the question of foisting the classics on teenagers, I know far too many poor souls who parted forever with Austen and Shakespeare because they were forced to midnight-skim the books smack dab in the muddled emotional miseries of being seventeen.
But yes, the trilogy, much like MA, is a world conjured by magicians of narrative and self-invention, masters of performance, symbol, and religious spectacle. Unlike MA, of course, it charts Canada’s twentieth century: from bluenose Protestant moralism into something, briefly, stranger and dreamier, more Jungian, more theatrical—a flickering, tentative selfhood now seemingly lost, though hope springs eternal. To crib from Davies's U of T dinner companion, it moves from visual space to acoustic space, and shows how a country might begin to sense its mythic unconscious. The books get weirder as they go (the first is playfully stiff, like a starched collar in a school pageant), as if a national psyche were quickening into myth and metaphor. You can probably find a copy of Fifth Business in any library, but if not (I say this sincerely), DM me a PO Box or address and I’ll mail you one.
Thanks, David! I idly scanning the Goodreads reviews and one from 2014 said it shouldn't be taught in KKKanadian high schools because it's about an "old white guy." Your description of the whole trilogy makes it sound like essential reading. I was able to check Fifth Business out of the library, but thank you for your offer of international shipping. Now that I've found the book I just need to find the time to read it!
After Robertson Davies, read Mordecai Richler! Not sure if a Montreal Jew counts as a woke choice, he offended pretty well everyone, but one of the great Canadian storytellers
Thanks! Yes, I've heard great things about his work, particularly Barney's Version.
Thanks for citing my "Rain Taxi" review, John! It's interesting that John Irving was a model for you...I actually referenced "The World According to Garp" in the draft I submitted, but the editors whittled it out.
Davies was MY middle-school model of the literary author. Sneaking "The Manticore" out of my Dad's bookcase was a formative event. By all means read him!
As a palate-cleanser: I also think you'd like my new graphic novel, *Monday*, recently published by Uncivilized Books. An alt-Eden fable that touches on a few of the same themes you explore. Not to claim company with the greats. I'd be happy to send you a copy, if you're interested.
You're welcome, Andy! I actually checked your book out of the library along with Fifth Business—looking forward to it, ironically I reviewed a couple of Uncivilized's previous books positively for Rain Taxi. Thanks!
Wonderful! I hope and trust you'll find both books worth your while.
Interesting about the comic script possibility for Major Arcana. Is this something you actually wrote out and then ditched, or did it not get beyond the conceptual stage?
Didn't get beyond the conceptual stage. (I'm not a big "kill your darlings" person. If I get around to writing it, you'll probably end up reading it!)