dlowan,
So Robertson Davies...his books enriched my life. A friend of mine told me about him when we were about 19 years old. I was busy with school and always felt guilty about reading for pleasure when I could be reading textbooks instead, so I didn't do anything about it.
I went to Australia for a year when I was 21 and upon arriving at the first hostel I stayed at (on chapel street in Melbourne) I went in search of some books to read. As luck would have it there was a used bookstore a couple doors down.
I went inside the old bookstore and asked the woman behind the counter if she'd ever heard of a Canadian author named Robertson Davies. Her eyes lit up as she replied that he was her husband's favourite writer. She guided me to the section where his books were and pulled "The Manticore" off of the shelf telling me that it was the second book in his second trilogy, but that it was a great place to start.
I was a little puzzled, because usually I'm a fairly orderly type, I like to start at the beginning and end at the end. Because she was so excited about Davies I decided to listen to her and read The Manticore. By the third chapter I was hooked. I went back to that bookstore when I finished the book and she offered to trade me straight across for the first book in the trilogy, "Fifth Business".
Over the course of my year in Australia I read all but one of his books, which I read as soon as I got back to Canada.
What I liked most about Robertson Davies is the way he strings his words together. The sentences rolled through my mind like they were designed to touch every part and resonate in different areas - kind of like nice wine on the tongue.
He was educated in a number of fields and dealt with a number of things that I had never really learned much about (art, religion, business, fantasy, travel) but it was the depth of his characters and the complexity of his stories that put me solidly in his world. All his books weave together in one way or another and there is a familiarity throughout his writing that made me feel as though I was spending afternoons with a wise old friend, being incredibly entertained, but learning about the world and myself all at the same time.
If I sound somewhat religious about Robertson Davies it's because reading his work made me feel like there was nothing I could be doing that would be more productive or beneficial to me. When I read his last book I was very sad. He died about a year before I discovered him.
It's been 6 or 7 years since I've read him - but what I remember most about his writing is that it felt like I was being told stories by a very wise and friendly man. The same way I felt when my grandfathers would tell me stories as a child.
His stories tickled parts of my brain that I had been completely unaware even existed. Brain candy.
dagmaraka--thanks for the welcome:-) strong ride yesterday by the way...gotta get the lil' dr. to get you a sweet bike now...
dlowan--re: pessimism--i definately agree that a certain amount of realism about the way in which the world, particularly humans, can falter is essential--and blind optimism is silly, and I think far removed from true joy. blind optimism is a catalyst for often foolish actions not couragous ones. BUT one of the reasons i love Desert Solitaire is for Abbey's willingness to get pissed as opposed to anxious--and then a couple pages later channel the intensity of that anger into joy at having a snake hang out in his trailer or peeing off his front porch...
a bit of a ramble here, but...
Jer, i stumbled onto Davies before meeting my Sweetiepie. So we have always had a joke between us to refer to her hometown, Kingston, as Salterton.
Once, at AFUZZ, one of the members was acting in a very haughty manner about how extensively he had travelled in North America, and particularly in Canada. In his ignorance, he was basically saying that he knew more about the geography of Canada than eBeth does.
So, i asked him in all innocence if he had ever been to Salterton. He replied something to the effect that of course he had. eBeth and i had a good laugh over that one.
(Edit: The Davies books i had read comprised the Salterton Trilogy, a very thinly-veiled send up of "high society" in Kingston.)
Great posts!
I have read some Davies - Manticore, eh.....
Hi Iriskermit.
Gotta go to work...
I remember reading "A Catcher in the Rye" after hearing time after time that it was the greatest novel ever written. I was young and believed that there were certain absolutes when it came to literature. I read it and then thought "hmmm, yeah but......." Was it me? Was I too ignorant to understand the overwhelming critical and popular love for this novel. No, maybe I just had another point of view. Epiphany...and the different drummer.
Indeed - welcome Maya!
Pity our site creator, Craven de Kere, is so busy at present, since he loved the book, and we might have a lively debate.
I did, too - though it shocked me - (I read it at about 11, I think - and a very innicent 11!) - but it is so long since I read it, that I recall very little.
Perhaps a re-read is in order?
But - how did it change your life, Maya?
It has been many years since I read it, and I was in high school, but up until that time I liked whatever the current in thing was, and being in with the oh so very deep high school literary set, it was a book that everyone just had to read and had to love. That book was the first time I decided to disagree outloud to myself and others on my own, a life changing event for anyone. Please don't misunderstand, I do believe it is a very good book, and I am speaking on a purely emotional, not critical level.
Well, that is great, Maya!
Maya,
I read Catcher in the Rye at age 20. My roommate urged me to read it and he was a really great writer himself. It was one of his favourite books of all time.
Catcher in the Rye really didn't do anything for me. I couldn't relate to the main character. It was just another book as far as I was concerned.
It was quite disappointing for my roommate that I wasn't in love with the book the way he was. Perhaps had I read it when I was much younger it would have made an impression on me?
The problem i had with Holden Caulfield is that he was so very alienated, and wore that alienation as a badge. Even though i read that when i was 16, i felt that i had "seen through" Caulfield. I understand that Salinger was depicting a classic adolescent angst (and understood it at the time, as well), but still found the character unsympathetic. I experienced the same alienation, and yet i participated in sports, in group activities, in "hanging out" on weekends when there was nothing to do. I thought Caulfield a "loser" with no redeeming characteristics, and was rather put out that he was taken (in the sixties at least) as a fictional avatar for all angst-ridden adolescents of the day. I considered him to have been an over-indulged, and overly self-indulgent individual. This perhaps stems from my upbringing, during which angst was not allowed to interfer with my perceived responsibility to contribute and participate (like it or not). I consider it good literature about a thoroughly despicable character.
Set,
You hit that one square on the head...
Hmmmm - almost warrants a thread - only I can't remember the book well enough!
Catcher In the Rye and Holden may have seemed transparent but the book influenced a generation. Franny and Zooey was my fav. I cannot say they changed my life but both books had an impact. Or maybe is was J.D. and the idea of being freaky for my parent.
Setanta, you said it all for me. Nail on the head, bat to the ball!!!!
The Second Sex by Simone De Beauvoir......my
intro to feminism!
And De Beauvoirs "Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter"
Loved it!
But - how did it change your life?
Lautréamont, a french writer from the 19th century. He helped me to deal with a lot of bad feelings I had inside, as, it seems, he was living the same kind of stuff I was living at one point.
