Davies, (William) Robertson

Davies, (William) Robertson (1913–95), Canadian novelist, playwright, and critic, born in Thamesville, Ontario (the fictional ‘Deptford’). The family later moved to Kingston, Ontario (the fictional ‘Salterton’). In 1942 he joined the editorial staff of the Peterborough Examiner, owned by his father, becoming joint owner and editor in 1946. In 1960 he was appointed Professor of English at the University of Toronto and in 1963 became the first Master of the university's Massey College. The Diary of Samuel Marchbanks (1947), The Table Talk of Samuel Marchbanks (1949), and Samuel Marchbanks' Almanack (1967) were collections of pseudonymous pieces written for the Examiner and other papers. Davies was an important figure in Canadian drama, both as a playwright and critic. Among the best of his full-length plays are Fortune, My Foe (1949), A Jig for the Gypsy (1954), and Hunting Stuart (1972). It was, however, as a writer of fiction that he was to achieve international eminence. His principal work as a novelist is contained in three extensive trilogies: the Salterton Trilogy—Tempest-Tost (1951), Leaven of Malice (1954), and A Mixture of Frailties (1958); the Deptford Trilogy—Fifth Business (1970), The Manticore (1972), and World of Wonders (1975); and the Cornish Trilogy—The Rebel Angels (1981), What's Bred in the Bone (1985), and The Lyre of Orpheus (1988). The Cunning Man (1995) follows the consequences of the death of a priest.