Tempest-Tost (Salterton Trilogy, volume 1) by Robertson Davies

[james_davis_nicoll]

Tempest-Tost (Salterton Trilogy, volume 1) by Robertson Davies

Comments

[viktor_haag]

I'm pretty sure that the actual reason for not being in the curriculum is Davies' tendency to include sex and frank bodily function descriptions in his stories, and not because of his humour. It's also possible that the WO English department just didn't care for Davies much; I know that Fifth Business was on the syllabus at some of the city-schools in our board around the time we were attending (because friends of mine reported reading it as part of their CanLit curriculum).

[jreynolds197]

Fifth Business was on the curriculum when I was going to high school in the late 1980s.

Went and read the rest of the trilogy, then many of Davies other works due to that.

Only his last two books (Murther and Walking Spirits and The Cunning Man) were complete disappointments¹.

¹ To me, anyway.

[viktor_haag]

I agree. I loved the first two books of the Cornish Trilogy, far more, in fact, than his earlier work, but the drop in quality with The Lyre Of Orpheus was shocking to me. I tried Murther and Walking Spirits, it was no better, and I thought, oh that's sad, but I guess I'd best not proceed any further. 8(