List Books As The Manticore (The Deptford Trilogy #2)
| Original Title: | The Manticore |
| ISBN: | 014303913X (ISBN13: 9780143039136) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Series: | The Deptford Trilogy #2 |
| Characters: | David Staunton, Percy Boyd Staunton, Dunstan Ramsay, Johanna Von Haller, Leola Staunton, Lieselotte Naegeli, Magnus Eisengrim |
| Literary Awards: | Governor General's |
| Literary Awards: | / Prix littéraires du Gouverneur général for Fiction (1972) |
Robertson Davies
Paperback | Pages: 288 pages Rating: 4 | 5280 Users | 269 Reviews
Particularize Containing Books The Manticore (The Deptford Trilogy #2)
| Title | : | The Manticore (The Deptford Trilogy #2) |
| Author | : | Robertson Davies |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Anniversary Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 288 pages |
| Published | : | February 28th 2006 by Penguin Classics (first published 1972) |
| Categories | : | Fiction. Cultural. Canada. Classics |
Chronicle During Books The Manticore (The Deptford Trilogy #2)
Hailed by the Washington Post Book World as "a modern classic," Robertson Davies’s acclaimed Deptford Trilogy is a glittering, fantastical, cunningly contrived series of novels, around which a mysterious death is woven. The Manticore—the second book in the series after Fifth Business—follows David Staunton, a man pleased with his success but haunted by his relationship with his larger-than-life father. As he seeks help through therapy, he encounters a wonderful cast of characters who help connect him to his past and the death of his father.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
Rating Containing Books The Manticore (The Deptford Trilogy #2)
Ratings: 4 From 5280 Users | 269 ReviewsEvaluate Containing Books The Manticore (The Deptford Trilogy #2)
In the second volume of the acclaimed Deptford Trilogy, we switch narrators, from Dunstan Boy Staunton, to his son David. David is a successful lawyer but is a heavy drinker and is emotionally stunted. He travels to Zurich to receive therapy and to deal with his haunted past and the looming shadow of his, indomitable father.David Staunton is a difficult main character and readers may find him cold and reserved, but in Davies, deft and crafty hands, he has created another sharp and inventiveI wavered between demoting this to a 3 star (really 3.5) and keeping it at a 4, but I think it deserves a 4 even if it isnt near my favourite of Davies work and is, I think, the weakest of the Deptford trilogy. We were first given an account of the small town of Deptford, and the players who would be the major cast of characters in the series, in Fifth Business under the guiding hand of Dunstan Ramsay. Now we see things from a different angle: David Staunton, the hard drinking criminal lawyer
If, like me, you have tended to give short shrift to the Jungian body of thought (one that you have never really made enough of an effort to "get" much less "comprehend " or "understand"--I used to be aware that there's an important difference between those two verbs, one which, I am certain, Mr. Davies could easily explain to me in etymological terms), then you are sorely in need of this book--as I was, and still am. My brain has always been attracted to Freud, but something else in me (dare I
Don't read this book on its own. It is the middle book of the Deptford Trilogy, a masterpiece of quirky details and great flawed characters. Like Cormier, but without the cynicism. So, start with Fifth Business before you pick this book up.David Staunton, poor little rich boy, the thrower of that fateful snowball, a boy impressed by his rich father for the wrong reasons. He is in Switzerland for Jungian therapy, and we get his perspective on those childhood events that lead to a mysterious
The Foreigners We DeserveA remarkable journey of Jungian psychoanalysis. Manticore will therefore appeal to Platonists (as myself) who recognise the limits of language but also its necessity in figuring out what we are. Aristotelian scientific types are likely to be disappointed. Freud thought in terms of flaws in the psyche brought about through trauma, Jung in terms of psychic purpose and its adaptations. There is no rational way to choose between the two perspectives; the facts fit either.
How much can I continue to say about how great Robertson Davies is? The Manticore is another fantastic example of his writing. It is the second part of the Deptford Trilogy, and it weaves in and out of the events of the first book. The Manticore is more introspective and philosophical than Davies' other novels I have read, but it still has his characteristic understated and witty humour. Not much more I can say. Just a fantastic read.
Imagine if Hamlet had had a psychiatrist and you've got a pretty good idea of what Davies' The Manticore is getting at. The cleverly presented autobiography of David Staunton.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.