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Review by Robert C. Jones
Even though we cannot look forward, ever, to the enchantment of reading a sequel to his 1994 "The Cunning Man" (the opening novel of the projected Toronto Trilogy) -- mirabile dictu, Robertson Davies still has magic up his sleeve. For now, two years after Davies' death in 1995, comes "The Merry Heart," a collection of lectures, book reviews, articles, and other occasional pieces, most of them appearing in print for the first time.
If you are already acquainted with Robertson Davies, the above announcement should suffice -- indeed, should cause you to go camp on the doorstep of your bookstore until the first shipment of this new volume arrives.
If you are not yet acquainted with Davies -- his Deptford Trilogy, his Salterton Trilogy, his Cornish Trilogy, or his 20 or so other volumes of stories, plays, and essays -- then "The Merry Heart" is a good introduction. It's assemblage of 24 pieces of writing range from the autobiographical to succinct, literate, and eminently sane discussions on everything from humanists in medicine to the fiction of the future. I say "pieces of writing," but this is a misnomer. These pieces are really re-creations of that distinctive, ebullient voice of Robertson Davies, speaking to us as only he can.
Addendum: "Happy Alchemy," a companion collection of Robertson Davies' lectures and occasional pieces on the performing arts, will be published by Viking, probably in 1998. Until then, be comforted: "A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones." (Proverbs 17:22)
©1997, ProMotion, inc.
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