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Loading... World of wonders (original 1975; edition 1975)by Robertson Davies
Work InformationWorld of Wonders by Robertson Davies (1975)
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I loved--LOVED--the first two books in this trilogy, [b:Fifth Business|74406|Fifth Business (Penguin Modern Classics)|Robertson Davies|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170852646s/74406.jpg|603433] and [b:The Manticore|114496|The Manticore|Robertson Davies|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1309286341s/114496.jpg|1336039], but I was a bit underwhelmed by this final installment. I think what bothered me about it was the way in which it was told, which is as a series of monologues. I would suggest, also, not waiting years and years between books. If you're going to read the trilogy (and they come all bound in one volume) read them straight through. I think my experience suffered because I didn't do that. Explaining how Paul Dempster became Magnus Eisengrim, this last book in the Deptford trilogy is an account of how personality develops. The title "World of Wonders" seems ironic to me, as it explores the dingy reality behind a seemingly magical façade. A fine metaphor. The ultimate conclusion that myth, illusion, and faith are our desperate attempts to reconcile the cruelness of the world (and are pretty effective) left me with a sense of tragic fulfillment. Autobiography (the vehicle for Davies' thematic explorations) is seldom truth, or maybe there is no truth, or maybe there are far too many truths floating around to find such a word useful at all. Concealment runs through this story as well, manifested in the frightening automaton Abdullah, in Eisengrim's un-billed work as Sir John's double, as the giant head that prophesied (posthumously) the death of Boy Staunton. These are all symbols for how we clothe ourselves inside our own fabrications, whether consciously or not, with the result that our true (there's that word again) selves are withheld from those around us. Light spoilers. Not quite as good as the first in the trilogy, but as good as I remembered, though definitely dated in many ways. The idea of smart people sitting around talking about big ideas is great when it works but what we know about abuse and sexual assault, among other things, makes some of their words overly pompous and sometimes weird. I also found the explanation of Boy's death less fascinating than the initial narration of it in book one. And it didn't feel like the best note to end on. The best parts for me were the descriptions of the theater world, and the conflict between Magnus and one of his interlocutors that develops. I also find myself thinking about the concept of the mind that sees the magic world (Spengler's Magian outlook)--I was applying it to A Stranger in Olondria and had to stop and think how I knew it. As I got closer and closer to the end of this book (and the trilogy), I kept thinking what a contrived book. Consistent with the middle book, The Manticore, this book is a seemingly endless and highly unrealistic monologue where the telling of the tale takes significantly longer on the page than it would have taken in real life. Paul Dempster, the son of the woman Boy Staunton hit with a rock-filled snowball in book one, entrances his listeners (but not his readers) with the tale of his life. First as a ten-year-old who was anally raped by a carnival performer and then kidnapped by the same man, he was forced to live for eight years inside a mechanical dummy performing vaudeville tricks. Next he is the doppelganger of an aging theatre actor. Finally, he is the world's greatest conjurer, Magnus Eisengrim, the role we first met him in at the end of Fifth Business. Where Fifth Business was an entertaining book, this one was its antithesis. An egoistic blowhard talks for nearly three hundred pages, and at the end of it you still don't know why the people who listened to him wasted all that time listening to him (to say nothing of why you the reader listened, too). His tale just isn't that interesting. I also don't understand why Robertson Davies chose to tell this part of the story through Dunston Ramsay in first person (a fact easily forgotten, because the book is 90% Eisengrim's first-person narration). If you slog through this entire trilogy, prepare yourself for disappointment. While the final ten pages of the book return to the question asked at the end of Fifth Business - who killed Boy Staunton - the answer/ending feels like one of Eisengrim's illusions, one that is not very convincing and definitely not on a par with the magic of the first book.
"a novel of stunning verbal energy and intelligence" L'objet du scandale explorait les miracles des saints, officiels ou non, tandis que le Manticore faisait appel aux rêves et aux mythes. Le Monde des merveilles rend hommage à l'envoûtement du théâtre ... avec la gratitude de celui qui jouit du plaisir d'être dupé. L'auteur partage avec ses personnages un humour qui transfigure leur vision du monde. Pour lui, la notion de vérité dernière est bien trop grave pour ne pas mériter d'être malmenée. Les pirouettes et rebondissements qu'elle subit tout au long de la Trilogie de Deptford en témoignent. Belongs to SeriesThe Deptford Trilogy (Book 3) Belongs to Publisher SeriesBibliotheca stylorum (2003) Is contained inNotable Lists
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. World of Wonders -- the third book in the series after The Manticore -- follows the story of Magnus Eisengrim -- the most illustrious magician of his age -- who is spirited away from his home by a member of a traveling sideshow, the Wanless World of Wonders. After honing his skills and becoming better known, Magnus unfurls his life's courageous and adventurous tale in this third and final volume of a spectacular, soaring work. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.54Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1945-1999LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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The mystery that initially compelled me was wondering how he ever comes to harbour a grudge against Boy Staunton, since he begins with no knowledge about what triggered his birth and cares little for the family he's left behind. This is never explored until the end and winds up as window dressing, a bit disappointing in that respect; I like a "trilogy" to be tied more firmly together. This is still a strong story on its own two feet, in its exploration of Oswald Spengler's "magian world view": the medieval concept of the world as populated by angels and demons rather than the seemingly dull science-laden world we understand today, when only our most advanced scientists perceive the wonders still to be explored. The response to this loss of wonder in our time has been the move from superstition to conspiracy theories, but Davies in the 1970s was looking at a different challenge in his fiction: the necessary replenishment of wonder through clockwork, illusion and sleight of hand, as sustenance for the starving adult desire to be confounded. Perhaps the answer to social media is more stage magicians. ( )