Mythological Realism in Fifth Business :: Fifth Business

Mythological Realism in Fifth rail lineSpellbinding like his creation Magnus Eisengrim, Robertson Davies is a wizard of the English language. Who says that Canadian literature is bland and unappealing? New York Times applauded Fifth stemma the first of the Deptford triptych as a marvelously enigmatic romance, elegantly written and driven by irresistible narrative force. How true this is. Dunstable Ramsay later renamed Dunstan later St. Dunstan may be a retired schoolteacher, but what an engaging narrator he is Shaped by Daviess colourful writing, Ramsay masterfully relays the story of his mapping as fifth business, the unobtrusive yet vital character in lifes drama. Fifth Business, told in the form of a earn to the schoolmaster, begins with a snowball that young Percy Boyd Staunton throws at Ramsay. The match-in-a-snowball misses Ramsay but hits Mary Dempster, cause the premature birth of Paul Dempster. Paul grows up to be Magnus Eisengrim, a mysterious and graceful mag ician. Tormented by his guilt of avoiding the snowball, Ramsay makes Mary his ad hominem saint and is weighed down by his conscience until Marys ultimate death in an asylum. On the eve of becoming the lieutenant governor of Ontario, Boy Staunton is found dead in the Toronto harbour with the fateful stone in his mouth.Though the adventures that Dunstan embarks on in Fifth Business be that of the spiritual nature, make no mistake this is not a hugger-mugger novel that attempts to lure one into a religion, but a magnificently told tale of maturation. It is a story of revenge, of redemption, of becoming. Told from the perspective of being nearly completed, the novel follows Ramsay in his search for balance in his life and balance he does find when the grotesque yet intelligent Liesl seduces him. With depth and breadth of noesis in Jungian concepts, Robertson Davies draws us fathoms beneath the surface of the human personality. The auditory sense is not left grasping for breath, but is enraptured by the inscrutable dualism in this fantastical world of Dunstan Ramsay. Good and evil illusion and world history and myth the shadows and lights of the world are exposed and explored. These juxtaposing elements are neer revealed under a glaring light, however. Davies uses prose that is nothing short of elegant, and weaves a mythological tale that is imbued with much realism. Real-life incidents are transfused with many amazing coincidences, paving the roadway to surrealism.