Robertson Davies

Born in Thamesville, Ontario, a student at Queen's University in Kingston in the 1930s, & editor & later publisher of the Peterborough Examiner from the 1940s to the mid-1960s, playwright, essayist, critic, professor, & novelist Robertson Davies (1913-1995) was one of Canada's pre-eminent literary voices for more than a half-century. Davies, with his generous beard & donnish manner, was the very epitome of the "man of letters," a term he abhorred. Best known for his Deptford Trilogy of novels (Fifth Business, The Manticore, World of Wonders), he also wrote two other trilogies (Salterton & Cornish) & was at work on the third volume of another trilogy (Toronto) when he died. With a life as rich in character & colour as that found in his fiction & essays, Davies had a great fondness for magic & myth, both of which are found in abundance in his work, along with a prodigious streak of wry humour.