The Deptford Trilogy: Fifth Business, The Manticore, World of Wonders

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In the mid-1990s, there were plans for Jim Henson Pictures to make a film adaptation of The Deptford Mice, which would be based on the story of The Dark Portal and feature animatronic puppets. [19] [20] The project was ultimately abandoned for reasons unknown. Liselotte (Liesl) Vitzlipützli – Daughter of a millionaire Swiss watchmaker, she assists Magnus Eisengrim in his traveling magic show. She is bisexual, and unusually tall and with large features. She becomes Ramsay's confessor, lover, and critic.

The first novel in Robertson Davies’ acclaimed Deptford Trilogy is Fifth Business. Published in 1970, it tells the story of Dunstan Ramsay, a retired schoolteacher who reflects on his life and the events that shaped him. The novel is set in the small town of Deptford, Ontario, and explores themes of guilt, identity, and the role of the individual in society. Fifth Business is a complex and multi-layered work that has been praised for its intricate plot, vivid characters, and rich symbolism. It is a must-read for anyone interested in Canadian literature or the human condition. The Second Novel: The Manticore First published by Macmillan of Canada in 1970, it is the first installment of Davies' best-known work, the Deptford Trilogy, [1] and explores the life of the narrator, Dunstan Ramsay. It was the novel that brought Davies to international attention. [2] Plot summary [ edit ] Davies, then an avid student of Carl Jung's ideas, deploys them in Fifth Business. Characters are clear examples of Jungian archetypes and events demonstrate Jung's idea of synchronicity. A stone allegedly thrown at Ramsay when he was a child reappears decades later in a scandalous suicide or murder. Ramsay's character is a classic introverted personality, contrasted throughout the book with the extroverted sensuality of Boy Staunton. Ramsay dedicates his life to genuine religious feeling as he saw it in his 'fool-saint' Mary Dempster, whose son grows up to be the very archetype of the Magician. This isn't about a boy who, through vicious thoughtlessness, nearly destroys an entire family and denies it for the rest of his life. It's not about his poor wife. It's not about the woman he injures, who may be a saint; it's not about the son who barely survives and goes on to be the world's greatest magician, and it's certainly not about whether vengeance will ever be served. It's about Fifth Business, the "odd man out," a bystander: Those roles which, being neither those of Hero nor Heroine, Confidante nor Villain, but which were none the less essential to bring about the Recognition or the denouement.The title of a book is often the first thing that catches a reader’s attention. It sets the tone for the story and can provide insight into the themes and motifs that will be explored. In the case of Robertson Davies’ The Deptford Trilogy, the title holds significant meaning. Robertson Davies' interest in psychology has a massive influence on the actions in the book. The prominence of matriarchs in Dunstan's life can be linked to Sigmund Freud's Oedipus complex (Dunstan loves Diana and Mrs. Dempster, despite their motherly positions in his life). Carl Jung's concept of individualisation plays a role when Liesl discusses Dunstan's yet-unlived life and the idea that he must have balance in his life. Erik Erikson's stages of psychosocial development can also be seen in the choices Boy makes compared to the choices Dunstan makes (e.g. Boy chooses intimacy while Dunstan chooses isolation). Dunstan Ramsay nos cuenta su vida, empezando por su niñez en el pequeño pueblo de Deptford a principio del siglo XX. Sabemos de su amistad con Boy Staunton y de un incidente que cambiará la vida de los implicados y cuyas consecuencias se irán desgranando a lo largo de la novela. Es una historia sobre la culpa y la responsabilidad que tenemos sobre los efectos de nuestras acciones. Dunstan es el narrador pero al mismo tiempo no es el protagonista de los sucesos principales, aunque su intervención es siempre decisiva: es 'el quinto en discordia', un personaje que no es principal pero que, a su manera, es importante.

While in Mexico City on a six-month sabbatical from Colborne College, Ramsay attends a magic show put on by the mysterious illusionist Magnus Eisengrim, who is revealed to be an adult Paul Dempster. Intrigued by Eisengrim's spectacular illusions, Ramsay joins his entourage as he tours the world with his magic act, and gradually becomes close to Eisengrim's wealthy patroness Liesl, an eccentric woman with a bizarre androgynous appearance. Liesl, who becomes Ramsay's lover, senses that he has never been truly happy, having spent most of his life being overshadowed by other people whose lives have intersected with his own. To help him make sense of his role in the world, Liesl suggests that Ramsay is fated to play the part of "fifth business," a term for a supporting player in a stage show whose role can’t be easily classified, but nonetheless plays a vital role in resolving the plot.A community of mice lives an idyllic existence in an old empty house in the London borough Deptford. The only problem they have is a fear of the vicious rats in the sewers below who worship a mysterious living god called Jupiter. One mouse named Albert Brown is drawn into the sewers by dark enchantments on the grill in the house's basement. His daughter Audrey, refusing to believe he is dead, sets out to find him and in the process discover the truth about the villainous Jupiter. I know flattery when I hear it; but I do not often hear it. Furthermore, there is good flattery and bad; this was from the best cask. And what sort of woman was this who knew so odd a word as “hagiographer” in a language not her own? Nobody who was not a Bollandist had ever called me that before, yet it was a title I would not have exchanged to be called Lord of the Isles. Delightful prose! I must know more of this. Lloyd Alexander called The Dark Portal "a grand-scale epic" that is "filled with high drama, suspense, and some genuine terror", [15] while Madeleine L'Engle said that "Robin Jarvis joins the ranks of Kenneth Grahame, Richard Adams, and Walter Wangerin in the creation of wonderfully anthropomorphic animals. Audrey and Arthur Brown tell us a lot about ourselves." [16] Peter Glassman, owner of the New York City children's bookstore Books of Wonder, obtained a copy of The Dark Portal while on a trip to London. He greatly enjoyed it and would now and then come across others who had as well. [17] The author of The Outsiders, S. E. Hinton, once told Glassman that The Deptford Mice novels became her son's favorites after finding them in Britain, but she could not understand why they were not yet available in the United States. Glassman would eventually obtain the rights for his company, SeaStar Books, to publish the trilogy and make it more readily available to American readers. [18] Adaptations [ edit ] Cancelled film [ edit ] Thomas Triton is a retired midshipmouse who makes his home aboard the Cutty Sark. He befriends Twit when the latter is unexpectedly dropped onto the ship by the bats Orfeo and Eldritch.