Robertson Davies’s Spiritual Perspective: A Literary Exploration of Faith and Transcendence

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• Winner, Saskatchewan Book Awards’ First Book Award, 1996 Why does the gnostic Sophia appear so suddenly and gloriously in The Rebel Angels? Why is the portrait of the morphine-addicted paedophile in World of Wonders so convincing and chilling? From what source springs a notion of malice so deep that it presents a mother reaching beyond the grave to lay “the dead hand” on her dutiful son in A Mixture of Frailties? What accounts for the many happy outcomes in the novels of a man who portrays evil so uncompromisingly and unrelentingly? The answer to these questions lies in the unorthodox religious vision of Robertson Davies. All of Davies’s novels are redolent with ingeniously used biblical references and quotations. Catching the Wind in a Net traces the evolution of Davies’s religious views and their influence on his novels. Dave Little’s study examines Davies’s provocative and sometimes conflicting notions of a supreme being. This book places Davies’s frequent calls for self-exploration and self-discovery within a theological framework, and since we live in an age in which, according to Davies, “the biblical culture scarcely exists,” Catching the Wind in a Net includes a useful appendix that identifies the biblical quotations and allusions present in his novels.

• Dave Little has a Ph.D. from the University of Toronto. He teaches English in Mortensville, Saskatchewan. 

• Published: February 1996

  ISBN: 9781550222647

  Dimensions: 6 x 9 in.

  Pages: 300

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