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Fifth Business is perhaps Robertson Davies' best-known novel, and is widely considered his finest. It is the first part of the Deptford Trilogy and is a story of the life of the narrator, Dunstan Ramsay, who functions as a "Fifth Business" (that is, neither hero, heroine, villain nor sidekick, but nevertheless essential to the plot). Image File history File links FifthBusiness. ... Image File history File links FifthBusiness. ... Robertson Davies in 1984 Robertson Davies, CC, FRSC (born August 28, 1913 at Thamesville, Ontario, and died December 2, 1995 at Orangeville, Ontario) was a Canadian novelist, playwright, critic, journalist, and professor. ... The Deptford Trilogy is the name given to three related novels by Canadian novelist, playwright, critic, journalist, and professor Robertson Davies. ...

Ramsay's avid interest in hagiology and his guilty connection to Mary Dempster provide most of the impetus and background for this novel. He spends much of the book struggling with his image of Mary Dempster as a fool-saint. Hagiography is the study of saints. ... This article needs cleanup. ...

Davies employs many different techniques in the writing of Fifth Business. He discusses many themes in the novel, perhaps the most important being the difference between materialism and spirituality. By spirituality, Davies discusses how religion is not necessarily integral to the idea — demonstrated by the corrupt Reverend Leadbeater who reduces the Bible to mere economic terms.

Davies, being an avid follower of Carl Jung's ideas, also employs them in Fifth Business. Characters are clear examples of Jungian archetypes and events are demonstrative of Jung's idea of synchronicity. Carl Jung Carl Gustav Jung (July 26, 1875 – June 6, 1961) (IPA:) was a Swiss psychiatrist and founder of Analytical Psychology. ... Archetype is defined as the first original model of which all other similar persons, objects, or concepts are merely derivative, copied, patterned, or emulated. ... Synchronicity is a word created by the Swiss psychologist Carl Jung to describe the alignment of universal forces with the life experiences of an individual. ...

Davies employs an interesting means of narration in Fifth Business. The entire story is told in the form of a letter written by Ramsay on the occasion of his retirement as master at Colborne College and addressed to his former headmaster. In fiction, a narrator is a voice or character who tells the story. ...

Ramsay's life bears many similarities to Davies', and so one may find Fifth Business to be semi-autobiographical in nature. Davies projected his life experiences into many of his works and so one may find it no surprise that he chose to do so again in Fifth Business. Davies thought of it as "autobiographical, but not as young men do it; it will be rather as Dickens wrote David Copperfield, a fictional reworking of some things experienced and much re-arranged." Davies allows us to peer through a window into his childhood in Thamesville, Ontario and through his young life into higher education and beyond through the character of Ramsay and throughout the Deptford trilogy. Davies provides us, in Fifth Business, with an autobiography which is "not a sweating account of the first time he backed a girl into a corner", but an account of his spirit, his memories, and his deeper life experiences. Thamesville is a small town located at the old junction of Highways 2 and 78, now local roads and a road between Chatham and London in Ontario. ... Motto: Ut Incepit Fidelis Sic Permanet (Loyal she began, loyal she remains) Other Canadian provinces and territories Capital Toronto Largest city Toronto Lieutenant-Governor James K. Bartleman Premier Dalton McGuinty (Liberal) Area 1,076,395 km² (4th) • Land 917,741 km² • Water 158,654 km² (14. ...

Fifth Business was selected fortieth on the American Modern Library's "reader's list" of the 100 best novels of the 20th century. The Modern Library, a current division of Random House publishers, was founded in 1917 by Albert Boni and Horace Liveright. ...

External link

• Fifth Business publication history at the Internet Book List

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Fifth Business

The Internet Book List (IBList) is an online database with information about books, authors, short stories, etc. ... Image File history File links i would like to see some quotations by or about goebbels. ... Wikiquote logo Wikiquote is a sister project of Wikipedia, using the same MediaWiki software. ...