A cunning novel

Robertson Davies is an author who has never, in spite of high praise and great popularity, really got the attention he deserves.  I think his novels vary a bit in quality, but the Deptford trilogy (Fifth Business, The Manticore, World of Wonders) or the Salterton trilogy (Tempest Tost, Leaven of Malice and A Mixture of Frailties) are extremely fine – and each novel can, incidentally, easily be read on its own.  So I was pleased to discover a Robertson Davies new to me recently, The Cunning Man, and I read it with great enjoyment. Apparently, its the second of an uncompleted trilogy - the first was Murther and Walking Spirits - but I read it as a stand alone work.

Like many of his novels, it is set largely in Canada (mostly Toronto, though there is an early passage in Sioux Lookout, a remote settlement a long way from metropolitan pleasures), with a short passage, during the Second World War, in Europe.   The central character is a doctor, Jonathan Hullah, and its themes are the getting of wisdom, and the need for a holistic, humane approach to everything we are and do.  Hullah trains as a doctor, but he takes an interest in Indian magic and healing, and he has read Freud with wise and humane scepticism.  He gives up career medicine in a big hospital, prompted by his experiences of healing men with shell shock and extreme nervous disorders, and sets up on his own with a rather fierce Swedish nurse in a converted stable behind a big house in which live two English women, lovers, vaguely talented, and a wonderfully outspoken foil (sometimes through the medium of quite superb letters from one of them) for Hullah’s low-key, cautious approach to everything except his work.

His diagnostic technique is to listen to his patients, an experience some of them have never had; he smells them, and looks at them, and talks to them, and cares about them (though that does not stop him being, sometimes, bored by them!); he gives them massage, and medicine, and time.  And he becomes wise in their eyes – though how wise, they would not want to know, for he sees further into their souls than they would find comfortable.  But he fails in love; and he sees a murder committed and does not realise.  Here is the story, and it is magical, compelling, wise and human: read it and be blessed, briefly, with an understanding and tolerance for your fellow man.

Comments

[Cornflower]

Finished Fifth Business last night - it is extremely fine.

[GeraniumCat]

Although I think the Salterton Trilogy is wonderful, and I did like A Cunning Man very much, I think my favourite is the Cornish trilogy. I have promised myself a re-read this year. I think I found Murther and Walking Spirits somewhat flat, it doesn't stand out in my memory the way some of the others do.

[Natalie T.]

Thank you for that strong review. I have not read this incomplete trilogy but it's going on the TBR list. Your reviews are always compelling and wonderfully written. You make me want to leap up and follow your reading.

[Cornflower]

On the strength of your post, Lindsay, I've just ordered a copy. See what influence you have!