The following passage reveals Robertson Davies's great love of the theater, and it shows that these collected pieces, numbering 33, transcend mere criticism: "For as long as I can remember, playgoing has stood first among all pleasures with me, and although to most people it is simply a pastime, I think that I have brought qualities to it which raised it above that.... I sincerely believe that I have been a good playgoer, and that is something better, perhaps, than having been a well-known critic."

One's admiration for this literary master doubles when remembering that drama was Davies's academic field, and it constituted one of his three successful careers (he acted with the Old Vic in England). By 1962, Davies had begun to craft his playgoing notes into the Theatre Diary--snippets of which appear in this posthumously published collection. Each of these 33 pieces, introduced by the author and followed by a diary entry or two, demonstrates Davies's enormous and diverse erudition. Included are speeches, prologues to plays, articles about the theatre and opera, a discussion of folksong, a children's opera, a story set to music, and a preliminary sketch of a film script. Several personal essays shed light on his own ambitions as a playwright.

Many of these pieces were lectures, and they enjoy the immediacy and cadence of the spoken word. A spacious tone ensues; that is, complex ideas are delivered clearly, because they are intended for a listening audience. Surprisingly, this enhances the pleasure of reading them. Happy Alchemy may not appeal to the reader whose interest in theater and opera is only occasional but certainly will to any ardent Robertson Davies fan who delights in the turnings of a learned and sophisticated mind. --Hollis Giammatteo


From Publishers Weekly
Last year, Davies's widow, Brenda, and their daughter, Jennifer Surridge, worked to compile The Merry Heart, a collection of Davies's speeches and writings on reading, writing and books. Davies had consented to the plans for that book in the last months of his life. This, however, seems to be purely a production of his estate and is, truth to tell, uneven. There are some wonderful pieces: His speech on "The Noble Greeks" wanders convincingly from Greek religion and culture to Jim Jones and David Koresh to troubles with translation; while "Lewis Carroll in the Theatre" is a fine work on Carroll generally, but one that puts him into the context of 19th-century theater. But for someone who was an actor and playwright married to a former stage manager, many of the theatrical pieces are slight?introductions to his plays; an encomium on the event of Stratford's 40th; a perfectly nice, but not notable book review of Michael Holroyd's third volume on Shaw. Two well-executed pastiches stand in distinction to Davis's libretto for an "Operetta for Young People" ("O love, you hang on Fillpail's horns/And swell her splendid udder!/Triumph, O Fillpail, win today,/The alternative makes me shudder!"). Midway, a piece in defense of the emotional immediacy of melodrama leads neatly into several very good works: on how weak or badly bowdlerized literature gives way to great opera; on the operatic juxtaposition of tragedy and comedy; and on the possible uses (exploited and un-) of Celtic folklore in opera. In these pieces Davies warms to themes of myth and archetype and wonder. In these pieces one hears the voice of the old mage. Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
Prolific and popular Canadian novelist Davies (The Cunning Man, LJ 10/1/94) was also a playwright and a devoted student of the theater. Following his death in 1995, his wife and daughter collected 26 short pieces, mostly on literary themes, in The Merry Heart (LJ 6/15/97); now they have brought together 33 more speeches, lectures, and essays dealing with the performing arts. Several deal with opera, a special love of his, but there are also republished introductions to his own plays, appreciations of Laurence Olivier and set designer Tanya Moiseiwitsch, and even the unpublished libretto of an "operetta for young people." One of the most delightful aspects of this book is the inclusion of quotations from Davies's 40 years of theater notebooks in the introductions to each piece. In his heart, Davies was too generous to be a critic, and these works totally lack in polemic or aesthetic agenda?aside from delight in a good production of a well-told tale. The result will not advance anyone's serious study of the drama, but it will entertain, and occasionally inform, anyone who enjoys an evening in the theater. For most collections.?Eric Bryant, "Library Journal"Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.


The New York Times Book Review, Diane Cole
[These] essays, speeches, parodies and playlets display ... wit, charm and insight....


The New York Times, Peter Marks
The book in thoroughly entertaining fashion acquaints us with Davies' expansive erudition and gift for rendering literary and historical complexities in simple, human terms.


From Booklist
Davies wrote 15 works of fiction, 7 plays, and 10 books of criticism. The fiction made him world famous, but his great love was always for the theater. Early in his career, he worked for the Shakespearean director Tyrone Guthrie, and he maintained a lifelong connection with the Stratford Festival in Ontario, delivering occasional lectures on theater in its Celebrated Writers series. He contributed essays on theater to various literary and theatrical publications, and he penned Shavian introductions to the printed editions to his own plays. This nice, fat, immensely readable anthology gathers Davies' previously unpublished writings on and about theater and a few that address his related interest in music. They include the full texts of several Stratford lectures, those introductions to his plays, and even a short, satirical film scenario written in the '90s but never produced. Sprinkled throughout are excerpts from the journal Davies kept specifically to record his opinions about theater. Davies' mischievous, erudite wit shines through every line of this exceptional collection. Jack Helbig


From Kirkus Reviews
On the evidence of his immense legacy in print, the late novelist Davies was a man of profound artistic appetite; this, the second posthumous collection of his criticism, shares the exuberant and casual erudition of the first (The Merry Heart, 1997). The material here, most of it previously unpublished, was culled by the author's wife and daughter from his vast archive of speeches, interviews, articles, and errata, including excerpts from the copious diaries he kept throughout his life. Though the majority of pieces deal with the theater, Davies, like George Bernard Shaw, with whom he enjoyed much fruitful contact over the years, cultivated a dynamic relationship to music, and the ruminations on offer here attest to the depth of his engagement. Of Verdi's Rigoletto and distaste for fine verse that would distract from his music, he provocatively notes that ``the inferiority of what he made his librettists produce from the bleeding ruins of Macbeth and Othello is proof of his musical genius, but certainly not of his literary taste,'' praising the crudity of its melodrama as essential to the composer's intent. Elsewhere we encounter subtle observations on the psychology of folk music, the performance style of renowned pianist Benno Moiseiwitsch, for whose daughter the author held a deep affection, even a musical ghost story that Davies wrote for the Young People's Theatre in Toronto. His remarkably droll humor is on display here, most notably in a letter, from fictional ``necromantic suppliers'' friars Bacon and Bungay, to Tanya Moiseiwitsch, director of the Stratford Festival Theatre in Davies's native Canada, offering to sell the eclectic ingredients necessary to perform the famous witches' scene in Macbeth, part of which was omitted during the festival's 1962 production of that play. Lovingly collected, these scatterings of Davies's singular talent are typically abundant and a welcome addition to a corpus like no other in contemporary literature. -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.


Book Description
A posthumous treasury of brilliant essays that shines with Davies's unmistakable wit, erudition, and magic.

One of Canada's--and the world's--most beloved authors, Robertson Davies was also a devoted fan of opera and the theater. In this follow-up to his first posthumous collection, A Merry Heart, Davies ruminates on these lifelong passions, offering a diverse sampling of personal reflections on everything from the ancient Greeks to Lewis Carroll, Scottish folklore to Laurence Olivier, the sins of Verdi to the virtues of melodrama. The combined effect of these thirty-three essays, lectures, plays, and librettos-- edited by his widow and daughter--is true alchemy, as "readers . . . come away with a renewed appreciation of the ease with which Davies routinely transformed his sometimes erudite passions into delightful entertainments" (The New York Times Book Review).

The book in thoroughly entertaining fashion acquaints us with Davies' expansive erudition and gift for rendering literary and historical complexities in simple, human terms." --The New York Times

"Lovingly collected. . . . A welcome addition to a corpus like no other in contemporary literature." --Kirkus Reviews

FROM THE PUBLISHER

A posthumous treasury of brilliant essays that shines with Davies's unmistakable wit, erudition, and magic.

One of Canada's--and the world's--most beloved authors, Robertson Davies was also a devoted fan of opera and the theater. In this follow-up to his first posthumous collection, A Merry Heart, Davies ruminates on these lifelong passions, offering a diverse sampling of personal reflections on everything from the ancient Greeks to Lewis Carroll, Scottish folklore to Laurence Olivier, the sins of Verdi to the virtues of melodrama. The combined effect of these thirty-three essays, lectures, plays, and librettos-- edited by his widow and daughter--is true alchemy, as "readers . . . come away with a renewed appreciation of the ease with which Davies routinely transformed his sometimes erudite passions into delightful entertainments" (The New York Times Book Review).

The book in thoroughly entertaining fashion acquaints us with Davies' expansive erudition and gift for rendering literary and historical complexities in simple, human terms." --The New York Times

"Lovingly collected. . . . A welcome addition to a corpus like no other in contemporary literature." --Kirkus Reviews

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Last year, Davies's widow, Brenda, and their daughter, Jennifer Surridge, worked to compile The Merry Heart, a collection of Davies's speeches and writings on reading, writing and books. Davies had consented to the plans for that book in the last months of his life. This, however, seems to be purely a production of his estate and is, truth to tell, uneven. There are some wonderful pieces: His speech on "The Noble Greeks" wanders convincingly from Greek religion and culture to Jim Jones and David Koresh to troubles with translation; while "Lewis Carroll in the Theatre" is a fine work on Carroll generally, but one that puts him into the context of 19th-century theater. But for someone who was an actor and playwright married to a former stage manager, many of the theatrical pieces are slight--introductions to his plays; an encomium on the event of Stratford's 40th; a perfectly nice, but not notable book review of Michael Holroyd's third volume on Shaw. Two well-executed pastiches stand in distinction to Davis's libretto for an "Operetta for Young People" ("O love, you hang on Fillpail's horns/And swell her splendid udder!/Triumph, O Fillpail, win today,/The alternative makes me shudder!"). Midway, a piece in defense of the emotional immediacy of melodrama leads neatly into several very good works: on how weak or badly bowdlerized literature gives way to great opera; on the operatic juxtaposition of tragedy and comedy; and on the possible uses (exploited and un-) of Celtic folklore in opera. In these pieces Davies warms to themes of myth and archetype and wonder. In these pieces one hears the voice of the old mage. (July)

Library Journal

Prolific and popular Canadian novelist Davies (The Cunning Man, LJ 10/1/94) was also a playwright and a devoted student of the theater. Following his death in 1995, his wife and daughter collected 26 short pieces, mostly on literary themes, in The Merry Heart (LJ 6/15/97); now they have brought together 33 more speeches, lectures, and essays dealing with the performing arts. Several deal with opera, a special love of his, but there are also republished introductions to his own plays, appreciations of Laurence Olivier and set designer Tanya Moiseiwitsch, and even the unpublished libretto of an "operetta for young people." One of the most delightful aspects of this book is the inclusion of quotations from Davies's 40 years of theater notebooks in the introductions to each piece. In his heart, Davies was too generous to be a critic, and these works totally lack in polemic or aesthetic agenda--aside from delight in a good production of a well-told tale. The result will not advance anyone's serious study of the drama, but it will entertain, and occasionally inform, anyone who enjoys an evening in the theater. For most collections.--Eric Bryant, "Library Journal"

Diane Cole

...even the slightest of these highly diverse essays, speeches, parodies and playlets display such wit, charm and insight that readers will come away with renewed appreciation of the ease with which Davies routinely transformed his sometimes erudite passions into delightful entertainments. -- The New York Times Book Review

Peter Marks

. . .the book in thoroughly entertaining fashion acquaints us with Davies's expansive erudition and gift for rendering literary and historical complexities in simple, human terms. . . .The longing of a sensitive, reflective spirit for a more soulful age is detectable again and again in these essays. . .Canada's own literary reputation got an immeasurable boost with the addition of Davies to the library. -- The New York Times

Kirkus Reviews

On the evidence of his immense legacy in print, the late novelist Davies was a man of profound artistic appetite; this, the second posthumous collection of his criticism, shares the exuberant and casual erudition of the first (The Merry Heart, 1997). The material here, most of it previously unpublished, was culled by the author's wife and daughter from his vast archive of speeches, interviews, articles, and errata, including excerpts from the copious diaries he kept throughout his life. Though the majority of pieces deal with the theater, Davies, like George Bernard Shaw, with whom he enjoyed much fruitful contact over the years, cultivated a dynamic relationship to music, and the ruminations on offer here attest to the depth of his engagement. Of Verdi's 'Rigoletto' and distaste for fine verse that would distract from his music, he provocatively notes that "the inferiority of what he made his librettists produce from the bleeding ruins of 'Macbeth' and 'Othello' is proof of his musical genius, but certainly not of his literary taste," praising the crudity of its melodrama as essential to the composer's intent. Elsewhere we encounter subtle observations on the psychology of folk music, the performance style of renowned pianist Benno Moiseiwitsch, for whose daughter the author held a deep affection, even a musical ghost story that Davies wrote for the Young People's Theatre in Toronto. His remarkably droll humor is on display here, most notably in a letter, from fictional 'necromantic suppliers' friars Bacon and Bungay, to Tanya Moiseiwitsch, director of the Stratford Festival Theatre in Davies's native Canada, offering to sell the eclectic ingredients necessary to perform thefamous witches' scene in 'Macbeth,' part of which was omitted during the festival's 1962 production of that play. Lovingly collected, these scatterings of Davies's singular talent are typically abundant and a welcome addition to a corpus like no other in contemporary literature.