Bodhi 心 Paine reviewed The Rebel Angels by Robertson Davies
"Universities produce fine critics, but not artists"
2 stars
I was enjoying this initially, but could not finish it. I tried to treat it as an "ideas novel", but the ideas I valued were scarce. Although I found some of it funny, it mostly reads like an inside joke. I wanted to like this book partly because I like the quizzical-wizard look of the author photograph. I really should start reading reviews before I invest in a book, because when I started to realise the plot was in service to the author's ideas, I found this quickly confirmed by others who had read it.
The characters meet up for various reasons ~ ostensibly to clean up Cornish's estate or to have dinner, but really they are meeting up so Davies can push ideological parody through their dialogue. When I got to the Guest Night montage and everyone was pattering away their erudite banter, this banter included the assertion that …
I was enjoying this initially, but could not finish it. I tried to treat it as an "ideas novel", but the ideas I valued were scarce. Although I found some of it funny, it mostly reads like an inside joke. I wanted to like this book partly because I like the quizzical-wizard look of the author photograph. I really should start reading reviews before I invest in a book, because when I started to realise the plot was in service to the author's ideas, I found this quickly confirmed by others who had read it.
The characters meet up for various reasons ~ ostensibly to clean up Cornish's estate or to have dinner, but really they are meeting up so Davies can push ideological parody through their dialogue. When I got to the Guest Night montage and everyone was pattering away their erudite banter, this banter included the assertion that universities might produce fine critics, but not artists.
Considering Davies (ostensibly a literary artist, but foremost a critic?) made this assertion in his own novel, and I was already doubting the artfulness of the text, I decided not to continue ~ too many other books to read that are actually artful. I am moving on to The Book of Form and Emptiness.