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Title: The Lyre of Orpheus by Robertson Davies ISBN: 0-14-011433-5 Publisher: Viking Press Pub. Date: January, 1990 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.3 (10 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Characters are the Treasure Here
Comment: The Lyre of Orpheus is the concluding novel in Robertson Davies's Cornish Trilogy, and it stands as a strong work within the context of that collection. Like The Rebel Angels (the first book), The Lyre of Orpheus is very much dependent upon the two other books and does not do well as a stand-alone.
In many ways, The Lyre of Orpheus was surprising to this reader. Its plot revolves around an Arthurian quest (loosely) to put on a production of a long-dead composer whose opera had fallen short of completion at the time of his death in the early 19th century. The task was to write an opera that was sufficiently of his spirit, so as to be called his, and then produce it according to the conventions of the theatre of the day. Honestly, I would be hard-pressed to think of a plot that would be less likely to rouse my interest, personally (my apologies to all those truly devoted to early 19th century opera!). Having invested myself in the first two books of the trilogy, however, I resigned myself to the task of reading this last installment (lest I have to chastise myself in future years for having gone so far and then turned back). The 'round table' of this tale was, for me, the most tedious of experiences (except when a drunken, rude Scandinavian music scholar provided me with some humour to console my page-turning drudgery). Indeed, the book often wanders with Davies's own apparent unclear quest to find his way from one cover to the next. BUT - all of that said, I found myself falling in love with this book, the more I read of it.
Robertson Davies has (though he is gone, he is not really) a delightful gift of making us find joy in the chatter and company of our own lives. This book, perhaps more than many of his creation, takes us through a luxurious indulgence in the meanderings of days strung together whose meaning can only be guessed, or retroactively assigned. The 'round table,' though often a great annoyance to this reader, began to feel as beloved (and despised) as the Thanksgiving table filled with family and friends. The treasure of this book is to be found in the characters, not in the plot (which is a mere backdrop - and excuse for the story - just as the libretto is an excuse for the opera's music (according to Davies)).
I give high marks to this book. I expected not to like it; but I did. Very much so, in fact. I commend it to your reading.
Rating: 1
Summary: Unless your an Welsh Opera fanatic
Comment: After reading "The Rebel Angels" and "What's Bred in the Bone", two five star novels, I expected to thoroughly enjoy the last segment of the trilogy. Well, the only reason I made it through the novel was that I wanted to say that I read the entire trilogy. The book completely changes in tone from the first two. Professors I respected in the first books are buffoons in this one. There are an untold number of quotations from opera librettos, medieval poems, etc. that were not relevant to me at all. One of the characters is incapable of appearing without making multiple references to Wales, Welsh literature and history. This would not have been a problem except that this is one of the main characters. The whole gypsy theme, which was so fascinating in the rebel angels gets overwhelmed by the Welshness.
In sum, it turned its back on wonderful characters, made obscure references to poems I never read, focused too much on opera and changed in tone from the first two books in a rather dissappointing way. Alas.
Rating: 3
Summary: Fun, But The Weakest of the Trilogy
Comment: The Lyre of Orpheus continues the story of the characters introduced in The Rebel Angels -- Maria and Arthur Cornish, Simon Darcourt, Clement Hollier, etc. I read the Cornish Trilogy straight through, and while I very much enjoyed it, I thought Davies ran out of gas somewhere in the Lyre of Orpheus. What I liked so much about the first two books was Davies' delving into the personalities of the characters; What's Bred in the Bone deals more with Francis Cornish, but goes very deeply into the forces that shaped his life. Davies has great insight into human nature. In The Lyre of Orpheus, the characters' motivations are not well explored. For example, we learn that a character's wife has an affair that results in pregnancy, and that the man, with apparently little ado, not only forgives his wife and treats her with undiminished devotion, but also continues to regard her lover as the dear friend he had been. Well, that's great, but uncommon, and Davies makes no attempt to explain this astounding level of generosity other than to analogize it to the Arthurian legend (but that was a legend). Similarly, we learn that Simon Darcourt has taken something of a new path in his life, but for motivation we are told little more than that, after taking a walk in woods, he has decided to view his life differently. Instead of helping us to relate to these characters, Davies spends a great deal of time educating us about how to produce an opera, evidently a great love of his. Opera fans will find this great fun, but it doesn't make for a great story. Finally, the analogizing to Arthurian legend of the characters' lives that permeates the entire work as a leitmotif becomes increasingly heavyhanded as time wears on, almost to the point of self-parody. In short, it's an entertaining read, but not up to the level of the first two parts of the trilogy.
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Title: The Rebel Angels by Robertson Davies ISBN: 0140062718 Publisher: Viking Press Pub. Date: January, 1983 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: What's Bred in the Bone by Robertson Davies ISBN: 0140097112 Publisher: Viking Press Pub. Date: May, 1987 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: The Deptford Trilogy: Fifth Business/the Manticore/World of Wonders by Robertson Davies ISBN: 0140147551 Publisher: Viking Press Pub. Date: October, 1990 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Gilgamesh: A Novel by Joan London ISBN: 0802117414 Publisher: Grove Press Pub. Date: April, 2003 List Price(USD): $23.00 |
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Title: The Once and Future King by T. H. White ISBN: 0441627404 Publisher: Ace Books Pub. Date: July, 1987 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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