Word: darcourt
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...strict narrative plausibility, and it is a minor one at that. Hoffmann cannot intercede in the proceedings; he is just another spectator along with the readers. Davies does not need spooks or disembodied souls to demonstrate that even the most mundane, realistic events can be steeped in magic. Simon Darcourt, an Anglican clergyman, a professor of Greek and the secretary of the Cornish Foundation, believes "that everybody had a personal myth," that people's lives unfold in accordance with invisible but implacable patterns. Despite his extensive education, Darcourt sees limitations in a logic used as "a means of straining...
...Hence, Darcourt suspects early on that reviving the Arthurian opera may have unforeseen consequences, particularly for Arthur Cornish and his wife Maria, who is also on the foundation's board. Might these two well-meaning, influential and exemplary people be fated to suffer Maria's adultery with Arthur's best friend, a Lancelot in modern dress? No sooner is this suspicion raised than it begins to seem inevitable. Davies does not try to generate much suspense on this score; his interest lies in how the principals will react once the predestined has occurred and what they will learn from...
...opera is not the only unfinished business in The Lyre of Orpheus. Darcourt is struggling to complete his biography of his friend Francis Cornish and trying to fill a mysterious gap in his subject's life between 1937 and 1945; readers who remember What's Bred in the Bone already know the bizarre information Darcourt will discover, including the existence of a 16th century triptych with unmistakable ties to the 20th. And a potential blackmailer turns up, hoping to hold several characters responsible for deeds that occurred way back in The Rebel Angels...
...with other, complementary elements" is a central theme of the novel. It forms the basis for a plea for the introduction of intellectual vitality into religious life, and in a broader sense, becomes a justification for the Humanities--a concern which many modern universities find themselves forced to address. Darcourt becomes a spokesman for these issues when he elaborates upon his refusal to add to Parlabane's "fund." Parlabane challenges...
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