Word: novelized
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...going to happen each step of the way in Natty Gann. We know Walt Disney too well to think that we will leave the movie in tears. Unlike the New England Patriots who constantly surprise intelligent people with their victories, this film reads like a supermarket counter pulp novel...
Unfortunately his latest novel, What's Bred in the Bone, is a poorly cast spell. It is a sequel to Rebel Angels, but not one which requires that you read the first book. As usual Davies begins with a brilliant premise, intriguing characters and a philosophical question that is compelling. What was the spirit which motivated Francis Cornish, the eccentric but brilliant Canadian art critic and collector, to lead a life divorced from this hollow world? But as Davies weaves his spell one gets the feeling that he suddenly realizes that he has bitten off a bit more than...
...other aspect of Davies' novel falls flat. In The Rebel Angels Davies populates the novel with the unseen but mysterious forces of medieval angels. But in What's Bred in the Bone Davies brings them to life. The Daimon Maimas and the Recording Angel narrate the novel. This little conceit provides the structural premise of the book, and it wilts fast...
...nephew of course, only to the reader) to tell the tale. Why does Davies do this? Well, it's kind of clever and amusing at first. And the use of these two characters could be forgiven if they weren't used in such an amateurish way. Throughout the novel they interrupt every once in a while to explain the most recent occurrence in the life of Francis Cornish. "If you wish to talk of Chance', said the Daimon Maimas. 'But you and I know how deceptive the concept of Chance--the wholly random, inexplicable happening--is as a final explanation...
This is really too amateurish. These two creatures engage in rather uninspiring debates on chance and pity and forgery. It's rather a let down, for, if anything, Davies is a master in creating these philosophical debates. Davies is a rennaisance man whose erudition usually shines through his novels in an enchanting rather than imposing way. So it's a shame to see this talent wane in this novel. For in his other novels the magic of the devils and angels lives in the characters who understand and discuss their own magic. In separating the daimon and angel from Cornish...