0 ~.L~re:-ta Fa~th ·Bali~Ch "B.A.:

SPIRITUALBLIGHT:

RELIGION IN THE:WRITING~OFROBERTSONDAVI ES THE EArh.yPERIOD: 1940-1960

by '•

..

0 ~.L~re:-ta Fa~th ·Bali~Ch "B.A.:

^B.Ed.

" . .

^'

AThe s i s submitted inp~rt"ialfulfillment of the requi reme nt !'!forth e degree of

Maste rof Arts

Departmentof EnglishL~ n gua geand Li t e r a t u r e Memo r i a l Universit y.o f Newfoundland

September 19 8 41,

St. John's

I

Ne wf o u nd l a nd

--.

Permission'M s .cee n granted' to the'Nati onal Library of Ca n a da to microfilm .t h Le the sis and to le nd or.sel,!

,..copLe eof the film. ("

The:a\l.thC?r·(copydghto....c.er) has

re

s e rve e o t h e r cu cite e e rc» ri gh ts, and neither the thesis nor extensi ve extracts from i t may be prin ted or ot he rwis e reproduced witho ut h"is/he r wri t t en ·p er mis s ion.

L'aut ori,a tion aQte.ecc ore s e A Ie Bibllo thiJ que--nation al e du Can a da' d\' microfi lmer' cette thhe et de .pc@ter au de,vend redes exemp La-i r e a.du

.film. - .

L'auteur (t.i tulaire dti droit d'auteur) se r~serve re s autres crc t re de publ ication ; nl.loa thAs e nl oe lo ng s extraits c e ce l l e-ci ne do i v ent.~tr e' lmp ri mQs ou autr emen t re'l?rodu i ts sa ns son au tor'TaetIon acetee, '

.'

ISBN 1il-J15-31U5_7

9 . ^{. ,}

/ .

. ..

ABSTRACT

Followi n gthe pub lication of-the Deptford Tr i logy in

~ the19 7 0 ' s RobertsonDavies'conc e rn overth enature'o f relig ~ondr e wmuchcritica l at tentio n, as-didhisuseof' vari~us'^{aspects of;t}he PsyCho!ogyof'C.G.iJ'ung ._The r e ha s not,ho we ve r " beenmuc1locritical at.t.e rrt.Ion givento the': protrlem of,r~lg iot'!.·in~is'ea rlier ~.:dtings. ~ It i~the' co nte nt i on of thisthes isthat thep~ob~emof re l ig.lo n is no lessIs i g n ific a n t·toDavies ' writ i ng s.in't"heea r ly:period- - .from194 0.to19 60;--"t~an ^{i t.ha s} b~en .aCk.n~wl~.>dged ^to.be")in

hislaterone~..More over, th is.,?~nc e rnwith religionin .th e ea r lywritings rs-not .as'hasbeen accejaced , conf i ned

primarilyto

.r-

social aspectso~__r~~~~ ion~. . From his earl iest writing s, Davi eshas shown hiscon-

. I .

cern ov e r ~ewayin~hichma n' scon c epts of ~~~J.g ionha ve

. .0' ,

af fec t ed hi s'outlookon his ownhumannature as wellashow theseconcep~saf fected the et h i caland mor a lcon s idera tions onwhich h.i:s socie~yw~s baaed .' Da~ies 'conc~rnabout til; proble m of-r'e ligion hasthu~be e ntwo-fo ld . First, he has

b~en conc~rned

^{wi ththe}

d e~rirn~~~a;

effe cts of tho se

f~

of rel ig i onwh"ich ap pe ar tp cu t man off from anunder s"t;.an !l- ing of hisO~~ "'"f\!I"ture~- f romhis'phy s ica l , omot!ona land

'il

\.1' • •

l _~ ^\ . <.. .

and mU~da~litY.eroded man^Iscon ce pt of the t;r a n s c e nd e n- tal to suc han extentthat for many religion has ceased to

: . .

^",

.. .

be'a mt:ani ng fu l ex perienc e . Davies ' seco nd conc~r nhasbe en

wit h

~~e' ~~fficulty o~

^'recon c i ling any

beli~~

^inthe

nec;:~s-

!Jity ofthe.tran s~~ndenta lwi t h the-prevailingratio~a listic,, -_:

.' empir icfs t outlook'which.eec clea theval ues"of the spirit•

.In'

·pur~uing . i:hes~

^two

~'onc~~ns" bav~'e81 app~oach ~o

-;...

religion hasbe~n'O~_l~qU~r.~therthan_·str.aightforw~rd. He has tende d to viewreligious'questionsf~ma'psychologica l rathe r tha n atradtion a'lly

.~~eo·l~gical

^pointc¢

vie"~.

^His>-'

firstconcernth~s.^led ~im to ~xP;lore-the^{'theC:ri e s}O~he dept hpsycho log istseucn.a s FreudandJungin hi·s~ffortto

~ di.s coverthe.iden tity of the humanbeing",notmerely in

~_._-;-=-...!'''''~~'''-and~.n?aneterm.but·i n term. ofthe nee ds

oJ;

the .

"'I . .

humanspir:t. Hissecond conce r nled''!.~mJ_~~p~gh J:1~~._ _~._ _ eccepeence6f cer tainpsychologi'ca l theo r iesof the nature of man, to a confrontation.,

.

wi.thacceptedconcep tsof good and evil, ~ndul t i mate ly to

the

Il.at ur'l!'Of're lig1.0nitself.

Ashis la t e r writings embo'dyth i s conf ron t ati,on "with thena t;ur e ofrel igi~n^{..and u}ltimate ly,of God.. thet"h e me o f religion'in his writing isobvi ous . Howeve r, Davi e s'• -exPlora't10nof relig i o n in th e s e wo rks re s ts,on the,pri?r "

aet e rml na tio n

,of

the value and necessityofthe tra ns cenden - tal.ec the spirit ual'healthofman; andthis task ha s been compl eted in'h~ 8writings prio rto'19 60~

.~. (

iii

"

_ \

.'

.. .

~

"

" .

.AC~NOWLEDGEME NT $

.,I WOU~d li keto.eaxe th i s\ oppor tl\~ity to acknowledge

withgra titude tl1eh~lpand advice'pr~~tly'and~eadilY given Lnthe pr.eparationof-,thisms:riUscri pt by mythe s i s

~upe~h~'.

^{_prOfessO.t:Ro'na ld;qaU'ace}

~~f

^\."Heo:o",' U.niv;.rSity

of Newfo u nd la n d . . .:\ . _

" ..I',would'als oli k eto thankMrs. ElizabethCarewf~r '.

h~r

^work

."i~ p~epa~~ng

^{the f irst t}YPed';dr af t

~~?m 71

^{was '}

near indecipherablehan[l ",riting . and.Mrs.Dal as,S t r a nge for

h~r

^{prompt and pat ie.nt}

transpositio~

^{of,m tilated}

d~aft

pages.:.l nto the for min whic h the thesisnow appears .

"--- ~a.lly·, I w.?..1.:!-~__~iketo acknowledge ~he·s uppor t.

o f my

faJ!1ilyand friends for their patience "for thedu~ation~"

iv

r:

,TABLE OF CONTENTS

,Abstr,act

Ack nowledqe 1!'ents , . • ; _:~_:t~\bie o~Abbrev iations"~. '

INTRODUCTI ON-• ", •.•

.~ .~

^'.

\"

".

,

CHAPTER ONE CHAPTER'TWO

~HAPTERTHREE CHAPTER FOUR CHAPTERFIVE CONCLUSION BIBL':IOGRAPHY

TJME ,jESOHTRANSEUrlTUM SPIRITUAL~NULLITY^{• • •} THE POOR IN SPIRIT • • THE SLUMSOF1'HESPIRIT. THE SPIRITUAL.HIRE~HANOS_ IMA~ODEI

Page it'"

0-

tv

.v,i

21 58 94 132 or 171 22.

246

'---,

r

j . , I

TABLE OF" ABBREVIAT IONS

AllpUb l icat~oninformatio nfo r.the.works of Robertson Da v i e s wi l lbe givenat first mention. Al l-subsequen t references forapa r ti cu l artextwill foll~wtheabbrevia- tions establtsh'ed inthe in i t;i a l footnote, and will be incorporated in"parentheses

'in

th~te xt. In discussingthe

in'divi~ual

wor k s. Rage

\ refer~nces r

'r e f e r to

- .

'the edition

giVe~

^..

Examp le: R. Davies, The Diaryof SamueVMarchbanks - '(Toranto:Clarke~ Ir wl.n,.194 7) , p,4. All su bseq ue nt ref e ren ce s to this.te x t,wil l be abbreviatedDSM and incorporated in pare n - theses inth e tex t.

References to the indivi dualplayswill foLfc w the same

•

format;astha testablished fo r the longer works. The initial referencetoea c h p11lywill -give full pUblicationinfo rma - tion. Subseq uent .r e fe re nc e s,to a particular pla ywil l fo1;ow theabbr~viationeeuaajLehed!inthe'initi al footno te, and willbe incorpora t ed in pa re~~esesin the,tex t. Example: R. nawtes, Eros at Breakfastin Four'Favour i te

~119 49 :rpt.foro n tolClarke , Irwin, 19_681 , p. S. Allsubs equ nt references to th isplay will follow the ab reviationEBand willbe . incorporated inpa entheses in thetext.

The fir-strefere nce to.

~he

^works'of Sigmund Freud wi ll. give the fullpublicationinformatio nfor hisworks"'8 ill us- tratedbelow:

Sigmund Freu d , The"

The Standa r d Edt 10ie41Works of 5

cd.'J a me s Str4 chey w eud et'<I1 . .(LondonI Hogarth press an d the In 8 t~

of Psychoanalysis ) .

vi

.. .

Subseque n t references to individ ualworkswilLon fir.st me nti onco n t ai n't he.ti t l e of theLnd dvId ua' Lwork followedby theab bre v i a t i o n SE (Standard Edition),the volumenumber in Roman nume r a l s , and the.pa g e number .

Ex amp le: Fr e u d, Civiliza ti on and 'I tsDiscontents, SEXXXI:89-.

SUbse que ntreferences to the !iame workWillfOlrlOWthe format SE followe dby thevo l umeand.page numbers and:'Wi11 be incor-, poraeed.into the te}(t..I ri parentheses.

Subsequen t ly (~EXXI:90)

Refe re nces to the works of Carl Gustav

..

Jung wi l l follow: a forma t similarto that establis hed forthe.wo r k s of Fr e ud.

q'hefirs t referencetoth e work s''of C.G.Ju ng will give the fu ll pu bli c at i o n forth epubLa h edworks.

Example: C.G. Jung , The Col ected Works of C.G. Jun,

~~;h:~~ ::f~~~t ~~~;.M~~~~:~tF~~~~a~)

^and

·R.F.C. Hull.• Lcndcnt Rout l edgeand }Ce g a n

Paul.

SUbse q uen.t re f e r en c e seo-individual wo rk~ willcontain the ti tl e of the individualwor kfollowedby the titlecr'the vo lu me (if differe nt) ,followedbythe abbreviationCW .(Col lect edWorks ) , thevolumenumb er, theparagr a p h nu mbe r

and the'page numbe r. Subseq uentreferences to th e samewo r k, wi ll be abbre v i a t e d.CWfollowe d by volume numb e rspa r a g r a p h number and page numbe r , andin co r~oratedinparent hesesin the te xt.

Example.1 e.G.Jun g , The Sha dci",in Ai o n :Re s e a rch e s into the_Ph~yof the Self ,ew9U:lSz8.

,Subs e quentl y (e W9il:1619). vii

v.

\

INTRODUCTION 1-

"Th i s thesis wasund e r t a ken as .theres u l t of a lit e r ar y

"RetrQa.ctiveExistence of ~r. JUgg i

1nS',..1aris\ngout of th is,wri ter' s curiosityaboutthe re lat i o n s hi p between \ '"

Robe,r~Elon'Davies' us e'o f Ju ng i a nps yc ho l o g y and his con-

~ ""'- r

cepts ai-·God . It appearedtoth e writer ,-especial lyafter readingWorld of\ionders andT'he Rebel Angel s ,thatwhile

. , . I

Davies had\apparentlybeen'satisfiedwi t h the Jungian paradigm'0 -£''l'~e.~e l fas a su itab,.e.me c ha n ismforexpla in i ng

.~ , ...

the 'wholene~.8· of a humanbeing, he was not prepared to accept ~tas.\;heIma go Dei. 2 Moreover,althoughinth e s e writings, the-truestfor self-knowledgeappearedto be

.

""---- "

extremelyimportant to'thosecha r a c t e r s who did not al ready possess it, it

a'lw~y.s ~~eared

to be Primarily'impor tant in enablingacha r acte r tq gain~perception'of the'transcen- de n t al:-,-t ha t is,

~o

^fo/ mUla t e fo r

himsel~

^{someIma goDel.,}

When had this Imago Deti becomeimpo r t a l)t inthe writing of RobertsonDavies, if,

~~

^{th i s'write r}

beli~ved,

^{it'!'ias the}

end toward whichthe characte rs.Lnvckvedin the quest for Belf~knowledgein I::!oth'the Deptford Trllogy andThe Rebel Angels'were~t r iv i ng ?

lsteph~n'Leac ock,"Th e Re t roactiveExistence of 11r.

Jug gins,~Behi ndthe Be and and Other Contributions toHuma n Knowledge Lon on: JonLane, T e ae ey Ilea ,pp. -6 8 .

2ImagODei-- the fa c e of God.

A survey of the critica l analysesof Rob~~so nDa v i e s ' wr i ti n_g s didno t solvethis probl em. Nothoro ughana l y s i s of Th e Reb e l Ange lsha sas yet appea red . The r e-have been at le a s t two publ ished col lect ions3 of cr i ticism on the Deptfo rdTri logy . 'The secollect~on shaveincl uded ar tic les ana lyzingmos t-aspectsof Davies'.liter a r y_ techniq uesand crea t iveabilities. There 'are ar ticle s on Dav i es' satire , his sentence.structur~,^{hiswr itingstyleand t}he 'struc ture , of his novel s. not to mention his uses of sp,ecific chat - :~

., .,

eceere,'t h"e lawye r . the J:lagittian, the sa~nt . etc. However there is'litt.le emphasis. if any, ont.heproble~of reli-

o •

giorr-asa major theme inDavi e s'wri~in9 ' Whilemost cr iticsacknowled3e the 'r e ~ig iouselement ' in the Dept ford

..

^{. ,} '

Tr ilog y most have not been part.ic uJ.a7"IYcceeern ed with wh~nce itarose, or~hatpurpose itserves in Davi~s '

wri t ing s aacasvhoLe, , .

?

, ~ .~,.

The most de t a il ed studywhieh hasbeen pubj.Lajted of

Da~~s'~r'itingS

^{is Pat r.i cia}

Mon~ts

^{The·Sma lle r}

Infini,~;" .

⁴

Inthi s volume,whip h had it sge ne s i s in Ms. Mo~k'sPh'.D.

3J ou rna l of"Ca nad i an Studies, 12, No. I (1977)._..J..

"Robe:rtson Davi e s:A specl.alIssue" and Robert G. r.avxen c e

"andSamuel It.-Ma c e y,Eds. , St udies inRobe r tso n Da v ie s ' ,Deptfo rd Trilogy. ELSMonograp h)Seri e s 20 , Eng IIsh

LiteraryStudl.~! (Uni ve r s i ty of Victoria , 198 0 ). ,

~ . :''!,pat~'=iaMo nk , The Smalle r Infin ity: ·The Junla p ' -,

Se rf in theNovels of Rober t son Dav Ies,(Toron t o : university ofTo r o nt oPress,.19821. " i

I

I

" ',-

,.'.

I.. dissertation, she set out to ana1yze the.JU!'9ian'ele me I\t.•" • in the writ.ingsof Robertsonoa~ies: Sue prbc.eede.don\the

hypdthesis that. ~

',.

- - -

-r'

' . • '., .' I , ,_

This concentration_{. I} relegated the pr'6blemofreligi o n-to:

a "

\0... • • _ " '.' '"

perj,ph' ral po&)..~ionin Ms.Monk'sanalYs~of'O.av ies·

writr-ngs, Ms'.Monk di? not ~~mineDavies'playsin

anr '

detail but she did·ment i o rl with

refer~nce

^'t<;these .arlier •

t

works

that'Freud'sview ofreligio~as essen-

~:i;~i:~' ~;;~~;o~h~- ~~i~:v~vi~~l~ven

^r

,:then·1{1 9 5 ~ 1 the quriosi"c.y,abo ut the nature of reli:9i:on'whi chhas,steadily , , become moreand moreapp~:t::ent...as

,a

,t heme' "

in hiS: novels,6 ' , - ".

Aqu ic krea~in99£RObertS?" Davi.es ''ear~ier,~ritr~~s , beginning in the1940 'sand inclm;1ing hi,s plays re ve ale d a,'

, , I . , . " ,

s0.rprisi~g'~,~erof refe:ences.t.9..reli~i\on , and t:!Jve~ed tha t most of the characterswhom the critics ha d pronounced central

ch~ract'~rs,

^or

c~a:t"acters

ⁱⁿ

ques~ ofself.kI'iOW~~d9'e:' ~

.had

a~so ~een

^{givenra the r}

extensi';r~li9iou~ baC~grOU~dB":

a p'racticewh ich..

Davi~s

maintaiMd even i.n;he

nOV~I:s~;

^{- \}

theDep:tfo rdTrilogy. Moreover, his p1l!1ys fr~~,~e1940 ' s

5M0J;1k,p , 4.

6 Mo n k,p, 9,

.'

^,

'fl·

c· "

to the 1970'seac;.happeer-ed to containthegerm of an ide a

.'"-I-" a bo,uttherela t i o nsh i pthatexi s t ed be t weenthepreva iling.

.-

,~l

^religious,o ut l ook a the deg r e e ec whicha

~on

^experi-

.enc e d self - k't\owledge,whichwasla t e r i"ncorporated

I

in a moredetai ledfashion l

tB

_lo~gerworks.

~survey.orthecr'i t i c al literatureof thi~earlier periodwas unc;3.e rtaken, but again didn.ot providean swe r s to thepro~emofre lig i on.

. Onthe~who le ,the r e is not a la r ge ~dY^ofcriticism I.e xt .ent_for theseea r lier works. Aside'fr om tHe xev reve

which appeared as Davi~ s ' various writi ngs we r e pUb lished , ..

t~(!,re ~re

^few

st~dies

of his' plays and

o~

^{th e.}

n9~e'ls

^{of the}

Sal te r tonTrilogy. The Salter tonTrilog y halO come to be regardedby such £ontempora ry critics asF.L . Radford .. primarilyas"pr e limi nar yexerc~sesin tiherdeveIopment.of

cert ainthe mes andmotifsthat arebrought to matureexpres- sion inthelate r ' works."7 While there'-issome justifica- ,t;on for thi spodnt;

of

view, i t wouldbe wrong toaasume.

-: that these themes are under developed inthe earlierworks.

As

'''Willbe sho wn, Davieshas approached thi s major theme, , the Rroblemofreligio n , instages,and the Salterton

', I -,'Trilogy.bri ng s . toa clo s e the.f'I rs t stage of hi sappxoach too"thetJ'ro br e m.

:~-~ ^{. '} ..

^'

"7'r~L . Radf~rd, "The Appr en t i ce scrcere rsnavies '

Sa l te.r tonTrilogy ,"'in StudiesinRober tsonDavies' De pt- for d .-Trpo9Y,p. 13.

Hindsig ht is 011.·'lI'I4r"ve llous te a c he r.andhewhono\ol undertake s to"investiqa t e Davie s ' ~pproachto theproblem of relig i onhas the benefi t of bothhi s lat e r novels,in which the concernwith relig i o n is moreobvious"\han .;n the earlie.x:-ones , as \oIel l as several re centl y publis hed.co Ue c- 'ti ons of ~vies'own crit ica iworks: 4Thetwo coll~ct"1ons

of hisbookre vi ews and article seditedby Judith Skelton

. B · . . • •

Gr a nt makereadi~ yavailablematorial tha t had hitherto beenre ached'onlywi t.hmuch effort on

:he

^{partof the}

investigate·r. In 1977, Davieshimselfpublished t.lcorae e-

t:'Dn

Of. ·h~s.s'p·e eche s.9which in turnprovide ins.~ght'in to va rio us't~ainsof thoughthe considere dvaluable enough ~o inc:or por ate in t,ospeeches. This co llec tio n alsoincludes

"TheMask s of Sata n.;'a-s e ries of fourle c ture sDavi e s del i vered as the Larkins.tuart Lecturesat the Un iversi ty of 'rcco ntc.i n 197 6. The s efou r lectu~ e9providethe cri tic;:

w.1th Davies' a"

.

nal ys i s of the^.

^.

problem of evil in literature. Moreov e r , theorigi nalsamuel Marchba nk s' column s and book

8Judit hSkelto~Gr a n t , Ed.,The Enthus iasmso"fRobe r t- sonnavie s (Toro nto': McCle llan d and Stewar t . 1979),p, 320. Thisis a col lec t i o n of Davies' book re"vi ews and articles on awidevari e t y of 8ub ject.s andboo ksfrom 1940 - 197 8 ,and ---..r-r- «,Ed., gober'eaon Davies,The \'loll-Tempe redCr i t i c:

One Man'sVi e w of theThea treandLe t t e r sInCana da (TOro nto : MccleIland andStew a r t,.19 81 ),p. 285. Thisis / acollectio nat Davies' wri tings re la t i ng primari ly to

Canadi andrama and lit erature {l94 0-19 7 9 l.

9Rol;le rt sonDa~le s , One Half ofRo be rt s o n Davios(1977,

rpt.Harmondaworth: Pengu1 n Books, 1978). .

. .

^"""~

.I

^reviewarticles are now available as The Peterborough

~xaminerhas been microfilmed, as has Saturday Nightmaga- zLn e, Aconsideration of the ideas presented in the Marchbanks columnsand.the book reviewselucidates many

t with this in mind,one cannot be overlycriticalof ( ' of the ideas presented in the playsand novels.

thelim! tat

ions

of't hos e studies,o f Davies'.playsan~

-nb¥els whi ch had bee~under takenin the 1960' s andearly 19 7 0 ' s and for which many of thesemateria ls~ as well as the la t e rno ve l s werenotaccessible. The most extensive of thesestudi~~were undertaken by students suchas myself. and exiijtin the formo~unpublished M.A. theses. Ofth e s e theses, a number attempted to analyze the Davies'delinea - l tionof the need fo r self -knOWledge , whileothersweremore concerned with his stature as a comic writer , or a satirist withan anti-Puritanbent. The followingis as~ortre v i e w of the most rerevene of the s e th e s e s.

In196 5, ElspethFisher proposed that Davies "hopes to liberate the,Cana d i i' n imagination frOmsuch forms asPu~i­

tanism, phi listinismandprovinci~~ is~" Once th i s is done, ,,;,,) believes "the individua l is freeto benefitfrom the

~leasin9experiencesthat on lyartcan provide.,,1 0 In her thesis , the religiouselement was only qne of there s t r a i n- ing ~o rcespresentLnDavies' de p i c tio n of aanadi a n

lOEla p e t h Fisher ,"Rober tsonDaviesl Canadian Moral- ist ,"M.A. thesis, University of NewBr un s wi c k, 19 65 , Abstrac t.

:r· ···

socie ty- -not the singl e most powe rful force.

In 19 6 B, SharonMurp hyundertook an examination of the quest for self-identity inDavi e s ' no vels. uer- proposal was that "Davie s' Salterto n Tr i logypresentsthe full exis tent i a l progression fromlackto se lf -knowledge to Eros f.!.su re.^ltU Thi s thesis.also'includ e dan anal ysi s of the pl ay s and A Voic eFromtheAttic. She ten d ed to consider the religiouscontent0'£ Davies' works as illust rativeof the caz-r Le ra that-n e ed e d tobeove r c ome in the,existent ial- ist p-r'l gr e'ssion . The hig he\ t value, according.tothi s the s i s,isto be found in'~hefina l existentia l.is.t.acL which "include'r-espons Lb Ll.Lt.y to fellow

,m~n-'becau

^{ae the [:}

individual has conside red the_worldofth e no.t- s e lfe nd to!

ourselve s ueeeuee anac t onlyhasmerl: if fr~ely"cbcecn inthe li gh t of hon e st self_app ra isa ls; "l2

In 19 69 ,

Te~

^{Wing13 ttr a ced t}h e evol u tiono·f the vaetcus-. re l i g i ou s valuesportrayedlo inDa v i es' novel s tode vel o p men t s inChr isti~nity inthe se ve n t e en t handeightee n th/c ent u rie s inEng l and andNor t h~e r ica. Hisma in emphasis was to

, .

estab lishthe connectionsbetween enesedevelopments and .'

11Sh a r on· Murpny, "sets-meccvervrThe'Search for

.f

.va lue s intheNovelsof Robert s o nD~vie8," M.A. the s i s ,· Carleto nqn,iver sity ,196 8,p. 7.

12Mur ph y , ~. ^19.

IJTe d Wing, "Puri t anEth icand Socia l Rcs po n s c in the Nov els of Si nc lai r Ross, Robertson Davies andlIugh Mac Le n na n , " M.A.. thesis, Univer s i t y of Alberta, 1969.

theextentto whichthe re s ult ing values ha d become.~a S S im i ­ la tedinto th e cul t urein"'the9"uise of~ocialtaboo, small- town mor al i ty,na rrml mi nded ne ssandbigot ry. Thisis a valuableexaminationof.th e orlqin·sof Puritanattitudes,

.

.

but included-ti tt leana lys isofthe~ctsof suchatl:i- tude s on the int.er nalmak e - up of individual"characte rs. Moreo ver,DaviesWas·onlyoneof th;ee.C~nad ian--nriveli sts exami ned inthis th e sis .

:Nei t her the

.t" heS i;"y _ Pi~rre

^{Cl o utier14}

(l 97~)

^nor

.theone byAllan·wa llen b ridgelS

( ~976) co~sidered

^{in'·a ny}

.det~ptherelig i o u s implicatio nsof Davie s' use0,£,artists asredeemer fi9 u{esor of histheory,r;» f hW!1?ur~ Cl~utier confIne d.hisan,A ySis to Tempest-To st

~nd

^{AMi xtur eof}

Frail t i esandwas primar ilyconcer~edwiththe te chn i q ue s Davie s us edto por t r?,y the artis t, rather tha nthe'signifi- can~ciof tlmli e artists in thela rg e r contex t. Wallenbridge attempted to ana lyzeDavie s' proficiencyas aco mi c novel-

"

.i st , bas e d on hi s as s ump tionthat theearlyDavi e_swas"4 caricaturist who mocks th e fo ible s and mannersof Cana dia n socie ty• • • (where~ sthe later.Da vie sof the Deptford

no~e1s)

tur ns inward·to look atour spiri tual selve s."16 14pier reClou tie r, "TheFunction of the Arti st inFive' 'Cana d ia nN~veI8," M.A. thesis ,Uni ver:;sit y ofMo ntre a l, 1971.

15 Alla nwallenbrid ge, "T-heClimate ric of-the Comic Nove li stlAStudy·o f the Novel sof RobertsonDavi e s," M.A.

the sis,uni versityof Wi ndso r , 1976.

16wallenbr_idgo, p, 1.

oncemore, theana l y s i sof relig i o n in the lives ofthe characters was superfic ia l . when itwas present at,al l.

Gail Bowe n' s1976 the s i s provided the first deta iled ana lysisof the Jungianelem entin~avies ' wr iti ngs. In: the Abstrac t to her the sis·she referredto'Davies.aa "an ana ch r o.ni s m,a didac t ic wr i t e r in an'age in'.whLchdidac- ticism is suspec t ."17 This,bhesis atte(llptedto evaluate Davies' d Idac t.LcLara op the.aesump e Ion't ha t "hi s nove l's ar~

in the.b e s t·seneeor the·~ord'how-t o' books and str uctu red. acco r d ingly ."lB she

appr~ached

both the

salte~'trin

and the Deptfor d trilog i e s from thi s base, and~se dse l ec ted Jungianconcepts to il lustr a te'how Davies.usedvarious re d e emer fig:urestole a d other charac te rsto too-goal 0

7

self-k no wle dge as an example.ofwhat the re a de r of the. novel'should rec6gnize and undeztake Ln-hi s ownI.H e.

The plays were not aswellserv~din term s ofcrit i c a l ana lyses

~s

^the novel s , eit he rin.th,evarl.USthe s e s orin pub Lf ah e d a rt.LcLe a, Howeve r . there was one.cc mpr enene..lVC ana l ys i s of uevres as dremac Iat; publishe d yPatricia

Morley in whichshe states, -

As hetold Petersyptlow1.ch 1.0~971 , some ideasdemand tobe treated as <1ramal others,asfi c t1.o n. The vf sLo be hi nd bo t h'isthesJme and tha t vis n18 bas ica lly re lig i o us. nevr es ee s man

17Ga i 1acwen, "The Unexa mined Li f inRober t s o nDavies ' Fi c tion,"M.A. the si s, Universi tyof Iaterloo , 197 6.

1BBowe n.. p,9.

10 as a creat urebothno ble and ridiculous.

I~;~S;d~~l~:o~i.I~ntaineq.,bY^{a tremendOUS.} As~herehad, until this study.,.:be e n little ana Lys.La of the plays, Morley'sanalysis ....as pr.imarilyconcentrated on

#the methods

'~vies

used to p;omu1ga'tehis id e a s, rather than {to examination of theevo~~ionof specifictdeas.

Thisstudy, together withher article , "The C~medyCompany ___o,f"t h e PSYCt'L.e:2 0

inwh i c h she made some.'very~stute^obser- vations on the... Ju ng ianinfluen~s^{vis i ble} in the'Play~f the195 0' s, ha~proven very usefultothi s writer.

William"Sollydid.~otanalyzesatireof religion spec.i,.ficallyin his artic leoncomedyin'Canadiandrama, although he...did sing r&...p,~tnevres as exemplifyingthe

"stern,didactic'tone underlying serious satire and comedy

in·'Cana d a.,,21 M.W. St;inbergIs

analY~is

of Davies: drama

unfortunatelywas more concerned with exami!1ing'Da v i e s ' portraya lsof the'hosti lityofth e Canadi,an environme ntto thearts.22 No

~onsidera tiOn

vas given to why the,countJ;'y

19p at r ic i a Mor ley , RobertsonDavies, Profiles in Ca nadian-Drama, gen.ed. Gerald1. n e C. Anthony- (Gage Educa- tionalPublishingLtd.', 1977).

. 20PatriciaMOrley,'"The Comedy Company of the'Psyche,·

Can adian-Drama, 2, spr ing , 19 ~ 6, pp, 9-19. j

,21Wi ll l a m solly,'''NPth ing Sac red. H.umourinCa na d i a n Drama in English,·.CanadianLi te rature , 11 (l'linter , 19 62 ),

p, 24. -v.

2~M .l'i.Ste inbe rg , "DonOuixo teand the Pu ppe t s:The me andStruc t u re.inncber u ecn Dav ies'Drama,"Can adianLite ra-

~, 7 (Winter, 19 61 ).

11-"

was suchan inhospitable one for thear t s . III c.ontrast to Mr. Steinberg,Ms. Stone -Blackburnstatedthat "one of Davies' greate:ststreng':.hs in

writin~

^{bothnovel\ and}

plays lies inhis'talent'forCharacterizat~6~...23 uer interest,however , laywi t h the difficultieshe experienced

in"ad~ptinqhis novel , Leaven of Malice, for stagepresen- tation, and whilethe articlew~shelpful"inelu~~dating the changes that Davies made in'adapti ngthe novel, i t,.

added li t t l e to a""discussionof the prob lemsof religion. Althoughartic lesb~ganto appear on Davies' Sal terto n . Trilogya'searlr as 1958, the thrustof these articleshas 'b e e non-p~vies' competency asfa nove'list,or a satirist.

Th~articles onthe SaltertonT;rilogy,which ;his writer has reviewed; wer,eless percepti veof the extent towh i c h religion was an"important element

i~~~oavic5'

^writingsthan

hadbee~ex pe c t e d.

Da'vidDooleysaid only"t h e them~^ofthe inhibiting effects.o f Calvinismalso runsthroug~the novels of Rob.ertsonDavies, eapec La Lj.yhis secorid trilogy.~24 ^{As a} Canadian writer concerned over the

pro~lem

^{of'religion i'n}

society,Dooleyrated'Dav i e s·b e h i nd

uu~~:

^{MacLennan. Peter}

23Susan_St.one-Blackburn , "Th~'Novelist'as Dramatist: Davies ' Adapta tionof "Leavenof Malice',"Canadian Li te r atttr e,"86 (Autumn , 1980), p, 76 . - - -

24 - .

DavidJ. Dooley, "Simula tingthe Stars: Canadian ,Literat~reand the Legacyof Nietzsche,"Jou rna l of

Ca n a d l a'n~tudies,

¥,

No . 2 (1977), p ,86-.- - -

Baltensperger's"Battleswith Trol ls"are iete was chiefly concernedwith"thetheme of psychOlO?icalgrowthtoward wholenesswh i c h is based on th e existential struggle carriedon in the inte::ior spacesof the mind." 25 However, although theres~lt^{was, for} Baltensp~;ger ,an appreciation of the transc~ndental:.tpe ObviousChristian references~n Davi~s' nover"wer.e'appa r ent.Lynob considered significant.

~, ^IvonOWen,26 and Hallvard 'Da hlie2 7analyzed,th e nove ls -primarilY"incerma of Davies as a satirist of Canadian

manners"and mores. Thepsychological and"religious aspects attending the char,acters' quesea for identity ,were not as relevant toenesecritics as their evaluationof Davies as a satiri st. Cla~a^{Tho ma sa}n ",ly zf.dAMixtureofFr a il t i e s -

"~ saprelim~naryexercise in themes which woul d be developed to a greater~xtentⁱn his-"l.a t erwritings. Her' focus on Monica Gall le d her~othe problemofguil~andre s pon s i- b,il ity,which shesai~were th ere s p e c t i v e representatives of-the Thanatos,p a r t y'(guilt) and the Eros."pa rty

(responsibility) . However, she said,"As ano vel within a frame,Monica'sstoryis complete and convincing . The

25peterBaltensperger , "Bat t l e s with Tro l ls, "

Canadian Literature,11 (Winter , 19 7 6 ), p.,59.

26 ' '

Ivo nOw.~n, '''the SaltertonNove ls ,"Tamarack.'Re v i e w, 9 (Aut umn, 19 58 ), pp ,56-6 3 .

_. _.27Hallvard'Dahlie, ·Self-co~sciousC~nadians~^H Ca n a d i an Lit erature, 62.(Autumn, 1974), pp,.:6-16 .

1.3 Saltertonframe-storyis.n o t; entirely compatible toi t

• • • and_this~is.aquestionof a spli tbetweel\.Davies' narrative views.,,28

Nancy Bj erring'sarticle.onlymentiom!l:t"th e Salterton Trilogy, bu'ttehe isone of the.c z-Lt .Lc s who considered Daviesan ant i-Ca nadianwrj.ter who"doesnot probe the Canadianpsyche",';Ilithany-d e pthfr clarityofvisionl he contents hi ms el f withexposing ,canadia nqauche rLewitha

decide~^{.tone of}-derision .,,29 :

F~L. Ra d f o r d analyzedthe SaltertonTrilogyas the"

apprenticepieces from which Davi e s wcuIdieme rqea more accomplishednovelist. His commentsabout religionin the novelsareconfined to conment sab9~tA Mixtureof Frailtie,,:

Lfke Ramsey,Mon icagoes onfrom Canada to polish her manners and findher sexual ini tiationinEng l a nd, and to-d i s cove r a newand more_.personal rel i g i o usco ns c i o us - ness in Europe , bu t.her abrupt"and truncated re velatio n at the ~tombof St.Genevi eveis a rather unconv inc ingpreviewofRams e y' s vision on the battlefie ld. Bygivingthe numinous image of theVirgin the face of Mary Dempster"Davies is ableto integrate Ramsey's re ligi ou s experience• . .. In Mixture, he does not yet seem entirely

~with the religi o us subjects that he wishes to dealwi t h. Monica'sreligious expe rienceseems to be super i mposedupon

.2BCla ra Thomas,."The Two VoicesofAMixtureof Frailties,"Journalof CanadianStudies, 12, No. 1 (1977), .;;:go:--

29Nan~y ^Bjerring, "D~ep^{in theOldMan'sPuzzle,"}

Canadian Litera t ur e , 62 (Autumn , 1974 ), p, 49.

e"

I

!

14

the novel , as.iJIIl'!he.c ese withthe he avily under,linedlectures bythe fatherl y Si r Benedi ct.Domda nie l .J O

Radfo

,

rd....as notthe firs t cri t i c,'no r thela~t. ^{to as sume} that reli gion in Dav ies'writ ing s me an t ·churc h^M reli q1.on. Moreover , he wasnotalo ne in hisasswnpt ionthat the main religiousexpe rie n c e forMonicaWA Sthe one atthetomb of St.Geneviev e . Therewas, however , no considerationgiv en.__ .. toth e-re l i g i ousou t l oo k of.th e characte rsas opposed to theirr el1q'i"aus-e x pe rrenc e'",.a n d to t-herelationship betwe en th a t outlookan~thefur t he r developmento~the indi v id ua lcharac ters. If the onlyap proa c h to'religion one is preparedto findis a conventiona l on e,thenDavi e s

~pparentlyonlyus e s're lig i o n as the ob j e<:t of hissatire.

If, however, oneispz-epe'redto lookbeyo nd therituals, doqmas and othe r trapp ingsofch urc hrelig i on,thena ve ry differentanal ysisof reliqionas amajor.theme, i fno t the maj orthe me·ofDav ies' writi ngs,

appears .~~· However,

^one-

mus t con stantl ybear inmind thatDav ie s' approach to the JrObl em of religionisnot a conventionalappro'ach.

The problemofre l iq~ionhas been pre sent inDavies' writingsalmo stfrom the moment hebe gan"his,car~eras a writer•. Moreove r , navtce" approachtO,t he'pr o blemof religionas it wasre~,ealedinhis earlier works made pos s ible the invest-igationsin to suchproblemljl as the

30 Radfordlpp', 16-17.

'

....

15 natureof faith and re l igio nandev en thena t u r e of God whic hareS~hprominen t con c e rns inhis.l ate r wr itings .

as a positive for c einthe format i onoJ.thehum~ncha r acte r . In an effort to elucidatethevari e d'ap pro ach e s Da vi e s v:

Pr i o r to th concer n e d w

tf a r d Trilogy , Davie s had beenprima rl 1~

te r lnining th elfa l i dit y of rel igionits e lf

too k in handlingthi,..s concernwit h relig i on becween1940, when h.eret~nedtoca~ a ~a.fr o mEngla nd,.and 1960,th ~date .of his last major

,.

pu b l i c a t i o n pri o r tothe DeptfordTrilo gy ,

^.

thisthes i s ~wi11be divi d e d intofi v e,c hapters. The fir s t

~ chap terwill est a b lish theex ten t to which theproblemof

• relig i on is rel e va ntto Davies''wri t i ng s asawhol ewith empha s is given totheearly writings. The rema i ni ngfou r chap ters willeachexa mineadif f e r entst age inDavies ' app roa c h.to thispr ob l em of rel i gion. The book re vi e ws, pl a ys , Mar chbanks' mat e ria l s, ar t icles and no velsare con-

;: sidere~~_~variousmeans of Davie s' articulatingt~c ran<J e of his idefls. Therefore,although theformatof the thesis ischronol,~ical ,^thech~Pter^{division sariseoutof dis-}

.r~]

ce r n ~b ledifference sin th, approache s Dav ie s has ta ke n to thiSpr o b l emof relig i~ather than through the vartous mod e s he us e d .

The firatcha pter, Time JesumTranseuntcm"(Dr e a d the

is practiced inmode r n society. TJilis chapter will es e eb- / pa s s i ng of Jesus) exami ne s the relevance of religion as it

Ush that virtuallyfrom the beginning Of/hisc~reer, Davies had viewed-certainaspects-ofPuritanismas a ... ?

16 ne ga t i v e force in human society- -and the formationof the hwna n personali!:-y . He viewed various developme ntsin Puritan-P ro testan tismas having much to do with the Bl?i r il:ua l apathyobservablein modern society. However.

this chapterw~ ll?lso establishtllat fromthis period thro~gh,tothe latest of hiswri ti ng s : Daviesdidn~t re ga r d

- th~eli~:o:n

^{as prac t icedby}

th~ .v~rl0US · ~hut:Ches .

as the epitomeof relig·ionitse lf. Grant ed this '·separation , pavies ' concern wi t hthe prob lem,of religion,ca n

- ce

shown to~~e^proceededthrough,'roursepa~ate^stagesb~^{theti me}

he completed the fina lvolume:oftheSalterton'Trilogyin 1958. Each ofth e followingchapterswil l examinein detail thevariou~-aspects of these four stages .

The second chapter,~giritualBli ght,

w tll

^{incl udea}

detailedexaminat ionofDavie~' delineation of the problem of relig.ion as it affectsthe outlo ok of society. In th i s stage,he vie....ed the religionof the churches as repr e s s i ve and hostiletothe4human~tieaandthe full developmentof the humanbeIng. Fromhisf.irstpublication , Shakespeare 's'Boy

~(1939 1 . through,t~Marchbanks mater ia ls

of

the early 194 0's, to theplays ,~ (1947 ).and Hope Deferr ed (1 948),Davies revealed and att a c ked. the debilit clting effe c tsofthi srepres~ive.rel igiosi t yon the p.eo.pleand th eirsoc i ety. Ho weve r, at th iss:age,re liq i o n hasper~

me at.e d allaspect'sof

.

society,

^.

and con t ro lsnot

^.

onlythe b~sicoutlooks

o J

~iety,but al s othein ner"d e v elopme nt s

of't he

indivic;1u~{~.

^{Aga i n'atthis,blindness}

t~

the",inn.er

'

..

'17

"'

... -

self, the re,velationsof p ayehoena Lye Ls appees,as,'a,potent;

weapon. Moreover, this 'chapterwill reveal thattl;l. e characterizatio nsof Samubl Marchban:ksand p0't(~•. . 1947) a~e..i-aVie.~' ^first,r e v e l a t i o n s~Of ~ies' ^{ide4 of}th~,

her~- -themanwh o fights.the inner.s t rug: J e . ,»: • The third chapter,The Poor in Sririt,

in~d ~es;

^an

examinat.ion of ideas-o fre l i g i on in the's i x plays"Written between 19 48 and 19 5'0.

I~

^{,!=-he s :-plays, there}

;as a ~oti~G-

" " , changeintihe,r e l a tio n s h i p'betwElensocie,tl'..and reli-:- ,:

q Lon , In the earlieroutlook, those who moststfongly' _

~Il}bracedv';rio us 'Pu r itan ' e:hical an~moral st~ndPOi~ts

.were shown',tlY't!xer t power over those who, like-Pop,~

" . '

'-,

resisttheseoue tooks . Intheseplays, the power of these Pur,itan-prote~t~nts^isSh~W~

to

be decreasing,~nd^{with ' <}

th i s

~crease

in pcwe r ,there is a tentative....vision_.9f

l

revis . concepts of re lig i o na~dthe nature of evil. M.uch ofthi re v iS e d outlookdrew supportfromD:Vi~S' ^{inte res t} int~edepthpsychologiesof Pr eud , Adlera~dJunC}. In i- tially,Freudia n psyc holbgyappeare dto have aff.ordedhim.. ,'a n accepuab Le

'i=xpl~natio~

^{of the}

c~~pl~cate.~ ··~.~t~;'~ ~

^{th e}

human psyche andthe debilitating

ef~t:!cts a{rel?reSSiV~~ .

on themental well-beingof in.dividua ls.~However ;unltke Freud,Davies wa.snot prepar'ed"to . cnn a Ider religio,:,a \ ~ unneccaeez-yto the spiritual well -being''!frf ma n . lie main-"

tained that religioncould

and "

stO l,lldbean

_am~liOrating

experience"io the life of,man".At tho.sa me ti m,che inshted th atth e humanit ies - - thea t re,music , litera t ur e--

/

18 we r e notin~icalce re l igi o n but cou ld, in"f a ct, ge ne r a t e religiousfeeling~. In thisperiod. the focus of hisat t a c k was on the simplistic systemizationof beliefs abo ut 'wo r l d l y' co n c e rn swh i c h churchreligion promot e d,

.

^{~' ;)}

and whichI1d^to,igno rance and intel lec utal wea.k n esses of allkinds.

The so c i et iesde pLcue d inDav i e s'-~ri'tings.priorto . 19 5 0 hadbeen primarily societies in-which re l i g : o n or what passed for'religiondirectly,i n fl u e nc e d'th e liv~'o fthe peopLe,

In

th~19 5 0 ' s , the·s o c i e t.l e she'depicted were primarilyirreligiousbecause organizedreiigion'app e ared

L

-e chave little relevance in

the"live~

^{of most'Of thechar-}

~ters.

The fo urt hch ap t er, The slUms of the spirit, examines the irreligious world de p'i c t e d inTe mpe s t-Tos t''and Leaven ofMalice , the firsttwo novelsof.ehe sefeeccc nTrilogy, andin The Masqueof Aesop. Thisworld is one'i n which majorcharactersappear toha ve ac c e p t e d Freud'sproposi- ti o ntha t religionis an illusion . In this Freudian world the ameliorating qualitiesofre ligio n have been replaced by variouspalliat ivemeasureswhi c:·h intihe course'of the wor ks ar e pr oventobe them.seilles ill usio n s. As inthe playsand the; Marchbanks' materia lsofthe19 4 0' s, Da v i e s ' appro ac h appearsmort'!diagn osti c thancorrective• .However, ineac hof the works exami ne dtheca u s e of the pro blemsis

~h~wn

^{to be.c}onnec ted toarepre s si1e and"re str.ictive .

.reli~iousoutloo k inwh ichthe,val u.b~Of tho ind ividua ~ is

\.

" 19

sub s e rv ien t tothe value sof th e group. In eac h.of thos e work s , there istobe di s~ er n eda pl e a for arev i s ed ve tua- tionofth e individua l ,. se d onthere v ela tio n s of psycho- ana lysisand the hwnanist ic'-t.{adJtion. Thi snew formof. self-recoq nition andsel f-acceptan c e mig ht make possible a new religiou s~utlook'--o n ewhich isnot.subjec t to th e eth i c a l andmora l dictaof Puritan-Prote stantisT!I .

'rne"fifth chapter , The Spiritual Hi r ed ',lands, dep i ct s the shift in'Davie s':delineationof the pr o b l e m of religio n fromtha t of

d~gnosis

^{to -ehatof r}e rned iatio.n.

R~media'pon '

involvedan acceptance of humannacure denied'b y' thep~r- fecti,onisminheren't in Puritan-based co nc e p ts of religion.

Just~asin the 19 40 's Davi e s had foundFreudian ps yc hology hel~f~l in diag nosing'the e)(t~nt^{of the'}pro b lem, in th e

~., 195 0's he tur ned increasingly to Jung ia npsychol og y,'

. .

becau se of its con c e pt s of·humanw~ol encs sand thegreatn es s of the

h~n

^{spirit.. ,.Tt:!eehre e plays of t}he mid- 19 50 's are

!. ./

va l ua b l e as ind i ca t i ve of thtsswitch from Fre ud'i an\'to- Jung'ianpsychology. Inthem,Davies experimen t ed with cer'-

ta inJungi an id e a s relatingto the nature of the h~manI

psyche,wh ich wouldh~ncefo~thbeb'asicto hi sideas of human·i d e n ti t yand re lig i o n. In the final vo l ume of the sal.t,~rtonTr1:ogy, A Mixtu reof Frai l t,ie,S (1958) , Dav~e.s was able to show that a re vi s e d ou tlookon ;he na tu reof the humanbeingco ul d le a d :-0.:tnewform of 8elf.-acceptance whic hin turnmadepossib lea newperc e p t i o n,of God. By 1958,-it would,appear tha'tDavies ha d determined tholt the

r'....

.\ .,.-

20 ultimate purpose of man,is'toreC09niz~Ilisrela1jionship"~

~ithGod. This also includ.esa recognitionof the roles of good,.and evil in his life, and,a n attempt to distinquish between the two. This acceptanceof thefa l l i~ il i t yand ambivalence of his'psychic make-upis a prelim'inarybut necessa rystep toward £111£1111,09manIs need forSo

.

relation-^. ship withthe transcendent.

This thesis concludes that ~~196? , Davieshad deter- minedthat man mustreCOgnize~th'good-and evil in his life in c:>rder to achieve.tq~ k~ndof balance neee s aaz y to assess,thereal it i e .s of his.l)ft u"r e and'torecol:lniie the val ue of the transcendent inhi s llfe. Moreover, ha v i n g determined in the19 4 0 ' s and19 5 0' sth a t man'ssearch for meani nginvolvesforming a relationshipwithGod, Davies was free in his laternovelsto exploreboththe nature of this relationship, which is to say, the na t ur e of"re li gio n, and the natureof God.

·f

•

).

CHAPTERONE

TIMEIl'BSUM TRANSEUNT UM1

As anadditiona l enticement' to convince.theMaster of Massey Col lege th a t he wo ul d make a'fine ghost wri t er, because he could "grindout ·a threevolumeromance about!an unfortunate.young man; :• • ,"the Ghost in-.P6bertS"o n. Davies' 19 78

~hc3't:-t :;~ory

^{"Th e}

x~rox

^{in the,LOS"t Room,",}

proved hisknowl e d g e of Da vie s ' writingst,yleby adding quickly, "Ipromiseto put lots of theologyin<,2 undoub t- edly, Davieswas en joyinga bitof humourathi s own expense, but there canbeno doubt that thro ug ho ut his writing careerRo ber t s on Davies has shown hi ms e lf sensitive to the preca rious rel a tionshipthat exists between,a society and its re lig i ou s out l!?ok. The relig i ou s outl~Okwhich dominatesa societynot only influences thesocial and moral attitudesofit s,people,Ibutal s o determ ines their spiritual strengthas well.

Forforty years or more,Ro be r t s onDav i e s has been contestingwha t he has called."the-"Thu nd e r Without,Ra i n'"

.. ITime JesumTranseunt~--Dreadthepassingof Jesus.

QuotedbyRobe rtsonDavIes a n"Th e Deadliestof Sins,"

OnelIalfof Rober tsonDavies , p , 68.

2R• Davies, "The Xerox in the Los t Room,"HighSp i r 1't s (Ha r rno nd swo r t h : pe ngui n, 198 2 1, p, 173.

21

22

the thr e at from t:he heavenswi th ou t any b Les s Lnq to s~ften

its severity.,,3 He has beenconc e r;ne dwi t h the cons e - quenpesoft~r end Sin modern society. The firstof these trends came i~obeing as are su l t of v.,arious.reform eicveeene.e in Christ ia nitywhich had insiste~onthe need for men to lead live s freef-r om sin in order to beaccept- Able to God.

Thi s drive to pe rfe ctionandit s concomi tant·"n e g l ec t andill - useof the.human bei ng-who lurksin all ofus • . . for notbe ing's a in tly,.or not o riousor untiri ng,,, 4hasin thi s centu ry be en trans.l atoed int owha t Dav ies describeda~

"Acedie . . . intelle ctu a l and spiritualeoepor, indiffe r - enceand letha r g y . "5 The second trendar o s e'as a~esult of the "Preudian Revolution~hichba n i s h ed for manypeopleth e -belief th a t a tr a nscendentautho rityexists 'towh i c h man -

kindis accoun tablefor itsactions."6

As Daviesillterpreted it, tbe resultsof both,the s e trendshasbeen thedeathof religionas a transcenden t, amelioratingexperie nce'for moder nman. Fo l;lowi n g this loss, whathas rema i n ed fo r many peoplehas been an

3R• Da v i e s, "Thunde r

Witho~t

^{Rain,"One Half}

o l

RobertsonDavies, p, 248.

J

'4R. Da v i e s, "preaching selfishness," One Hal f of.

~obertson Davies, p , 73.

SR. Da vies , "The De a d l ie,stof sins,"One Halfof Rob e rts o n Davi e s, p, 65.

GR. Da v i e s, "Gl e a ms and Glooms , "OneHal f of Rob ert so n

~, p . 244.

lJ I'

irrat i o n a l fear ofwha t th eydono t re a il ykn o w:

{thepeoplel who have• • • grownup as religiousi ll it e r at e s - - a very common class eod a y-o-ha ve lost their senseof the beneficien t pa rtreligion plays in life, butthey ha ve no t shakenoff thei r prim itivefea r s. Th ey dimlygu essat anarea0'£beingwhich is not readily approached .and wh ic h iscerta i n l y not good": thisisth e ha un t of Evil, the Dev!;l'sk~n9dom.7 • ,

Thelo s s of religion

may

^have,Deen observablein Canadian .soc ietyin the tat,terhalfof thisce nt ur y , but suchwas

not the case with the Canada'of the nt ne e e enen and early twentie thcentur ies. Th roug h Duns~able" .say,

oaVieSi

describ ed th isear l ierCanad ian soc i e t y as one inwhTc

• • .everyCanadianhad to adhe r e, nominal ly, to some' churc h ; the officia ls ofthe Ce nsu s ut t erly refusedto accep t such termsas 'a gno sti c' or 'no ne ' in th e columnmar ked •Religio n 'and flatter- ing statistics were compiledon.t.h ebasis of the Census re portsthat gavea fals e ideaof thefor ce sall the principa l faiths coukd command.^S

Althou g h thi sat ti t ud e.ha s cha nged andit isnowlegal ly P~ssiblefor__9madians todeclar e theirath~ism.or agnos - ti c i sm, acc o rding.toDavie s,.thi s co un try ha s pe rs istedin re ga r d i ng i tselfas . peculia r lyChris tian.

Davies explai ned thi s Canadian outlook ina Le ct.u re

del~vered

^{inApril,1977, at a}'s ymposium pr! ; t edby

t~

7Davi e s, "Gl eamsandmocms," p. 227.

BR• nav r e a, Fifth Busi ne s s (19 70, rpt. H/Jrmondswo r t h:

penguin, 1977),p ;:12,8. All SUbs eq ue ntrererenees to this novel will be abbre v~at edFBand incorporated in par e n - the s e s in th etex t. ' -

24

Associati o n for.CanadianStudies inth e Unit e d Sta tes. At this time,he definedmythas ~thesort a( attitudewhich mostpeo ple take forgran ted, the belief th a t nobo d yques- tions becausenobo d ytroubles topu t itin concrete terms...9 _{Havinges t a bli she d this and}thefact that i twas his belief that "one of the tasks of the Canadian writeris to.eh ow Canada toitself.,,10

he

discussed what he be Ld.eve d' to be one of the major myths of the'Canadianidentity.

Thismytih was What,he called,our

Myth ofrnnc e e ne eiec Moral Sup e r ior i t y:

deep inou r hearts weCanadians cherish a notion •• • that we are,a simple folk,__.

~~f;~~:~·i~;. t~~ :~: l~~r~~~~h~O~~h

^and'

untutoredinstinctsof nobil ity ass ert chemseIvesvH

The.re can be nodoubt that this my t h re sted in Can a d i an notions of Chris tianit y. but asDavi es made qui te,c lea r la t e r Ln' this lecture,

wemust rid ourselvesof the Myth'of Inn o c en c e . . . for it is a potent source,o f mischiefand a breeding ground for many dang.erous sortsof stupidity. InnocencJ'! preservedtoo longsoursin t o ignorance .12

Wi thinthe pasttwe n t y years or so , there have been. many attemptsby Canadianwriters to articu late the primal

p,278. p. 275.

"Th e Canadaof Myth .a nd Reality,"

, .

"Th ecan~daof Myth and R9.a l i ty,"

"Th e CanadaofMy t h and Reality,"

9R. Davies, "The Canada of Myth andReality, "inOne

Half of Robertson Davies, p.272. -

10· .

".Davie"s,

\lDa vi e s, 12Davi e s,

25

my t h of Canad ianidentity, especiallyCanadi an literary ide nt ity. The iranswe rshav~been man y andva r i e dl3 r anq - log fromNo r throp Fr y e' s earlydiscernment ofwha t he callefl°th e--garr i s on menta lity" toMargar etAtwood 'so1cpic- ti o n of' themy th of"su r v i v a l." \~!li1etheseandothe r cr iticsall noted the Canad ianpr-edLl.ec t.Lon forasort of .g lo omy Calvil} ism,'the ydi~ ^{not f9cUSori :}e lig"ion

or

^{re l ig i -}

ositYIas apri mary fo r ma,ti v e myt h intheCanadia n'identity•. Rober tso n Daviesdid.

Fromhi s ea r l iest boo krev iew sand Mar c hba nksI niate- ri al s, Davies atta ck edCanadian societyfor itsreligi- os ity--itsMythof I.nnocence. Throug hthe satiriC

rthru s t s of therapie r witofSar.lu eiMarchbanks, heco'nf r onted Canadianswith there sult s of "I nnoc e nc e preserved too lo nq ";--iq nor an c e , prov.i.n c i a lism, hypocri s y , anti - in~e~~ ectual dm.anddow,:!righ t st upidity.

, Daviesusedsati re toshowCa na di a ns tothems elves , and.inDa vi e s' theo r yof literaturethe'r ewasa con ne c;: t i on bet we e n.sati re and+e lig i on. Hear c rcuf ete d thi s conne c - .... tionin 195 4, when hesai d , "Sa t ireisa,pot ent we a pon '

C

a~ain.st

pur i ta nism andJan s e nism!·and

a~~ed,

^"qood sa t i r e '. _

,

^". . ' ~.

"

l3An'int ere sti ; g collec tion of th e views"eff C~nadian

~~~t~~~a:~~nw~~=ti~a~~o~~a~i::~:~~~:do~y

^A

o~r~~r;;;i:~~~turo

(caIilbrldqe,: Harvard univer u ty Press, 1917. Th.1. s volume 0..

1~~~~2~~~ :~~e~~~~~si~iu~~~~~u=a~:~:~ta~c~~~~~;s~~~~~~ein

;~;~~ ~~.:a~1~: ~;t~O~~S"t~~ ~:~;3f~~/~~a~~~~t~~:ty a~

^a

/

26 can onlybe written by men who care deeply about the abuse

., 14

the.r. attack.~

The rna'in abuse Davies attacked from the earliest period of hiswritingto his latest was the abuse of the sl?irit of man made by Puritanism in r e LfqLon, This does not.i.E~!.catethatDavies is or ....as a libertine or. anti- Christi4n, but he appears to have held inderision.the peculiar b.lendof puriltaniSl!!and nineteenth century mate- -r ialism.wh i c h.formed such a large part of r,,;11910n in Canada. As far'a s he was concerned, this peculiar religious outlook had not onlyruinedth~development ot' the arts in Canada. but had also produced a people whowere~ simplistic and ignorant in outlook and'understandlng. From

.

,

.

theearl~_194~'l\Ion, he had'interpreted the peculiar ,:,' gloomy and.sluggish priggishness of Canadians primarily t.n

terms~ thei~repressive religious andmateria~isticout-

.look. In 1942. he had stated: .

Canadaas a country and nation had a difficult birth in the nineteenth century. and was forced t,o begin life in an era of almost unchecked material- ism. without the background of a pastoral age to.serve as a brake on the dizzy ,/

speed of"p r o g r e s s ....·As a result our country has advanced most satisfactorily in the realm of commer-ce without any corresponc:Iing.d e v e l o p me n t in the realm of thought or the.arts. I S .

14 R•navree ,

"Ca~adian

Sati;e·." '5aturday Night. 3 July 1954.--p...J}.

lSR• Davies, "NewAnthology 0; Poetry,by Canadians,"

Peterborough Examiner, 6 June 1942, p,4.

27

Many years later, in 1969, he reaffirmedhi s belief that "o ur atti tudetoward all the arts has until very rec e n tl y beenpoisonedbya mean puritanism- -thepuritanism of Stigginsand Podsnap rather thantha tof Mil ton• • • •,,16 Davies did not portrayhcv specific beliefsabout man and sin' had\..become powerful in thevarious.Christiansects, bu t rathe rattempted toreveal , throu g hthe attitudes and at t ributesof the characte rs he created ,'.how the ccmb.i.na- ti6~of thesldevelopme ntshadaf f e c t e d the-lives of pecp.Le, In 1975 he r-a-emp hasLa e d his concern'that"In the midstof our heaped up abundance of things'madeof,~etal^andwires

and plast ic ,we starve for thebread of the

SPirit'~'" 17

The one common element in al l the vari ationsof Christianitywhich ex.i sted after the ProtestantReforma~.:,.on has been the beliefirt salvation. Since tiheprerequisites

, .. '

for salva tioninfluenced the way in whichbel ievers li ved

Itheirliv e s in thismundane world. this has been the aspect of religionwhichhas been of.majo r significance for Da vi e s.

His emphasishas continuouslybeen onthe considerat ionof how a man's rel i g i o us beliefs, or la c k thereof, have affected not onlyhi,Soutwa rdand sacialI.H ebut alsahis inner or spiritual iUe,as he at tempted tofu lf ill

I~ R . Davies. Excerpt from "Lettersin Cana da ," Uni-

~~~S~;;t~fl~69~etlnO~h~t~~tl'T~~P~~:~9b;ia~; ;~ ii~?ern

17Dtlvies , "Th unde r Witho u t Ra in ," p.249. ~

"

wha t e ve,r hisreligio n dicta ted he must

d io

inorder to be acceptab lebefo reGod. Foll o wi ng the Reformat ion , the Puri tans had saidthat man must perfect himselfin tl'lis mundane worl d --even thou g h doing so mean t denying in him- self hi s most baa Lc" instinctsand needs.

In the earlies't of-hi s pUb lica t ions, Shakespeare's'Boy Actors (1939),Dav ieshad co n t r a s t e dth e predomi nan t ly' med i e va l Catho lic Chris tia naudience 'sattitude to the th e a tre inthe El izab etha n erawi th,th at of the P.uri tan Pr o t e s t ant·one whic h pr-edomf na t.ed fol lowing the 'Resto ra t ion , andconc l ud ed,tha ttheatti t u de of theear li~r^{audienc ehad} been"in£in1 te l y prefer a ble.,,18

In book re v i e wspUbl.ish~din bot hthe Peterborough .Examiner and Sa turdayNight ma ga zine in the 194.0's, follow-

ing hisret urn to Cana da,he repe a t edly showed. hi s aware ness of what he conside redtob~a spiritu alprob lem~nmodarn soc i ety , andhi nted that the sol':ltionmight lie in a re vi se d relig i o us outloo k. Shor t lyafte r he as s ume d his posi t ion as lit era ry editor of Satur da yNig htmagaz i ne,his rev iew of F.We rfe l 'sEmbezz led Hea ven indica t e dthat tie regarde d the presen tage as one in whic hthe spiritua l life of man was being ne glec t e d :

IBR•Davi es , Sha kes pe a re 'sBo y Act or s (Den t, 19391 rpt.

London: Russel!and Russell , 1964), p,179. Davie s had beengrante d a B. Litt.atOxfo rd in 193Bt "wi th this

~~~~~~~~i~~eu~~~~o~~~~l~e;~:hi~~bse~~:n~i::~~;:~~~~ ~~s

^this

^G

work wil l be abbreviated ,SBA and inc orporated in par en -

thesesin thetext. -

29 The author IFranz Werfel] has convinced us that a great part of the world's ills are as a result of modern man's denial of the spiritualdomain. Bu t where do wego .fxcm he r e ? Certainly not backward to a kind Qf warmed ov e r medieval religio u s feel i ng as fojr.Werfel tacitlysug g e s t s. He mustgo forwardtrusting to find some- thingin th e future which_";'ll be bet t e r th an what we havelo s t• • " • ~Ihatwe mustnot do isr-eqar d our troubled place in time as an excuse for spi ritua l" ..

nullity.19

It isclearfrom thiseariy review that navtes'view of man had beenin fluenc ed by the Christian conceptof man as a creationwithbothphy sica-J:"<lhdspiri~ual dome dna,of which the spiritual domain m~st^{be a majorconcern. A.}

.number of the statemen tsinth i s rev i e w intimate qu es tio n s whichbecameinc r e as i ngly signif i cant in Davi e s ' lat~r writings. Whydoe s man no longervalue thespir i tual domain? What ha s happened that religioncan nolon g er

Sa~iSfY

these needs when by imPlication,.

~E!dieval

^re lig i o n(.

. t ·

did? Whatha s been lo s t th a t has caused ebe spiritual nullity ofmod e r n man? How can he.c ve z corne thisproblem of spiritual nu l li ty?

Afe w"mont'hs later.,in April194 1 , in a reviewof ScholemAsch'sWhat I'Believe , hewrote, somewhat inth e same vein,

Scholem Asch thinksthat man canonly be savedby ahumble returntoGod-=--an opinionfew wouldcare to dispute. But to

,

what God?--• • •many

--

others will silly

. - - -- - - - ;;

19R•Davies, "Salva t ion Is Not Free,"SaturdayNight, 14 necember., 194 0 , p, 20a. •

.

\

,

,/

wh y mus t we alwaysreturntoGodand never move forward to Him. And to whlehof the manyaspectsof the Hebrew God allrevealed in theOl d Te stament are we tomake theretur n . Scholem Ascll's

~:P;~~~l~~ ~~::~i~~:~~~~~~28re,

^{topu t}

30

Agai n, DaVie ~h~dreiteratedman'sne e d forre l ig io nor spiritual li feand decried any_~ t temptto retreatfromour

. .

modern world intoan cie n t modes of religion. Dut inthis revi ew he_{. '}emphasized thevalid i ty ofso me

.

beliet'i~^{God in}

•enri~hi ngthe life of man. The,prob lemappeaxedto.l~cin .\

man ' sconc ep t s of thenatur e of,God --a pr a~ le m w~ich,,~h ile

~eripheral^to ot her mor eobviou s conc~rnsⁱⁿDav i e s ' . ear lier writ i ng s,g'ai nedinc reasingprominence,in his later

The nature.ofone of Davi e s'ear ly possiblesolutions to the s e prob lemswas impliedinhisre v iew of Haydon"s Biogra phyof the Gods (1941), in which hebrought togethe r whatwould later beacknowledgedas twoof his majorpre -

" occupations: reliqion and th e natureofman. He,s~aid:

No attemptismadeinthis book to

~

^{xPlainwhy theGods} were broug!lJ:

into'existenc e by man. The author eaves that mat terst r i ctly to 1the- sychoa na l ys ts , an d it is significan t i~~~ ~~:~6~.

¥ f

Fre ud is never broug ht

20R•Da v i e s , "'EasterMeditati on on Scho l e m Asch,- Saturday Night, 12 April19 41,p,19.

L.

^.21R• Davies, "'New Gads For Old,to6aturdayNi ght,

rS

^April.194 1 , p, 20. ..--,-

. J .

31 Freud had shown that th e inner,unc6nsciou'glife,o f man~ig

~o tonlyveryreal andinf l u e ntia l; but als oext r e mely importaritin dctertnining

t re

^{b~lanceof the~holeperso n.}

Heha d also,:in Th e Future of an Ill usio n

and

Civ il izatidn

. "

"

an dIts Discon t ent s indicated some oft.he.cea e c n am~nkirfC!

may have had for be li ev i n g in God or god s , andaltho~g hhe

w~

^{attempting to}pr o ve that mode r -n.manryad

~ fu.r?~~·

of relig ion,he, paradOXica l~'y ' gave.some i~d!~?'o~'how

r':

imp~rtaIJ.t^{religioncou ldbe to,the},PSY~hi~ihealtli^-of man., / '/

Itwas Freud whoh~destablis hed theCl.9!1~connectio n' be tweenreliCJ"iqn and civilizatiOn: \'-

Religiou~ ideas

have

a'rLaanfr oin. th e same ne e d as have aliotherecndeve-

:~~~so~fd~~~~~~~:t~~:~eif~g:~~s~e~::'-

crus hing Ly euper Icr'forc e'o f na j;.ur e. Tothisa second mdtivewa sa9.g~d-­

theurge to rectifythe shortcomings ,Pf civi lizati on whichmade the ms e l ve s perfect l yfe~t.22 I

Mo r e ov e r, he,had beenab l e to~howtha t ,'unl i k e manyo.!.hc r aspects of civi"li za tio n,.rel,igion was ~f~primeimpq,rt~ncc to the psyc heof moat; of mankind. ⁿ[R:I ~9i~UJideas~ are-

,2 2SigInWl(~Fr e ud, The Future of·~n Illusi8'n'i nThe

;~;~~~adF~:~g:~~r~~s~h:n~O:a:e~:m::Y~~~~~*~~a~

^I

~h~~~n~f

~~;~~O~;i~~n~~~: 2~~ga:V'Pressandth~Inst~ tuteof . Subs e que nt ref e r e nc e s toth e i:ndividua l works will, on fir s tre.fe r en c e, mention the,ti tl e of the work.followed by the abbre via t i o n SE(St and ~:rdEd it i o n . . •l, the volume

•

~:~e~~r:n~ir~g~on~ee~he ~~~::fu~~~ ~~~::h~~~:~.; t~:ge

number ,andwill be inco rpora teainpat'en t hcses ..irithe

bex e • •

') ,

, ,',

32 ' not prec ipitates of ex p e r i e nc eso~endres.ults of thinking: they are illusions, fulfilmentsof theoldes t , strongest and most urgent....ishe s of mankind " (SEXXI:tOl•

I InJ, n ua ry•1941, ~vieshad def e nd e dF~eUdas onewhohas undertakenthe bitterta s k

:~o~~t~~~~~: :~~~n~a~Of~~~;~~~ ~:~~s

gue-ssedcrt onlybya fe wsa g e s and poe t s

•.:.... [and"w~o~ • • : was a!?l!sed asa.n 23 enemyofrel ~ 9' l.on w~1.chhe wasnot ." ••

~ha ~enabl,edDa"'ie ~tod~fendthis,man'Wfo had deClar~

that religion was"t he universalobsessional neurosis'o f hUmanity"t(SEXXI:4 3, 'wa s .his o..m'convic tio n thatso meth i ng ha d" e radically wro ng withm0c!e :cn soci e ty ,particu~arlY moder nCana~ tansocietybe cause, "for many year s wehav e combine.dan extraordinary hi g hst a n d a r d of livingwith a

~t;..1r1fdard,Q.£-intellectuala~d^cultural d~'WhiCh^is:

to apeak kindly, medio.cre.^R24 Moreover, hisconcern for the problemsof society had led himtoconc l ude : ".Theil ls of modern societyhave been diagnosed by economists, pOliti-

I

cal theorists, and witch doctors'of,all kinds, butno group' has

~ade

^eifch

k~Y~~d

satisfactory,progressas the

~

~syc~o-analytica·i

^{one.,,25 In,}this reviewhe had referred 23R, Davies~ ^RTtmSorc~rer'sAp prenticespeaks,"

SaturdayNight, 11 January19 4 1, p , 14.

24R• Davies, "New Year'sResolutions,"Saturday Night, 4 January1941, p.'14•

. 2S, . . '

R. Davies , "1\BroaderConcept of Masochism, "

Saturday Niqht, 29 Novemb~r,19 41 , p,'24. '

• 0