false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170352496m/48271.jpg 48271 8 <I>A Mixture of Frailties</I>, the third volume of Robertson Davies Salterton Trilogy, is his first extended engagement with one of the great neuroses of Canadian culture: Canada's artistic relationship to Europe, and particularly to Britain. Writing in 1958, just as Canadian writers were beginning to shake off their colonial mentality, Davies treats his subject with bitter satire and genuine passion, scorching the white-bread parochialism of 1950s Canada while eloquently arguing that if Canadians are willing to learn from Old Europe, there is no reason why they cannot become world-class artists. <P> Davies begins his story with the funeral of Louisa Bridgetower, the Salterton matron whose imposing presence ranges throughout the earlier volumes of the Salterton Trilogy. The substantial income from her estate is to be used to send an unmarried young woman to Europe to pursue an education in the arts. Mrs. Bridgetower's executors end up selecting Monica Gall, an almost entirely unschooled singer whose sole experience comes from performing with the Heart and Hope Gospel Quartet, a rough outfit sponsored by a small fundamentalist group. Monica soon finds herself in England, a pupil of some of Britain's most remarkable teachers and composers, and she gradually blossoms from a Canadian rube to a cosmopolitan soprano with a unique--and tragicomic--career. <P> The Salterton books (which also include <I>Tempest-Tost</I> and <I>Leaven of Malice</I>) are not Davies's most accomplished works, but many readers will find them more immediately accessible than his later novels. <I>A Mixture of Frailties</I> can get slightly technical in its treatment of classical and contemporary music, but Davies is a gentle teacher who writes as though he is simply reminding his readers of something they already know. These are also among his funniest novels, with rich farce worthy of Evelyn Waugh, but Davies's faith in art and his broad sense of humanity give the Salterton Trilogy a breadth and depth that are rare in pure satire. <I>--Jack Illingworth</I> 47224 book 1958 A Mixture of Frailties (The Salterton Trilogy, #3) total:183|5:61|4:80|3:38|2:3|1:1| 183 746 231 13 3 0 false false Fri Oct 09 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Jun 06 19:45:06 -0700 2009 Fri Oct 09 13:51:11 -0700 2009
This is instead a transitional work, setting up the mu...more...]]> 5 0 false false Sun Aug 17 10:26:32 -0700 2008 Sat Dec 13 19:40:49 -0800 2008 more...]]> 5 0 false false Thu Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Mon Nov 19 16:30:11 -0800 2007 Mon Nov 19 16:39:52 -0800 2007 ...more...]]> 5 0 false false Tue May 12 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat May 02 21:30:40 -0700 2009 Sun May 31 10:17:03 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Sep 15 11:04:21 -0700 2009 Tue Sep 15 11:06:32 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Wed Oct 03 13:54:59 -0700 2007 Wed Oct 03 17:50:19 -0700 2007 more...]]> 3 0 false false Fri Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sat Aug 11 05:47:58 -0700 2007 Sat Aug 11 05:47:58 -0700 2007 3 0 false false Sun Aug 31 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Aug 27 15:15:16 -0700 2008 Tue Sep 02 09:20:14 -0700 2008
Worth a read.

Borrowed.]]> 5 0 false false Fri Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2006 Fri Jun 13 19:50:53 -0700 2008 Fri Jun 27 21:20:32 -0700 2008 4 0 false false Fri Aug 03 19:48:04 -0700 2007 Sun Feb 17 07:42:06 -0800 2008 4 0 false false Thu Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2004 Sun Jun 03 12:47:15 -0700 2007 Sun Jun 03 12:47:34 -0700 2007 "being a genius doesn't excuse being a bastard."


take note.]]> 3 0 false false Thu Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2006 Sun Nov 11 20:26:41 -0800 2007 Sun Nov 11 20:26:41 -0800 2007 http://electric-pages.livejournal.com/26...]]> 5 0 false false Mon Aug 11 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Aug 04 19:27:32 -0700 2008 Mon Aug 11 05:59:45 -0700 2008 0 0 false false Thu Nov 19 01:46:17 -0800 2009 Thu Nov 19 01:46:17 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Sat Nov 07 11:55:54 -0800 2009 Sat Nov 07 11:56:04 -0800 2009 5 0 false false Fri Nov 06 11:34:54 -0800 2009 Fri Nov 06 11:34:54 -0800 2009 5 0 false false Sun Nov 01 20:01:26 -0800 2009 Sun Nov 01 20:01:26 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Tue Oct 27 14:58:55 -0700 2009 Tue Oct 27 14:58:55 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Thu Oct 22 05:23:58 -0700 2009 Thu Oct 22 05:23:58 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Sun Oct 18 06:38:58 -0700 2009 Sun Oct 18 06:38:58 -0700 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=48271