I had always meant to read Robertson Davies; my undergraduate English degree hadn't included Canadian literature. (And frankly, I tended to stick to Drama and Poetry for the lighter reading load...) One day I bit the bullet and this novel was the most readily available. I was enchanted by wit and quirkiness. When the man himself came to do a reading at the University of Victoria a couple of years later, I brought my ragged paperback copy along for him to sign. I don't think his agent was at all pleased; she wanted us to bring brand-new hardcovers of his latest publication. But this book started it for me, and I believe I've read everything he's written. ( )

Como en la anterior trilogia Depford, Davies no decepciona en esta rara, disparatada y humorística novela, desarrollada en la Universidad de San Juan y el Espíritu Santo, también conocida como "la entelequia" que además nos lleva a corretear por Internet en busca de más información sobre Rabelais y Paracelsus.
Hay dos historias diferentes, aunque unidas y entrelazadas. La primera nos lleva a conocer a varias figuras menores, Francis Cornish, que está muerto, y dos malvados personajes, Parlabane y Urquhart McVarish, conspiradores que son los que finalmente dan un giro final al desenlace de la novela.
Sin embargo la parte más interesante, se corresponde con dos profesores universitarios, Clement Hollier y Simon Darcourt, y su guapa y brillante alumna, Maria Theotoky, su fascinante madre gitana y finalmente el sobrino del difunto Francis Cornish, Arthur.
El argumento menor es que Cornish ha muerto dejando una fabulosa fortuna a varias instituciones incluida la Universidad de San Juan y el Espíritu Santo. Hollier, Harcourt y McVarish han sido nombrados albaceas para catalogar y disponer la maravillosa colección de pinturas y raros manuscritos. Entre los tesoros hay un manuscrito desconocido de Rabelais, que incluye unas cartas a Paracelso, además de descubrir el interés mutuo de ambos en la cabala.
La aparición de estos documentos es la llama que envuelve todas las envidias, codicia y diferentes intereses de los distintos personajes, y la historia es relatada en capítulos entrelazados por la brillante María y el bueno de Darcourt. Otra maravilla. ( )

In 1981, the year The Rebel Angels was written, Robertson Davies retired after eighteen years as Master of Massey College at the University of Toronto. He had also spent more than twenty years as editor and publisher of the Peterborough Examiner and was principal book reviewer for the weekly Saturday Night. He received many accolades including the Stephen Leacock Medal for humour, the Lorne Pierce Medal, The Governor-General’s Award, and 23 honorary degrees. He was made a Companion to the Order of Canada and was the first Canadian to become an Honorary Member of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. As a playwright and novelist he was one of Canada’s most admired authors. He described himself as a recluse. Robertson Davies died in Orangeville, Ontario in 1995.

Set in the exalted air of university life and written with the easy, down to earth style of a natural storyteller, the reader is transported into a world of colourful characters, theft, murder and love.

The title is taken from the story of the angels Samahazai and Azazel who betrayed the secrets of heaven to King Solomon and were thrown out of paradise. Unlike Lucifer who wreaked vengeance, they came to earth and taught tongues, healing, laws and hygiene and often succeeded with the “daughters of men”. Many parallels can be made with the learned men of St. John’s College who are not always what they seem. The cast includes characters such as the scholarly Clement Hollier, who knows what he wants but not how to get it, Ozias Froats, whose unusual research is almost an obsession and very much misunderstood, and John Parlabane, rogue and defrocked monk who claims he “went over the wall” to escape the confines of a monastic life. Woven into all their lives is the influence of Maria Theotoky, a lavishly beautiful student who is of Gypsy origin.

When wealthy art patron, Francis Cornish, dies and leaves his priceless collection in chaos it is up to his executors and university colleagues to sort the tempting hoard. One coveted item is missing but proving who has it is almost impossible. The eventual recovery reveals more than just theft.

Davies departed from the traditional style of first person narrative by changing the narrator in some chapters. This can be a little confusing at first but it is an effective method when there are a number of important characters whose points of view must be shown. His subtle and often zany humour pervades a story that is rich in character and laden with surprises. This is a book that reinforces his reputation as a first class storyteller. ( )

http://www.lonelymountain.net/books/j... ( )

I confess to being hooked by the first four lines:

“PARLABANE IS BACK.”
“What?”
“Hadn’t you heard? Parlabane is back.”
“Oh my God!”

I also confess to having never thought of Canada as being so potentially rich in character and setting until I read The Rebel Angels. No doubt, that was a fault on my part. Not only does our neighbor to the north go up a peg, but I wager that no careful reader of this novel will ever think of the gifts of the second and third Magi in the same way again. Parlabane himself is so gross and fascinating that his relative absence in the middle parts of the book induced a bit of boredom, but gypsies and the shocking, funny and oddly moral conclusion redeem all. ( )