William Robertson Davies was born on August 28, 1913, and died on December 2, 1995. He was a Canadian writer, playwright, critic, journalist, and teacher. He was one of Canada’s most well-known and popular authors and a respected "man of letters," a title he was happy to use for himself. Davies was the first leader of Massey College, a graduate school connected to the University of Toronto.

Biography

Davies was born in Thamesville, Ontario, as the third son of William Rupert Davies and Florence Sheppard McKay. As a child, he lived in a home filled with books and lively conversation. His father was a member of the Canadian Senate from 1942 until his death in 1967. His father was originally from Welshpool, Wales, and worked as a newspaper writer. Both of Davies’s parents loved reading, and he followed their example by reading widely. He also took part in school plays, which sparked his lasting interest in drama.

Davies grew up in Renfrew, Ontario, a place he later called "Blairlogie" in his novel What's Bred in the Bone. Many characters in this book were inspired by people he knew in Renfrew. He attended Upper Canada College in Toronto from 1926 to 1932 and attended services at the Church of St. Mary Magdalene. Later, he left the Presbyterian Church and joined the Anglican Church because he disagreed with certain religious beliefs. He later used his experiences at St. Mary Magdalene’s in his novel The Cunning Man.

After Upper Canada College, Davies studied at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, from 1932 to 1935. He enrolled as a special student because he struggled with the math part of the entrance exam. At Queen’s, he wrote for the student newspaper, The Queen’s Journal, where he wrote a column about literature. In 1938, he went to Oxford University in England, where he earned a BLitt degree. The next year, he published his thesis, Shakespeare's Boy Actors, and began working as an actor in London. In 1940, he played small roles at the Old Vic Repertory Company and married Brenda Mathews, an Australian stage manager he met at Oxford. The couple spent their honeymoon at Fronfraith Hall, a house owned by Davies’s family in Wales.

Davies returned to Canada in 1940 and became the literary editor of Saturday Night magazine. In 1942, he became the editor of the Peterborough Examiner, a newspaper in Peterborough, Ontario. He used his experiences in Peterborough to create characters and situations for his later plays and novels.

Davies and his family members, William Rupert Davies and Arthur Davies, owned several media outlets, including newspapers, radio stations, and television channels.

While working as editor of the Examiner from 1942 to 1955, Davies wrote 18 books, produced plays, and wrote articles for journals. He wrote about acting in Shakespeare for Young Players (1947) and later created a play called Eros at Breakfast, which won the best Canadian play award in 1948. He also wrote humorous essays under the name Samuel Marchbanks, which were later published in books like The Diary of Samuel Marchbanks (1947) and The Papers of Samuel Marchbanks (1985).

In the 1950s, Davies helped start the Stratford Shakespearean Festival of Canada. He worked with the festival’s director, Sir Tyrone Guthrie, to write books about the festival’s early years.

Although Davies loved drama and wrote humorous essays, his greatest success came from his novels. His first three novels, Tempest-Tost (1951), Leaven of Malice (1954), and A Mixture of Frailties (1958), became known as The Salterton Trilogy. These books explored themes like the challenges of cultural life in Canada and the work of small-town newspapers, topics Davies knew well.

In 1960, Davies began teaching literature at Trinity College, University of Toronto, where he taught until 1981. He also wrote a book of essays called A Voice From the Attic and received the Lorne Pierce Medal for his literary work.

In 1963, he became the Master of Massey College, a graduate school at the University of Toronto. During his time there, he started a tradition of telling ghost stories at Christmas, which were later published in High Spirits (1982).

Davies used his interest in Jungian psychology to write Fifth Business (1970), a novel that reflected his own life and his love for myths and small-town life. This book, along with The Manticore (1972) and World of Wonders (1975), became known as The Deptford Trilogy.

After retiring from teaching, Davies wrote The Rebel Angels (1981), a novel about academic life, and What's Bred in the Bone (1985), which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. His later books, The Lyre of Orpheus (1988), Murther and Walking Spirits (1991), and The Cunning Man (1994), further established his reputation as a major writer.

Davies also wrote the libretto for an opera called The Golden Ass, based on a story by the ancient writer Lucius Apuleius. The opera was performed in Toronto in 1999, years after his death.

In a newspaper article about Davies’s life, The Times said his novels combined serious themes with fantasy and humor. He remained friends with John Kenneth Galbraith, a famous economist, and John Irving, a well-known novelist, who read at his funeral.

Personal life

Davies married Brenda Ethel Davies (1917–2013) in 1940. He has four grandchildren and three great-grandchildren from his three daughters: Miranda Davies, Rosamond Bailey, and author Jennifer Surridge. Davies never learned to drive. His wife, Brenda, often drove him to events and other outings.

Public lectures

In 1990, Davies gave the fifth Erasmus Lecture, called Literature and Moral Purpose. The lecture was supported by First Things magazine and the Institute on Religion and Public Life. During his talk, Davies discussed how literature, imagination, and ethics are connected. He explained that important stories play a key role in helping people understand what is right and wrong. His speech continued the Erasmus series’ focus on how culture and faith influence the way people think and act in society today.