Rebel angels by Robertson Davies
The Rebel Angels by Robertson Davies
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I am reading this in a different version - one that has the Cornish trilogy in one volume, but want to record each book as a separate read, so this is not the same as the copy I am reading.
The Rebel Angels revolves around the execution of a difficult will. In this case, the estate is of one Francis Cornish, a fantastically rich patron and collector of Canadian art and a noted antiquarian bibliophile. A lost Rabelais manuscript is rumoured to be among his possessions, and his executors include the deliciously revolting Renaissance scholar Urquhart McVarish; Professor Clement Hollier, a classically middle-aged inhabitant of the ivory tower; and the Reverend Simon Darcourt, Davies's obligatory humanist clergyman. A heroine is provided in the form of Maria Theotoky, a beautiful Ph.D. student of Professor Hollier's. A rich, funny, and slightly ribald campus novel results, one that revels in the fustian of the now-vanished pre-postmodern university.
I found this book an interesting read - and really liked the way the inter relationships of the main characters was described. Parlablane is a key character in the novel who is not involved in the will, the interactions each of the key characters have with him, though, reveals a lot about him.
I found the move between the two voices that tell the story added to the experience, although for some reason assumed the first voice was male at first - which makes some of the early story very different if read with a male storyteller in mind rather than a female one! I leave you to read the book to see what I mean.
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