Fifth Business (1970) is a novel by Canadian writer Robertson Davies. It is the first installment of the Deptford Trilogy and explores the life of the narrator, Dunstan Ramsay. It is Davies’ best-known novel and has been ranked as his finest.
Consequently, what does Dunstan mean by the expression fifth business?
I get what fifth business means. – someone who is important but neither a hero or villain. – someone who stays in the ‘sideline’ of their lives, but at the same time, improving the lives of others around him.
Subsequently, question is, who is Liesl in fifth business? Liesl is a hideously ugly but highly intelligent woman who manages Paul’s magic show. She has read Dunstan’s work on saints and chooses him to write the autobiography of Magnus Eisengrim. Dunstan is physically repulsed by her, yet he admires her intellect. One night she tries to seduce him, but Dunstan fights her off.
Beside this, what does it mean to be fifth business?
Here is the definition that Davies offers in a preface: “Those roles which, being neither those of Hero nor Heroine, Confidante nor Villain, but which were nonetheless essential to bring about the Recognition or the denouement, were called the Fifth Business in drama and opera companies organized according to the old
Where does fifth business take place?
Dunstan begins his memoir with his childhood in Deptford, Ontario, in which days he went by the name Dunstable. Though a seemingly quaint small town, Deptford has an ugliness in its conformity and sanctimony. The first event of the story is also the one that stays with Dunstan the rest of his life.
2 Related Question Answers Found
Who wrote Fifth Business?
Robertson Davies
How does Leola die in fifth business?
Leola eventually chooses Boy and marries him, but as he grows more and more successful she realizes she is not a good match for him, and becomes depressed. She attempts suicide after finding out about Boy’s affairs, but survives. She becomes ill some years later, and dies.