Editing Robertson Davies

{{Short description|Canadian novelist}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2023}}
{{Infobox writer <!-- for more information see [[:Template:Infobox writer/doc]] -->
| name         = Robertson Davies
| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=CAN|CC|OOnt|FRSL|FRSC|size=100%}}
| image        = Robertson Davies (Canadian author and journalist).jpg
| caption      = Davies in 1982
| birth_date   = {{birth date|1913|08|28|df=yes}} 
| birth_place  = [[Thamesville, Ontario]], Canada
| death_date   = {{death date and age|1995|12|2|1913|8|28|df=yes}}
| death_place  = [[Orangeville, Ontario]], Canada
| occupation   = Journalist, playwright, professor, critic, novelist
| alma_mater   = [[Queen's University at Kingston|Queen's University]] (did not graduate)<br> [[Balliol College, Oxford]]
| spouse       = [[Brenda Davies|Brenda Ethel Davies]] (m. 1940, 1917–2013)
| children     = 3
| genre        = Novels, plays, essays and reviews
| notableworks = ''[[The Deptford Trilogy]]'', ''[[The Cornish Trilogy]]'', ''[[The Salterton Trilogy]]''
}}

'''William Robertson Davies''' {{post-nominals|country=CAN|CC|OOnt|FRSL|FRSC}} (28 August 1913 – 2 December 1995) was a Canadian novelist, playwright, critic, journalist, and professor. He was one of Canada's best known and most popular authors and one of its most distinguished "[[Intellectual#Man of Letters|men of letters]]", a term Davies gladly accepted for himself.<ref>Responding to [[Peter Gzowski]]'s query as to whether he accepted the label, Davies said, "I would be delighted to accept it. In fact, I think it's an entirely honourable and desirable title, but you know people are beginning to despise it." Davis, J. Madison (ed.) (1989). ''Conversations with Robertson Davies''. Mississippi University Press. p. 99.</ref> Davies was the founding [[Master (college)|Master]] of [[Massey College, Toronto|Massey College]], a graduate [[residential college]] associated with the [[University of Toronto]].

==Biography==

===Early life===
Davies was born in Thamesville, Ontario, the third son of [[William Rupert Davies]] and Florence Sheppard McKay.<ref name="RD">{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/robertson-davies|title=Robertson Davies|encyclopedia=[[The Canadian Encyclopedia]]|access-date=8 September 2019}}</ref> Growing up, Davies was surrounded by books and lively language. His father, a member of the Canadian Senate from 1942 to his death in 1967, was a newspaperman from [[Welshpool]], [[Wales]], and both parents were voracious readers. He followed in their footsteps and read everything he could. He also participated in theatrical productions as a child, where he developed a lifelong interest in drama.

He spent his formative years in [[Renfrew, Ontario]] (and renamed it as "Blairlogie", in his novel ''What's Bred in the Bone''); many of the novel's characters are named after families he knew there. He attended [[Upper Canada College]] in Toronto from 1926 to 1932 and while there attended services at the [[Church of St. Mary Magdalene (Toronto)|Church of St. Mary Magdalene]].<ref>[http://us.penguingroup.com/static/rguides/us/cunning_man.html Penguin USA: Book Club Reading Guides: The Cunning Man] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060427121806/http://us.penguingroup.com/static/rguides/us/cunning_man.html |date=27 April 2006 }}</ref> He would later leave the [[Presbyterian Church in Canada|Presbyterian Church]] and join [[Anglican Church of Canada|Anglicanism]] over objections to [[Calvinist]] theology. Davies later used his experience of the ceremonial of High Mass at St. Mary Magdalene's in his novel ''The Cunning Man''.

After Upper Canada College, he studied at [[Queen's University, Canada|Queen's University]] at [[Kingston, Ontario|Kingston]], Ontario, from 1932 until 1935. According to the ''[[Queen's University Journal]]'' Davies enrolled as a special student not working towards a degree, because he was unable to pass the mathematics component of Queen's entrance exam.<ref name=queensjournal2010-06-29/>  At Queen's he wrote for the student paper, ''[[The Queen's Journal]]'', where he wrote a literary column. He left Canada to study at [[Balliol College, Oxford]], where he received a BLitt degree in 1938. The next year he published his thesis, ''[[Shakespeare's Boy Actors]]'', and embarked on an acting career outside London. In 1940, he played small roles and did literary work for the director at the [[Old Vic|Old Vic Repertory Company]] in London. Also that year, Davies married Australian [[Brenda Davies|Brenda Mathews]], whom he had met at Oxford, and who was then working as [[Stage management|stage manager]] for the theatre.<ref name="RD"/> They spent their honeymoon in the Welsh countryside at [[Fronfraith Hall]], [[Abermule]], [[Montgomery, Powys|Montgomery]], the family house owned by Rupert Davies.<ref>{{cite book |editor-last=English |editor-first=E. |year=1999 |title=A Collected History of the Communities of Llandyssil, Abermule and Llanmerewig |publisher=Llandyssil Community Council}} Section 6, pt. 1.</ref>

Davies's early life provided him with themes and material to which he would often return in his later work, including the theme of Canadians returning to England to finish their education, and the theatre.

===Middle years===
Davies and his new bride returned to Canada in 1940, where he took the position of literary [[editing|editor]] at ''[[Saturday Night (magazine)|Saturday Night]]'' magazine. Two years later, he became editor of the ''[[Peterborough Examiner]]'' in the small city of [[Peterborough, Ontario|Peterborough]], Ontario, northeast of Toronto. Again he was able to mine his experiences here for many of the characters and situations which later appeared in his plays and novels.<ref name="RD"/>

Davies, along with family members William Rupert Davies and Arthur Davies, purchased several media outlets. Along with the ''Examiner'' newspaper, they owned the ''[[Kingston Whig-Standard]]'' newspaper, [[CKRU (AM)|CHEX-AM]], [[CKWS-AM]], [[CHEX-TV]], and [[CKWS-TV]].

During his tenure as editor of the ''Examiner'', which lasted from 1942 to 1955 (he subsequently served as publisher from 1955 to 1965), Davies published a total of 18 books, produced several of his own plays, and wrote articles for various journals.<ref name="RD"/> Davies set out his theory of acting in his ''[[Shakespeare for Young Players]]'' (1947), and then put theory into practice when he wrote ''[[Eros at Breakfast]]'', a one-act play which was named best Canadian play of the year by the 1948 [[Dominion Drama Festival]].<ref name="RDPlay">{{cite book|title=Robertson Davies, Playwright: A Search for the Self on the Canadian Stage|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2wSfrq9cM_QC&pg=PA19 |last=Stone-Blackburn |first=Susan |location=Vancouver |publisher=University of British Columbia Press |year=1985 |isbn=0-7748-0211-1}}</ref>

''Eros at Breakfast'' was followed by ''[[Fortune, My Foe]]'' in 1949 and ''At My Heart's Core'', a three-act play, in 1950. Meanwhile, Davies was writing humorous essays in the ''Examiner'' under the pseudonym [[Samuel Marchbanks]]. Some of these were collected and published in ''[[The Diary of Samuel Marchbanks]]'' (1947), ''[[The Table Talk of Samuel Marchbanks]]'' (1949), and later in ''[[Samuel Marchbanks' Almanack]]'' (1967). An omnibus edition of the three Marchbanks books, with new notes by the author, was published under the title ''[[The Papers of Samuel Marchbanks]]'' in 1985.<ref name="RDCB&A">{{cite web|title=Robertson Davies Canadian Books & Authors|url=http://www.canadianauthors.net/d/davies_robertson/|website=canadianauthors.net|publisher=Canadian Books & Authors|access-date=7 October 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151008143627/http://www.canadianauthors.net/d/davies_robertson/|archive-date=8 October 2015}}</ref>

During the 1950s, Davies played a major role in launching the [[Stratford Festival of Canada|Stratford Shakespearean Festival of Canada]]. He served on the Festival's board of governors, and collaborated with the Festival's director, Sir [[Tyrone Guthrie]], in publishing three books about the Festival's early years.<ref name="RD"/><ref>{{cite web|title=Stratford Festival|url=https://www2.stratfordfestival.ca/about/impact.aspx?id=1673|website=stratfordfestival.ca|publisher=Stratford Festival|access-date=9 October 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151015204125/https://www2.stratfordfestival.ca/about/impact.aspx?id=1673|archive-date=15 October 2015}}</ref>

Although his first love was drama and he had achieved some success with his occasional humorous essays, Davies found his greatest success in fiction. His first three novels, which later became known as [[The Salterton Trilogy]], were ''[[Tempest-Tost]]'' (1951, originally conceived as a play), ''[[Leaven of Malice]]'' (1954, also the basis of the unsuccessful play ''Love and Libel'') which won the [[Stephen Leacock Award|Stephen Leacock Award for Humour]], and ''[[A Mixture of Frailties]]'' (1958).<ref name="RDCB&A"/> These novels explored the difficulty of sustaining a cultural life in Canada, and life on a small-town newspaper, subjects of which Davies had first-hand knowledge. In a 1959 essay on Nabokov's Lolita, he wrote that she was a corrupt child taking advantage of a weak adult.

===1960s===
[[File:Massey college.jpg|thumb|Exterior of the college from the southeast on Hoskin Avenue, showing residence of the master]]
In 1960, Davies joined [[University of Trinity College|Trinity College]] at the University of Toronto, where he would teach literature until 1981. The following year he published a collection of essays on literature, ''[[A Voice From the Attic]]'', and was awarded the [[Lorne Pierce Medal]] for his literary achievements.<ref name="RD"/>

[[File:Robertson Davies in 1961.jpg|thumb|Davies in 1961]]
In 1963, he became the Master of [[Massey College, Toronto|Massey College]], the University of Toronto's new graduate college.<ref name="RD"/> During his stint as Master, he initiated a tradition of writing and telling [[ghost story|ghost stories]] at the yearly Christmas celebrations.<ref>{{cite book|title=A Bibliography of Robertson Davies|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RQM_BAAAQBAJ&pg=RA1-PR13 |first1=Carl |last1=Spedoni |first2=Judith Skelton |last2=Grant |author-link2=Judith Skelton Grant |publisher=University of Toronto Press |year=2014 |isbn=978-1442667280}}</ref> These stories were later collected in the book ''[[High Spirits (short story collection)|High Spirits]]'' (1982).<ref name="RDCB&A"/>

===1970s===

Davies drew on his interest in [[Jungian psychology]] to create ''[[Fifth Business]]'' (1970), a novel that relies heavily on Davies's own experiences, his love of [[Mythology|myth]] and [[magic and religion|magic]], and his knowledge of small-town [[mores]]. The narrator, like Davies, is of immigrant Canadian background, with a father who runs the town paper. The book's characters act in roles that roughly correspond to Jungian [[archetypes]] according to Davies's belief in the predominance of spirit over the things of the world.<ref name="RD"/>

Davies built on the success of ''Fifth Business'' with two more novels: ''[[The Manticore]]'' (1972), a novel cast largely in the form of a [[Jungian analysis]] (for which he received that year's [[Governor General's Award|Governor General's Literary Award]]),<ref name="NPRD">{{cite news|title=Canadian Novelist Robertson Davies Honoured with Postage Stamp|url=http://news.nationalpost.com/arts/books/canadian-novelist-robertson-davies-honoured-with-postage-stamp|access-date=15 October 2015|first=David Rockne |last=Corrigan |date=28 August 2013|work=National Post}}</ref> and ''[[World of Wonders (novel)|World of Wonders]]'' (1975). Together these three books came to be known as ''[[The Deptford Trilogy]]''.

===1980s and 1990s===
When Davies retired from his position at the university, his seventh novel, a satire of academic life, ''[[The Rebel Angels]]'' (1981), was published, followed by ''[[What's Bred in the Bone]]'' (1985) which was short-listed for the [[Booker Prize]] for fiction in 1986.<ref name="NPRD"/> ''[[The Lyre of Orpheus (novel)|The Lyre of Orpheus]]'' (1988) follows these two books in what became known as ''[[The Cornish Trilogy]]''.<ref name="RDCB&A"/>

During his retirement from academe he continued to write novels which further established him as a major figure in the literary world: ''[[Murther and Walking Spirits]]'' (1991) and ''[[The Cunning Man]]'' (1994).<ref name="RDCB&A"/> A third novel in what would have been a further trilogy – the Toronto Trilogy – was in progress at the time of Davies's death.<ref name="RD"/> He also realized a long-held dream when he penned the [[libretto]] to [[Randolph Peters]]' opera: ''[[The Golden Ass (opera)|The Golden Ass]]'', based on ''[[The Golden Ass|The Metamorphoses]]'' of [[Apuleius|Lucius Apuleius]], just like that written by one of the characters in Davies's 1958 ''A Mixture of Frailties''. The opera was performed by the [[Canadian Opera Company]] at the [[Hummingbird Centre]] in Toronto, in April 1999, several years after Davies's death.<ref>{{cite news|title=The Golden Ass|url=https://variety.com/1999/film/reviews/the-golden-ass-1200457738/|work=Variety|access-date=15 October 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151015204518/http://variety.com/1999/film/reviews/the-golden-ass-1200457738/|archive-date=15 October 2015|url-status=live |first=Mira |last=Friedlander |date=17 May 1999}}</ref>

In its obituary, ''[[The Times]]'' wrote: "Davies encompassed all the great elements of life&nbsp;... His novels combined deep seriousness and psychological inquiry with fantasy and exuberant mirth."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.penguin.ca/nf/Author/AuthorPage/0,,1000008384,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120112001619/http://www.penguin.ca/nf/Author/AuthorPage/0%2C%2C1000008384%2C00.html |archive-date=12 January 2012 |title=Robertson Davies |website=Penguin.ca }}</ref> He remained close friends with [[John Kenneth Galbraith]], attending Galbraith's eighty-fifth birthday party in [[Boston]] in 1993,<ref>{{cite book |first=Richard |last=Parker |title=John Kenneth Galbraith: His Life, His Politics, His Economics |place=New York |publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux |year=2005 |pages=532ff photos}}</ref> and became so close a friend and colleague of the American novelist [[John Irving]] that Irving gave one of the scripture readings at Davies's funeral in the chapel of [[Trinity College, Toronto]]. He also wrote in support of [[Salman Rushdie]] when the latter was threatened by a ''[[fatwā]]''  from [[Ayatollah]] [[Ruhollah Khomeini]] of Iran in reaction to supposed anti-Islam expression in his novel ''[[The Satanic Verses]]''.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Rushdie File|url=https://archive.org/details/rushdiefile00lite|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/rushdiefile00lite/page/172 172]|access-date=8 October 2015|editor1-first=Lisa |editor1-last=Appignanesi |editor2-first=Sara |editor2-last=Maitland |publisher=Syracuse University Press |year=1990 |isbn=0-8156-2494-8}}</ref>

==Personal life==

Davies was married to Brenda Ethel Davies (1917–2013) in 1940 and survived by four grandchildren and three great-grandchildren from his three daughters Miranda Davies, Rosamond Bailey and author [[Jennifer Surridge]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2013/01/10/robertson_davies_wife_brenda_davies_dies_at_age_95.html |title=Robertson Davies' wife, Brenda Davies, dies at age 95 |work=The Star |first=Victoria |last=Ptashnick |date=10 January 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160605105959/https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2013/01/10/robertson_davies_wife_brenda_davies_dies_at_age_95.html |archive-date=5 June 2016 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/toronto/robertson-davies-mate-and-manager/article8368683/ |title=Brenda Davies (1917–2013): Robertson Davies' mate and manager |work=Globe and Mail |first=Noreen |last=Shanahan |date=7 February 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160630112800/http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/toronto/robertson-davies-mate-and-manager/article8368683/ |archive-date=30 June 2016 }}</ref>

Davies never learned to drive.<ref name=TheWhig2015-11-25/>  His wife Brenda routinely drove him to events and other excursions.

==Awards and recognition==
*Won the Dominion Drama Festival Award for best Canadian play in 1948 for ''Eros at Breakfast''.
*Won the Stephen Leacock Award for Humour in 1955 for ''Leaven of Malice''.
*Won the Lorne Pierce Medal for his literary achievements in 1961.
*Won the [[Governor General's Award for English-language fiction|Governor-General's Literary Award in the English language fiction]] category in 1972 for ''The Manticore''.
*Short-listed for the Booker Prize for Fiction in 1986 for ''What's Bred in the Bone''.
*Honorary Doctor of Letters, [[University of Oxford]], 1991.<ref name="RD"/>
*First Canadian to become an Honorary Member of the [[American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters]].<ref name="RD"/>
*Companion of the [[Order of Canada]].<ref name="RD"/>
*Park in Toronto named after him in 2007.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/park-named-after-robertson-davies/article20398324/ |title=Park named after Robertson Davies |work=Globe and Mail |date=31 May 2007 |first=Val |last=Ross}}</ref>

==Works==
{{refbegin|2}}

===Novels===
* [[The Salterton Trilogy]]
** ''[[Tempest-Tost]]'' (1951)
** ''[[Leaven of Malice]]'' (1954)
** ''[[A Mixture of Frailties]]'' (1958)
* [[The Deptford Trilogy]]
**''[[Fifth Business]]'' (1970)
**''[[The Manticore]]'' (1972)
**''[[World of Wonders (novel)|World of Wonders]]'' (1975)
* [[The Cornish Trilogy]]
**''[[The Rebel Angels]]'' (1981)
**''[[What's Bred in the Bone]]'' (1985)
**''[[The Lyre of Orpheus (novel)|The Lyre of Orpheus]]'' (1988)
* The "Toronto Trilogy" (incomplete)
**''[[Murther and Walking Spirits]]'' (1991)
**''[[The Cunning Man]]'' (1994)

===Essays===
'''Fictional essays'''
*''[[The Diary of Samuel Marchbanks]]'' (1947)
*''[[The Table Talk of Samuel Marchbanks]]'' (1949)
*''[[Samuel Marchbanks' Almanack]]'' (1967)
edited by the author into:
*''[[The Papers of Samuel Marchbanks]]'' (1985)

'''Criticism'''
*''[[Shakespeare's Boy Actors]]'' (1939) (as W. Robertson Davies)
*''[[Shakespeare for Young Players: A Junior Course]]'' (1942)
*''[[Renown at Stratford]]'' (1953) (with [[Tyrone Guthrie]])
*''[[Twice Have the Trumpets Sounded]]'' (1954) (with Tyrone Guthrie)
*''[[Thrice the Brindled Cat Hath Mew'd]]'' (1955) (with Tyrone Guthrie)
*''[[A Voice From the Attic]]'' (1960) also published as ''The Personal Art''
*''[[A Feast of Stephen]]'' (1970)
*''[[Stephen Leacock (criticism)|Stephen Leacock]]'' (1970)
*''[[One Half of Robertson Davies]]'' (1977)
*''The Enthusiasms of Robertson Davies'' (1979; revised 1990) (edited by [[Judith Skelton Grant]])
*''[[The Well-Tempered Critic (Davies)|The Well-Tempered Critic]]'' (1981) (edited by [[Judith Skelton Grant]])
*''[[The Mirror of Nature]]'' (1983)
*''[[Reading and Writing]]'' (1993) (two essays, later collected in ''The Merry Heart'')
*''[[The Merry Heart]]'' (1996)
*''[[Happy Alchemy]]'' (1997) (edited by [[Jennifer Surridge]] and [[Brenda Davies]])

===Plays===
*''[[Overlaid]]'' (1948)
*''[[Eros at Breakfast]]'' (1948)
*''[[Hope Deferred]]'' (1948)
*''King Phoenix'' (1948)
*''[[At the Gates of the Righteous]]'' (1949)
*''[[Fortune My Foe]]'' (1949)
*''[[The Voice of the People (play)|The Voice of the People]]'' (1949)
*''[[At My Heart's Core]]'' (1950)
*''[[A Masque of Aesop]]'' (1952)
*''[[Hunting Stuart]]'' (1955)
*''[[A Jig for the Gypsy]]'' (1955)
*''[[General Confession (play)|General Confession]]'' (1956)
*''[[A Masque of Mr. Punch]]'' (1963)
*''[[Question Time (play)|Question Time]]'' (1975)
*''[[Brothers in the Black Art]]'' (1981)

===Short story collection===
*''[[High Spirits (short story collection)|High Spirits]]'' (1982)

===Libretti===
*''[[Doctor Canon's Cure (opera)|Doctor Canon's Cure]]'' (1982)
*''[[Jezebel (oratorio)|Jezebel]]'' (1993)
*''[[The Golden Ass (opera)|The Golden Ass]]'' (1999)

===Letters and diaries===
*''[[For Your Eye Alone]]'' (2000) (edited by [[Judith Skelton Grant]])
*''Discoveries'' (2002) (edited by [[Judith Skelton Grant]])
*''A Celtic Temperament: Robertson Davies as Diarist'' (2015) (edited by Jennifer Surridge and Ramsay Derry)

===Collections===
*''Conversations with Robertson Davies'' (1989) (Edited by J. Madison Davis)
*''[[The Quotable Robertson Davies|The Quotable Robertson Davies: The Wit and Wisdom of the Master]]'' (2005) (collected by James Channing Shaw)
*''The Merry Heart: Reflections on Reading Writing, and the World of Books'' (New York: Viking, 1997). {{ISBN|9780670873661}}

{{refend}}

==References==

{{Reflist|30em|refs= 
<ref name=queensjournal2010-06-29>
{{cite news     
| url         = https://www.queensjournal.ca/story/2010-06-29/news/canadian-classics-come-queens/
| title       = Canadian classics come to Queen's: Famed author Robertson Davies' collection set to be displayed in library
| work        = Queen's University Journal
| author      = Labiba Haque
| date        = 29 June 2010
| access-date  = 5 January 2021
}}
</ref>

<ref name=TheWhig2015-11-25>
{{cite news     
| url         = https://www.thewhig.com/2015/11/25/a-great-canadian-diarist/wcm/7eb2f969-8762-715a-9788-10aa37023dfc
| title       = A great Canadian diarist
| work        = [[Kingston Whig Standard]]
| author      = Merilyn Simonds
| date        = 25 November 2015
| location    = [[Kingston, Ontario]]
| access-date  = 5 January 2021
| quote       = {{'}}Their marriage was quite a love story and she was incredibly supportive. She was his first reader, and she drove him everywhere — he never learned to drive — and she organized his life to his convenience. That’s why we included letters from when he went to Ireland. He was not very good at being away from her.{{'}}
}}
</ref>
}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite book |author-link=Judith Skelton Grant |last=Grant |first=Judith Skelton |title=Robertson Davies: Man of Myth |publisher=Viking |place=Toronto |year=1994 |isbn=0-670-82557-3}}

==External links==
{{wikiquote}}
*{{iblist name|id=617|name=Robertson Davies}}
*{{IMDb name|id=0203942|name=Robertson Davies}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20100603151729/http://library.queensu.ca/robertsondavies Robertson Davies' Personal Library] (Queen's University at Kingston)
* [http://central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.redirect?app=fonandcol&id=105869&lang=eng Robertson Davies fonds (R4939)] at [[Library and Archives Canada]]

{{Robertson Davies}}
{{Governor General's English fiction}}
{{World Fantasy Award Best Collection}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Davies, Robertson}}
[[Category:1913 births]]
[[Category:1995 deaths]]
[[Category:Canadian Anglicans]]
[[Category:Canadian literary critics]]
[[Category:Canadian monarchists]] <!-- See discussion. -->
[[Category:Canadian newspaper editors]]
[[Category:Canadian male journalists]]
[[Category:Canadian male novelists]]
[[Category:Canadian people of Scottish descent]]
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[[Category:Companions of the Order of Canada]]
[[Category:Converts to Anglicanism from Presbyterianism]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada]]
[[Category:Governor General's Award–winning fiction writers]]
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[[Category:Members of the Order of Ontario]]
[[Category:World Fantasy Award–winning writers]]
[[Category:People from Chatham-Kent]]
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[[Category:Upper Canada College alumni]]
[[Category:Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the University of Toronto]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Conservatory of Music]]
[[Category:Stephen Leacock Award winners]]
[[Category:20th-century Canadian novelists]]
[[Category:20th-century Canadian dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:Canadian male dramatists and playwrights]]
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[[Category:20th-century Canadian male writers]]
[[Category:Massey College, Toronto people]]