Literary Lunch

William Robertson Davies was born on August 28, 1913 in Thamesville, Ontario, Canada. His father was a Canadian senator and a newspaperman. Davies attended UCC in Toronto, a private boys school. After high school, he attended Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. In 1938, he graduated with a B.Lit from Balliol College in Oxford, England. After graduation, he worked as an actor. In 1940, he married Brenda Mathews and the two returned to Canada. He worked briefly as the literary editor for Saturday Night magazine. In 1942, he became the editor of the Peterborough Examiner newspaper. He and several family members got together and bought several newspaper, radio stations and television stations. He was one of the founding members of The Stratford Festival in Canada. In 1960, he taught at Trinity College, part of the University of Toronto. He became the founding master of Massey College at the University in 1963, he remained there until he retired in 1980.

Robertson Davies published his first book in 1947; a non-fiction book called Shakespeare for Young Players. In 1948, he wrote his first play Eros at Breakfast. The play went on to be named best Canadian play by the Dominion Drama Festival. He went on to write several other plays. His first novel was Tempest-Tost (1941), this book, as well as Leaven of Malice (1954) and Mixture of Frailties (1958) became known as the Salterton Trilogy. Leaven of Malice won the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour. In 1970, he wrote the first book in the Deptford Trilogy, Fifth Business ; other book in the trilogy were The Manticore (1970) and World of Wonders (1975). World of Wonders won the Governor General’s Award. When he retired from teaching in 1980, Davies started yet another trilogy, The Cornish Trilogy. This consists of Rebel Angels (1981), What’s Bred in the Bone (1985), and The Lyre of Orpheus (1988). What’s Bred in the Bone was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. His last book was The Cunning Man in 1994.

Robertson Davies died on December 2, 1995.

Frederic Ogden Nash was born on August 19, 1902 in Rye, New York. He briefly attended Harvard University in 1920, but dropped out after a year. In 1925 he began working as an editor at Doubleday. He worked at The New Yorker magazine temporarily in 1932. In 1933, he married Frances Leonard; they had two daughters. In 1950, Nash was elected to the National Institute of Arts and Letters. He was honored with a US postage stamp in 2002.

Ogden Nash’s first published book was a children’s book called The Cricket of Caradon (1925). His first poem, Spring Comes to Murray Hill , was published in 1930. His first collection of poems was published under the title of Hard Lines (1931). Nash published 19 books of poetry in all and several children’s books. He also wrote the lyrics for a Broadway play; One Touch of Venus featured music written by Kurt Weil.

Ogden Nash died on May 19, 1971 of Crohn’s Disease.

Raymond Thornton Chandler was born on July 23, 1888 in Chicago, Illinois. In 1895 his parents divorced and he moved to London, England with his mother. From 1900 to 1905, Chandler attended Dulwich College. After graduation he spent a year in France studying French, followed by a year in Germany studying German.  He later worked as a reporter for the London Daily News before returning to the United States in 1912. He studied bookkeeping at night school and began working as an accountant at the LA Creamery.  During World War I, he enlisted in the Canadian Army. In 1919, Chandler began an affair with Crissy Pascal; they were married in 1924 after her divorce became final.

Raymond Chandler’s first poem, The Unknown Love, was published in 1908 in the Chambers Journal.  In the 30’s he had many of his short stories featuring private eye Phillip Marlowe were published in pulp magazines such as Black Musk. Chandler’s first novel, The Big Sleep , was published in 1939.  It was the first novel featuring Marlowe; it was later made into a film starring Humphrey Bogart. His next novel, Farewell, My Lovely, was published in 1940. In 1943, Chandler co-wrote the screenplay for the movie Double Indemnity with Billy Wilder. His last novel, Playback, was published in 1958.

Raymond Chandler died on March 26, 1959.