Into the Archives: The First Catch of the Year

LETTERS BETWEEN FATHER AND DAUGHTER: Robertson Davies & Miranda Davies Paperback – January 27, 2025

by Miranda Davies (Author, Editor)

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Robertson Davies had a remarkable literary career as one of Canada’s most distinguished novelists. This book shares a collection of fascinating letters written between Davies and his eldest daughter Miranda over a long period (1950-1994). These letters offer insights into Davies' private life, revealing his deep appreciation of theatre, his interest in Jungian psychology and his bond with Miranda. Davies and Miranda shared an interest in theatre, literature, music, psychology, and people. Throughout the book, this interest matures and evolves as father and daughter become closer through shared adulthood. Davies was a pre-eminent literary voice in Canada for more than half a century, while posthumous publications include plays and essays as well as two volumes of his letters and one of his diaries. This volume is a contribution to his wide-ranging literary legacy.

Miranda Davies took an honours degree in English at the University of Toronto and moved to London where she studied and performed as a singer. She then trained as a child analyst at the Society of Analytical Psychology, worked as a child psychotherapist in the National Health Service, taught and gave papers in the U.K. and abroad and served as Co-consultant to the Child Analytic Training from 1999 to 2006. She has co-edited two books and written a number of clinical papers published in professional journals. She is now retired in Gloucestershire. – Amazon. 

The first bit of Robertson Davies material I've got since 2021 (I think), and at 580 pages and 5x1.45x8 inches, it's quite a fat little brick. I ordered it less than a week ago, part of the post-Christmas flush, and it arrived today about 12:30 PM.  I'm in that strange little stretch of time between holiday hours and when 'regular time' winds up again and the daily schedule reasserts itself. Letters should help tame that floating feeling a bit.

Into the Archives: The Mills of the Gods

As long ago as April I knew of the coming of The Mills of the Gods by Tim Powers (published on December 2^nd), so when Kaitlyn asked me what I wanted for Christmas I had a ready answer. You can see the details about the book on that previous post; for here and now, suffice to it say it involves another one of Power’s ‘explorations of the strange bindings within historical circles.’ This time it’s of Paris between the World Wars. By a strange coincidence, Jimmy Akin on his yearly podcast episode Alone Together at Christmas answered a question about what he enjoyed reading, and he mentioned Tim Powers as one of the authors, with Expiration Date as one of his favorites of Power’s books he's read so far. I’ve read half of Mills already; it’s a real page turner. It was a Merry Christmas, indeed.

Into the Archive: The Burl Ives Song Book

The Burl Ives Song Book: American Song in Historical Perspective - 115 Songs Hardcover (Ballantine Books)– January 1, 1953

by Burl Ives (Author), Lamartine Le Goullon (Illustrator) 

Burl Ives (1909-1995)

This book has a little bit of history behind it. It was published in 1953, a time when you were as likely to find folk songs and folk singers in big city coffee houses as in any country barn party or 'opry'. As time went on, of course, folk music became more and more segregated into Country and Western, when it wasn’t simply used for its element of protest. Bob Dylan is sort of a living fossil (which is a good thing) from those early times, with Bruce Springsteen (as he grows older) following somewhat in his footsteps, from what I understand.

When we were kids, we had an LP by Burl Ives, Little White Duck and Other Children’s Favorites, which we played over and over. In the middle to late 1990’s John was particularly engaged with music and was very pleased to find a little 1963 paperback of The Burl Ives Songbook. 

(A cover like this, I seem to remember)

I borrowed it to loan to my friend Alan Peschke, because he was a musician and because he was a rabid pipe smoker and there was an old song, “Tobacco’s But an Indian Weed” that I thought that he’d like to see.

I must have been rather vague about the terms of the loan. Weeks and then months passed, until I was too embarrassed to ask for it back. Here is how he remembers the story on his blog, The Briar Files (http://briarfiles.blogspot.com/2008/09/featured-pipe-smoker-burl-ives.html ): “During his travels across the country, [Ives] also collected and cataloged many folk songs that may otherwise have been forgotten. Some of these were published in a collection of simple sheet music called The Burl Ives Songbook, which I happen to have a copy of (a gift from Brer of PowerOfBabel).” 

John was justly a little annoyed at my weakness, but it was rectified years later; he eventually got two hardback copies of The Burl Ives Song Book. Last night he gave one of these to me. For an over seventy-year-old book its paper dust jacket is in pretty good shape. So as the Gaffer might observe: “All’s well as ends better!”

Alan posted his cover of “Tobacco’s But an Indian Weed” on Youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--LcogONzuA&list=RD--LcogONzuA&start_radio=1