It seems Dunny did not appreciate the portrait of himself and wishes to correct the impression that he is “a typical old schoolmaster doddering into retirement with tears in his eyes and a drop hanging from his nose”.īut what most galls me is the patronizing, dismissive tone of the piece, as if I had never had a life outside the classroom, had never risen to the full stature of a man, had never rejoiced or sorrowed or known love or hate… In fact, what we are reading is a report to a headmaster in response to an “idiotic piece that appeared in the College Chronicle in the issue of midsummer 1969″. The bigger pictureįrom this exciting start, the book suddenly expands into a wider view as we learn that Dunny is now in his early 70s and has recently retired as a teacher. They do not see who threw the snowball - no accusations or confessions are made - but Dunny is plagued by guilt because of two shocking outcomes: Mrs Dempster is pregnant and the fall results in her baby being born prematurely she also spends the rest of her life as a “simpleton”.įrom this one incident, Dunny finds himself forever tied to three people: Percy, who threw the stone Mrs Dempster, who he helped carry home on his sled and Paul, the premature baby, who grows up to become one of the world’s leading illusionists.
Her name is Mrs Mary Dempster and she is out taking a stroll with her husband, the local Baptist minister. She cries out and then collapses to the ground. Percy throws this dangerous snowball at Dunny, who ducks to avoid it, and it hits a woman, walking nearby, on the back of the head. Hidden in one of the snowballs is a stone. He is returning from a sledding adventure with his friend (and occasional enemy) Percy Boyd Staunton and snowballs are being thrown.
on 27 December 1908” and he is “ten years and seven months old”. The novel opens by recounting a rather compelling and ultimately seminal moment in Dunny’s life: It is “5:58 o’clock p.m. The title refers to the idea of a person being neither hero nor heroine, confidante or villain, but still being a vital part of a plot - without them, the denouement or resolution would not happen.Īnd that is the perfect description of the role with which our narrator, Dunstan “Dunny” Ramsay, fulfills - he is the “fifth business”. It is the first volume of the Deptford Trilogy, but can be read as a standalone novel. Fiction – paperback Penguin Modern Classics 272 pages 2005.įirst published in 1970, Robertson Davies’ Fifth Business is a Canadian literature classic and listed in Peter Boxall’s 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die.
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