Fifth Business

Fifth Business (1970) is the first novel of the Deptford Trilogy, a series of books written by the noted Canadian novelist Robertson Davies which tread a line between normalcy and magic realism, which trace the chaotic consequences of a single act of cruelty on the lives of three young men from the small Canadian village of Deptford.

The novel takes the form of a letter from retired schoolteacher Dunstan Ramsey to his unnamed headmaster; annoyed at being portrayed during his own retirement party as a doddering old geezer who'd never had any sort of life outside of the classroom, Dunstan begins to relate his life's story to illustrate that the younger colleagues who dismiss him don't know the first thing about what he's really like. So he begins with the winter day in his childhood when he and his sometime-friend Percy Boyd Staunton were quarreling more fiercely than usual: Percy throws a snowball with a rock in it, Dunstan ducks, and the snowball strikes a passing woman, Mary Dempster, the heavily pregnant young wife of the local parson. The resulting injury brings her to premature labour, causes her severe mental trauma, and forever alters the lives of three boys associated with the event: Dunstan, Percy, and Mary's premature son Paul Dempster.


 * Abusive Parents - By modern standards, Dunny's mother is this, and although Paul's father the Reverend Amasa Dempster has decent intentions, he comes off as a combination of this and a passive-aggressive Church Militant.
 * All of the Other Reindeer - The Deptford villagers to Paul Dempster, after the incident at the gravel pit with his mother. Dunstan is pretty much the only person in the whole village who still tries to be kind to him after that.
 * Awesome McCoolname - Magnus Eisengrim!
 * Beauty Equals Goodness: Subverted every which way with Liesl. While she's far from being good (Dunstan even compares her to the Devil at one point), she's certainly brilliant, fascinating, and apparently quite the lover despite her simian appearance, and Dunstan winds up having an enduring, fulfilling, and intellectually complex relationship with her, a sharp contrast to the pretty but shallow "one that got away", Leola.
 * Bi the Way - Liesl and Faustina. Given the way it was revealed and the huge crush he had on Faustina at the time, Dunstan was really not happy about it.
 * Broken Ace: Boy, as it turns out.
 * Deadpan Snarker - Dunstan Ramsey. It's actually his trademark and first line of defense as a child.
 * Driven to Suicide -
 * The Ditz - Leola Staunton. Much more tragic than most instances of this trope.
 * Foil - Boy to Dunstan, over the course of their entire lives. Strangely, a lot of the time they don't actually dislike each other, and usually get along despite being diametrically opposed in personality.
 * Girl-On-Girl Is Hot: Averted hard in Dunstan's reaction to finding out about Liesl and Faustina.
 * I Kiss Your Hand - Dunny to Faustina.
 * I Have Many Names - Being one of the "twice-born" is an important thread through the book, especially towards the end, and especially regarding Paul Dempster
 * Jerkass - Boy, although he's much more sympathetic than most. He screws up his family something fierce, has a very high opinion of himself to the end, and utterly refuses to take any sort of responsibility for ruining the lives of the Dempsters.
 * Given Ramsey's often uncharitable narration, almost every major character in the book has their share of Jerkass moments, and he's brutally honest about his own shortcomings and petty motivations.
 * Karma Houdini - Subverted with Boy. It looks like his cruel behaviour during childhood and his adult years have rewarded him with wealth, fame, and position in Canadian society.
 * Meaningful Rename – Boyd Staunton becomes Boy, an icon of youthful success, while Dunstable Ramsay starts calling himself Dunstan, after Saint Dunstan, and
 * My Dad Can Beat Up Your Dad - Staunton to Ramsey, when they were both 10, at the start of the book.
 * My Greatest Failure - Dunstan feels responsible for Mrs. Dempster's mental illness and Paul's premature birth.
 * POV Sequel - The Manticore mostly covers the same chronological period as Fifth Business, but told from the perspective of David Staunton; key scenes from the first novel take on a completely different perspective in his eyes.
 * Punny Name - the pseudonyms that Danny gave to his past lovers: Anges Day, Gloria Mundy, and Libby Doe (puns on the Latin phrases: Agnus Dei, Gloria Mundi, and Libido).
 * Stage Magician - Dunstant tries to do this and fails hard.
 * Unlucky Childhood Friend: Dunstan, but since he stays involved in Boy and Leola's lives enough to watch her ungraceful aging and the collapse of their marriage, he doesn't regret it nearly as much as some do.
 * What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic: Davies is extremely interested in the works of Carl Jung, basically every character is a Jungian archetype. For the sequel The Manticore, Davies dropped the middleman and plotted the novel as a transcript of an extended Jungian analysis session.
 * Wouldn't Hit a Girl: Subverted. Dunstan has a knock-down drag-out fist fight with Liesl after she comes on to him in the aftermath of the Faustina incident. They...make up later.