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Writers & Company

Highlighting books and their authors, new works and old classics, fiction and non-fiction, the CBC Radio program Writers and Company is devoted to the world of reading. Hosted by thoughtful and knowledgeable broadcaster Eleanor Wachtel since its creation in 1991, the program features the best in the written word from Canada and around the world. CBC Digital Archives presents a selection of 12 programs from the 1990s.

The cinematic vision of Robertson Davies

Broadcast Date: Sept. 29, 1991

Robertson Davies has higher hopes for the afterlife than the "gorgeous vegetable existence" envisioned by so many. Best known for his Deptford Trilogy of the 1970s, Davies has a new book in 1991 – Murther and Walking Spirits, a tale told by a dead man. In a conversation with Eleanor Wachtel of CBC Radio's Writers and Company, Davies explains how the book uses film – "one of the great artistic developments of our era" – to explore what happens in the afterlife.  

The cinematic vision of Robertson Davies

• Fifth Business, the first book in the Deptford Trilogy and a staple of Canadian high school reading lists, was Davies's 22nd book. His previous works had mostly been met with indifference, but Fifth Business became a bestseller in the United States.

• Davies was nominated for the Booker Prize in 1986 for his novel What's Bred in the Bone.

• In this clip, Robertson Davies says he believes Murther and Walking Spirits will be his last novel. He was wrong; in 1994 he published The Cunning Man.

• Davies died on Dec. 2, 1995, but he had yet to debut another work: The Golden Ass, an opera for which he furnished the libretto. He had written the words but died before the music was ready; the Canadian Opera Company staged it in 1999 to positive reviews.

The cinematic vision of Robertson Davies

Medium: Radio

Program: Writers & Company

Broadcast Date: Sept. 29, 1991

Guest(s): Robertson Davies


Host: Eleanor Wachtel

Duration: 43:31

This clip was edited for copyright reasons.

Photo: AP Photo/Tom Keller

Last updated:
Aug. 13, 2008


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MediaTitle and dateDescription
Radio
3:53 		Oct. 14, 2001
Timothy Findley on the Stratford Festival 		Writer and actor Timothy Findley recalls the early days of the Stratford Festival.
Radio
39:23 		March 4, 2001
Saul Bellow, Nobel Prize laureate 		An American literary great with Canadian roots looks back.
Radio
9:18 		Feb. 27, 2000
Carol Shields on living with cancer 		Extraordinary writer of the ordinary, Carol Shields, talks about the challenges of living with breast cancer.
Radio
33:08 		May 23, 1999
Mordecai Richler's version 		Richler talks about honour, the Richler repertoire company, and his newest book Barney's Version in this Writers & Company interview with Eleanor Wachtel.
Radio
48:03 		March 29, 1998
A portrait of Henry James 		Three literary experts on the works of Henry James explore recent film adaptations of his novels.
Radio
48:11 		Nov. 9, 1997
Pat Barker's Regeneration 		The author of a First World War trilogy takes inspiration from her grandfather's experience.
Radio
35:10 		March 30, 1997
Ondaatje reads 		Novelist Michael Ondaatje reads from his Booker-winning The English Patient, now an Oscar-winning film.
Radio
41:21 		Jan. 19, 1997
Elie Wiesel: haunted by Auschwitz 		World-renowned author Elie Wiesel on his groundbreaking Holocaust memoir, Night, and his need to write about his experiences.
Radio
38:26 		Jan. 12, 1997
Barbara Kingsolver goes home 		The Kentucky-born author reads from a short story and a novel and talks about her own history.
Radio
47:56 		Nov. 10, 1996
Dawkins on Darwinism 		The author of The Selfish Gene explains why it's important to make science enjoyable and understandable to the public.
Radio
47:08 		Jan. 14, 1996
The Jane Austen panel 		Three writers debate the merits of a new crop of film adaptations of the works of 19th century novelist Jane Austen.
Radio
40:10 		Nov. 12, 1995
Richard Ford's 'sad happiness' 		The author of The Sportswriter and Independence Day talks about his Mississippi youth and his character Frank Bascombe.
Radio
31:20 		Nov. 20, 1994
The Book of Secrets, books of war 		On this week's Writers and Company: award-winning novelist M.G. Vassanji and war historian John Keegan.
Radio
50:08 		March 27, 1994
Noam Chomsky, linguist and thinker 		The dissident intellectual and linguist discusses the political beliefs he formed while very young and how they have persisted.
Radio
44:55 		Dec. 22, 1991
Garrison and ghosts 		Garrison Keillor talks with Eleanor Wachtel about the intimacy of radio; Michael Cox discusses Victorian ghosts.
17 results available   . 1  . 2