The Merry Heart: Selections 1980-1995

Patricia Morley is professor emerita of English and Canadian studies at
Concordia University, and the author of Kurlek, Margaret Laurence: The
Long Journey Home, and As Though Life Mattered: Leo Kennedy’s Story.

This lively collection of speeches, articles, and reviews is the nearest
thing to an autobiography that we are ever going to get from the late
Master of Massey College, who is the author of some 30 books, including
the magnificent Fifth Business and What’s Bred in the Bone. This
book’s title—which Davies had always wanted to use for one of his
works—is taken from Proverbs 17:22, which begins “A merry heart
doeth good like medicine.”

In a short introduction, Douglas Gibson describes these pieces
(selected by Gibson, by Davies himself, and by Davies’ wife, Brenda)
as “a cheerful mixture of ingredients” whose organizing principle is
simply “to allow the variety of Davies’ interests and concerns to
enjoy free rein.” The focus is on writing and reading. Davies
describes the latter activity as his “great refuge and solace.”

Like all of Davies’ writing, the pieces are marked by a keen
intelligence and a delicious, sardonic wit. Only fools, he believed,
“expect to be happy all the time.” By fireside or bed, A Merry Heart
offers many hours of pleasure and provocation.