Fifth Business by Robertson Davies
Published 1970 · 429 pages · 103,353 words · about 10 hours at an average pace · literary fiction, psychological novel, Bildungsroman, Canadian literature
How hard is Fifth Business to read?
Fifth Business scores 77 out of 100 for difficulty on ReadingRate, making it very challenging. The score is a weighted composite of nine measures: four of how hard the prose is to parse, five of how hard the meaning is to extract.
- Vocabulary: 75 out of 100
- The narrator, a history master and polymath, employs a precise and often academic vocabulary, including specialized terms from printing, conjuring, and hagiology. The text frequently uses sophisticated and sometimes archaic diction, demanding a robust vocabulary from the reader.
- Sentence structure: 82 out of 100
- Sentences are consistently long and intricate, characterized by multiple subordinate clauses, parenthetical asides, and extensive use of semi-colons to link complex ideas. This hypotactic style creates a dense, reflective prose that requires sustained attention.
- Abstraction: 80 out of 100
- The narrative is deeply interwoven with philosophical, psychological, and theological reflections. The central concept of 'Fifth Business' itself is an abstract framework for understanding life roles, and the narrator frequently analyzes events through lenses of myth, history, religion, and identity.
- Information density: 78 out of 100
- The text is packed with layers of narrative, character observation, psychological introspection, and cultural critique, with almost every event serving as a springboard for deeper analysis. The narrator's continuous internal monologue and academic references create a high conceptual load per page.
- Narrative indirection: 78 out of 100
- The memoir is narrated by Dunstan Ramsay, who frequently admits to biases, selective memory, and deliberate 'historical bias,' requiring readers to constantly infer the full truth. His internal reflections often contradict external perceptions.
- Symbolic density: 85 out of 100
- The narrative is rich with explicit and implicit symbolism, beginning with the definition of 'Fifth Business' itself as an allegorical framework. Key elements like the snowball, Mrs. Dempster as saint/Madonna, the gravel pit as 'Protestant Hell,' and Dunstan's physical wounds all carry significant meaning beyond their literal presence.
- Ironic distance: 78 out of 100
- Dunstan Ramsay maintains a consistent and often biting ironic distance from himself, other characters, and societal expectations. His sardonic commentary and self-awareness of his own 'spite' and 'cankered wretch' nature position the reader to question surface appearances throughout.
- Resolution withholding: 75 out of 100
- The narrative deliberately leaves many questions open. The 'truth' of Mrs. Dempster's miracles and 'simplicity' is debated and left for the reader to interpret, as is the ultimate fate of Paul Dempster. The memoir format implies an ongoing quest for self-understanding without definitive closure.
- Structural complexity: 68 out of 100
- The memoir employs a non-linear chronology, frequently jumping between Dunstan's childhood, his war experiences, and his present as an older man. While maintaining a single first-person perspective, the narrative is layered with extensive retrospection and other characters' differing interpretations of events.
How Fifth Business is regarded
Fifth Business holds a literary regard score of 81 out of 100, weighing its place in the canon, its critical reception, its influence on other writers, and the standing of its author. Regard is measured separately from difficulty: a demanding book is not necessarily an admired one.