Critical Context (Critical Guide to British Fiction)
The novel is an extension of many of the concerns at the heart of Davies’ preceding works. In its juxtaposition of styles, its narrative technique, and its thematic concerns, What’s Bred in the Bone is very similar to Davies’ “Deptford Trilogy”: Fifth Business (1970), The Manticore (1972), and World of Wonders (1975). Francis even appears as a minor character in the immediately preceding novel, The Rebel Angels (1982). Some critics have suggested that What’s Bred in the Bone is Davies’ finest achievement, a distillation of his thought.
One of Canada’s foremost novelists (and playwrights), Davies is generally admired for the quality of his work as well as for the depth and breadth of his concerns. He has, however, been criticized for his conservative—some would say elitist—aesthetic theories, and others have suggested that he places an undue emphasis, as in Francis’ case, on the superiority of European culture over that of the New World.
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