ROBERTSON DAVIES, PLAYWRIGHT: A SEARCH FOR THE SELF ON THE CANADIAN STAGE. Stone-Blackburn, Susan. Vancouver, University of British Columbia Press, c1985. 249pp, cloth, $27.95, ISBN 0-7748-02111. CIP Post-Secondary Reviewed by Boh Kinczyk Volume 13 Number 6 1985 November Robertson Davies, Playwright is a responsible, scholarly analysis of Robertson Davies' career as a playwright. Since it corrects the imbalance of critical attention that has, not surprisingly, focused on Davies the novelist, it is a valuable addition to Canadian literary studies. From the days of the Dominion Drama Festival and the birth of the Stratford Festival to the failure on Broadway of his dramatic version of Leaven of Malice, Davies' playwrighting career reflects the coming-of-age of Canadian theatre. Ironically, Davies helped Canadian playwrights win their battle for a place in professional theatre, yet his plays "are rarely among the many Canadian plays receiving professional productions." Perhaps the bitterest irony in his career is that General Confession, which Davies declared "my best play and my favorite" has never found its way to the stage. Stone-Blackburn discovers that Davies' central theme is "the reservoir of riches that fosters wholeness" in the individual. Perhaps her greatest achievement is finding and freeing the voice of Robertson Davies. His thought and wit are everywhere present. In describing the loneliness of the playwright on opening night, Davies confides that "the author does not mingle with the audience at intermission time, asking people how they like his piece; he wants to know, but he would rather die than ask. . . . He watches the audience with the intensity of a cannibal surveying a missionary conference." Stone-Blackburn concedes that "most Canadians think of Davies as a novelist, not a playwright," but her book shows that Davies' search for the self has been conducted primarily on the stage, not the page. Boh Kinczyk, Central Elgin C.I., St. Thomas, Ont.