Novel
An Imaginary Life
David Malouf · 1978
Synopsis
Ovid, banished from Rome, lives in exile at Tomis, on the shores of the Black Sea, among the Getae, whose language he does not understand. Isolated, he finds the country dreary, until a poppy in bloom draws him back toward nature; he helps with the village work, learns the language of the Getae and befriends Ryzak, their chief. During a deer hunt, he catches sight of a wild boy raised in the snowy woods, whom the villagers call the Child; Ovid pleads for him to be taken in, and Ryzak allows the Child to stay with him.
Context
The book appeared in March 1978 in New York from George Braziller, then in September of the same year in London from Chatto and Windus. Its author had left teaching the previous year. The narrative follows the exiled Latin poet, whose relationship with the wild child moves from protection to the alliance of two strangers. In 2014, Dallas J. Baker wrote in The Conversation that the book shows that one can imagine living otherwise, with others and with nature, without being a political programme. Marie-Claude Peugeot's translation appeared in France in 1983 from Lieu commun.
Who it is for
A short novel in English, 174 pages in the original edition, translated into French under the title L'Enfant du pays barbare.
Prizes and reception
New South Wales Premier's Prize for Fiction in 1979; Kevin Hart judged it carefully constructed, sometimes too much so.
Sources for this page 6
The pages consulted to check this page.