A Year of Last Things
From the Booker Prize-winning author of The English Patient
Michael Ondaatje
- With
- A
- Year
- of
- Last
- Things,
- acclaimed
- novelist
- Michael
- Ondaatje
- returns
- to
- poetry,
- looking
- back
- on
- a
- life
- of
- displacement
- and
- discovery'My
- life
- always
- stops
- for
- a
- new
- book
- by
- him'
- JHUMPA
- LAHIRI'A
- generous,
- moving
- book'
- GUARDIANBorn
- in
- Sri
- Lanka
- during
- the
- Second
- World
- War,
- Ondaatje
- was
- sent
- as
- a
- child
- to
- school
- in
- London,
- and
- later
- moved
- to
- Canada.
- While
- he
- has
- lived
- there
- since,
- these
- poems
- reflect
- the
- life
- of
- a
- writer,
- traveller
- and
- watcher
- of
- the
- world
- –
- describing
- himself
- as
- a
- 'mongrel',
- someone
- born
- out
- of
- diverse
- cultures.Here,
- rediscovering
- the
- influence
- of
- every
- border
- crossed,
- he
- moves
- back
- and
- forth
- in
- time,
- from
- a
- childhood
- in
- Sri
- Lanka
- to
- Molière’s
- chair
- during
- his
- last
- stage
- performance,
- from
- icons
- in
- Bulgarian
- churches
- to
- the
- Californian
- coast
- and
- loved
- Canadian
- rivers,
- merging
- memory
- with
- the
- present,
- looking
- back
- on
- a
- life
- of
- displacement
- and
- discovery,
- love
- and
- loss.
- As
- he
- writes
- in
- the
- opening
- poem:Reading
- the
- lines
- he
- loves
he
- slips
- them
- into
- a
- pocket,
wishes
- to
- die
- with
- his
- clothes
full
- of
- torn-free
- stanzas
and
- the
- telephone
- numbers
of
- his
- children
- in
- far
- citiesPoetry
- –
- where
- language
- is
- made
- to
- work
- hardest
- and
- burns
- with
- a
- gem-like
- flame
- -
- is
- what
- Ondaatje
- has
- returned
- to
- in
- this
- intimate history.
pro-mbooks3 : libris
