An Imaginary Life is a 1978 novella written by David Malouf.
It tells the story of the Roman poet Ovid, during his exile in Tomis.
Whilst there, Ovid lives with the natives, although he doesn't understand their language, and forms a bond with a wild boy who is found after having been brought up by wolves. The relationship between Ovid and the boy, at first one of protector and protected, becomes an alliance between two people in a foreign land.
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An Imaginary Life is a 1978 novella written by David Malouf.
It tells the story of the Roman poet Ovid, during his exile in Tomis.
Whilst there, Ovid lives with the natives, although he doesn't understand their language, and forms a bond with a wild boy who is found after having been brought up by wolves. The relationship between Ovid and the boy, at first one of protector and protected, becomes an alliance between two people in a foreign land.
Ovid comes to Tomis enculturated with a Roman world view and through his attempts at teaching the boy language is able to free himself from the constrictions of Latin and the encompassing perception of reality that is his only barrier against transcendence.
The novel is comparable to the poems of William Wordsworth in the idea of child and childhood affecting a perception of nature. Ovid is continually searching for the Child and what he represents to him. He goes so far as to capture him in an attempt to learn from him, and to teach him...
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