Trade Paperback
192 Pages, 5.21 x 8 x 0.5 IN
October 12, 2004
Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
1400077443
9781400077441
From the Publisher
In his novels, poetry, and memoirs, Booker Prize winner Michael
Ondaatje moves from the blasted landscape of Billy the Kid in 1880s
New Mexico to the New Orleans jazz world of the legendary Buddy
Bolden at the turn of the century, from his native Sri Lanka to the
African desert of World War II. Compassionate, lyrical,
spellbinding, the work he has created unfolds with mystery and
eloquence and enlarges our literature.
Included in Vintage Ondaatje are portions
of the novels Anil's Ghost, In
the Skin of the Lion, Coming Through
Slaughter, and The English
Patient; the memoirRunning in
the Family; sections from The
Collected Works of Billy the Kid; and a selection
of the poetry.
Vintage Readers are a perfect introduction to some of the great
modern writers, presented in attractive, affordable paperback
editions.
About the Author
Michael Ondaatje has published several volumes of poetry, including There's a Trick with a Knife I'm Learning to Do, which consists of selections from earlier books, The Dainty Monsters (1967) and Rat Jelly (1973). Much of his poetry addresses the crossing of cultural boundaries. Ondaatje was born in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and moved to Canada in 1962. He earned a B.A. from the University of Toronto and a M.A. from Queen's University, Kingston, and teaches English at York University. Ondaatje's fiction and other works that defy classification by genre have also gained widespread attention. A writer quite unconcerned with typical Canadian themes, he focuses on the bizarre, which he renders through surreal, innovative techniques. For example, in The Collected Works of Billy the Kid (1970), Ondaatje toys with various literary genres - drama, interviews, lyrics - to relate the life of that legendary figure. In Coming through Slaughter (1982), supposedly the biography of jazz musician Charles "Buddy" Bolden, Ondaatje uses Bolden's life to illustrate the artistic dichotomy of creativity and destruction. Running in the Family (1982) is a fictionalized account of Ondaatje's Ceylonese ancestors. In the Skin of a Lion (1987) dramatizes the heroic efforts of workers who construct skyscrapers.