David Malouf, An Imaginary Life

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First published in 1978,

An Imaginary Life

is David Malouf’s second novel, his first to gain notable international recognition, and, until the publication of

Remembering Babylon

in 1993, his most discussed work among academic critics. It offers a fictionalized account of the Roman poet Ovid’s late-life exile in an outland of the Augustan empire, a Getae settlement called Tomis, on the western shore of the Black Sea. In the first of five narrative movements, Ovid comes to grips with his exile, its causes and consequences, and gradually moves out of his desolate alienation toward a sense of meaningful connection with the Getae people and their world. The second movement recounts Ovid’s first sighting, during a hunting expedition, of a wild boy, the Child, and the Child’s subsequent…

916 words

Citation: Randall, Don. "An Imaginary Life". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 22 September 2008 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=6623, accessed 19 March 2024.]

6623 An Imaginary Life 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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