Yann Martel, Life of Pi

Gillian Roberts (University of Nottingham)

Ed. by Cynthia Sugars, University of Ottawa
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.1.2: Canadian Writing and Culture (Anglophone): The Twentieth Century and beyond, 1900-present.
Vol. editors: Sarah Henzi (Simon Fraser University), Kerry Myler (Birmingham Newman University), Glen Nichols (Mount Allison University), Wendy Roy (University of Saskatchewan), Denis Salter (McGill University), Karis Shearer (University of British Columbia)

Dates

First circulation or publication 2002

Places

Spain (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

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Yann Martel’s

Life of Pi

(2001) might be considered a “modern classic”, one of the best-selling Man Booker Prize-winning novels of all time, adapted into the Academy Award-winning film directed by Ang Lee (2012). Its story holds the promise of great adventure, but it is underpinned by narrative uncertainty and philosophical questions, including the purpose of storytelling itself.

Yann Martel was born in 1963 in Salamanca, Spain, where his Québécois parents were graduate students. He had an unusual upbringing all over the world, given his parents’ academic and diplomatic careers, encompassing such locations as Alaska, Costa Rica, Paris, Ottawa, Spain, Mexico, and Victoria (British Columbia). He is considered a Canadian writer, yet Martel spent much of his upbringing outside of

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2609 words

Citation: Roberts, Gillian. "Life of Pi". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 06 May 2020 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=12496, accessed 26 April 2024.]

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