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An Imaginary Life

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An Imaginary Life

By: David Malouf
Narrated by: Paul English
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About this listen

The Roman poet Ovid, exiled to a remote village on the edge of the Black Sea, tells the story of his meeting with a feral boy, brought up among wild animals in the snow.

It is a luminous encounter between civilisation and nature.

In the first century AD, Publius Ovidius Naso, the most urbane and irreverant poet of imperial Rome, was banished to a remote village on the edge of the Black Sea. From these sparse facts, one of our most distinguished novelists has fashioned an audacious and supremely moving work of fiction.

Marooned on the edge of the known world, exiled from his native tongue, Ovid depends on the kindness of barbarians who impate their dead and converse with the spirit world. But then he becomes the guardian of a still more savage creature, a feral child who has grown up among deer.

What ensues is a luminous encounter between civilisation and nature, as enacted by a poet who once catalogued the treacheries of love and a boy who slowly learns how to give it.

©1978 David Malouf (P)2019 Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd
Fiction Historical Fiction
All stars
Most relevant
Recommended by my therapist and I understand why. Important book and a very enjoyable listen.

Beautifully written and beautifully read.

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