Michael Ondaatje’s
birthday, September 12, 1943, inspired this month’s recommended read The English Patient. His book won the Man Booker Prize in 1992,
awarded each year for the best novel originally written in English and
published in the UK in the year of the prize, regardless of the nationality of
their author. In an interview with The
Guardian, he says of himself and his work,
"I am a mongrel of place. Of race. Of cultures. Of many genres." I have to agree
with that statement when examining this story.
It's like Ondaatje has included a taste of himself in all the characters
and setting of The English Patient.
Born in Sri Lanka, the author migrated to England when young boy and
grew up to study in, and become a citizen of, Canada. He made his name as a distinguished poet
before establishing fame with this novel.
Ondaatje writes a
beautiful book, lyrical and sensual, not just a romantic tragedy, but a mystery
as well. This is a post-World War II story, taking place at an abandoned villa
in Italy, and involves a quartet of characters, each damaged in their own way.
The mystery revolves around the identity of a burn victim, referred to as the
English patient. This patient ‘fell from
the sky’ when his plane crashed in the desert.
Hana, a war nurse, has seen much suffering and senseless loss of life.
She is exhausted and won't evacuate with others in her unit. She is dedicated to caring for the English
patient and knows that he is too weak to survive an exodus. After the troops leave Hana behind, she is
left to make do with what is on hand, scavenging the garden for edibles and
passing time reading to her patient from books found in villa’s war-torn
library.
Caravaggio is an
intricate character, a Canadian thief working for British intelligence. He has arrived at the villa in search of Hana
after hearing she stayed behind. She is
the daughter of a comrade in arms, and sometimes I felt that their familiar
connection would lead to romance. He is physically and emotionally damaged, sharing
a morphine addiction with the patient.
His physical pain is a result of having his thumbs cut off while being
interrogated by Italians in Florence.
Cities throughout Italy
were heavily bombed during this war. Many bombs fell from planes unexploded and
others were deliberately planted, so there is a section of the story that goes
into depth about bombs. The last central
character, Kip, is a sapper (combat engineer) in the Indian Army assigned to
the area. He has the special skill of
defusing bombs. Hana is attracted to Kip
and their relationship seems out of desperation. Living in this booby-trapped setting, Kip’s
nerves are on edge and Hana is resigned to potential dangers. She feels most at peace with Kip, but
careless about their precarious surroundings, leaving Kip to worry for the both
of them.
The mystery unravels as
the patient under influence of pain-easing morphine begins to talk about his
past and what lead up to that fateful plane crash. Caravaggio begins to put the bits and pieces
together, the more he talks, to confirm the patient’s identity. His name is Almasy and he is a desert
cartographer working on the side of the Germans. Almasy’s story brings deceased characters
Katharine and Geoffrey Clifton into the picture. These three were connected by love in a fatal
triangle... beautiful, but sad.
You may remember this
story’s movie, nominated for seven Academy Awards in 1996. My book club watched this at West Jefferson’s
Blue Ridge Movie Lounge early one Saturday morning while snacking on plums,
scones and authentic English tea (made with sweetened condensed milk). The movie is just as beautiful as Ondaatje’s
writing and comes with high recommendation.
The cast of characters include; Ralph Fiennes as the English Patient,
Juliette Binoche as Hana, Willem Dafoe as Caravaggio, Kristin Scott Thomas as
Katharine Clifton, Naveen Andrews as Kip, and Colin Firth as Geoffrey
Clifton.
In conversation
following the film we discussed its beautiful scenery and nostalgia of that
time period. When reflecting on the book
it was mentioned that these characters all seemed to move in and out of
memories and at times motives for their actions were vague and ambiguous. I think this is in part due to the book’s
stylistic appeal and its expressive language … making emotions meaningful. In portraying each character’s disjointed
mental state we felt Ondaatje mastered the “shell-shocked” existence quite
well. Leaving those who survived with feelings of guilt and wondering how they
managed to live through it all.
Here are some favorite
quotes to show Ondaatje's way with words, “For echo is the soul of the voice
exciting itself in hollow places,” and “a novel is a mirror walking down the
road.” From an online biography Ondaatje is “deemed as a literary genius, he
is one of Canada's most important contemporary writers and a prominent figure
in the world of literature.”
** If anyone
is interested in next month's read and /or attending a viewing of the book’s
film … please contact Smoore@arlibrary.org for details. In keeping the book a surprise for readers
of this column, I offer one hint: The movie stars Orson Wells and is a crime
noir genre, with a great soundtrack
Paul Goble, born
September 27, 1933, is author and illustrator of over 40 children’s books about
Native Americans. He was born and raised
in Oxford, England and as a child when his mother made him a tipi and fringed
leggings he developed a fascination with this culture. As an adult, he moved to Black Hills, South
Dakota to learn all he could from the Native Americans. In 1959, he was
‘adopted’ by Chief Edgar Red Cloud and given the Indian name Wakinyan Chikala, “Little Thunder.”
It is known that in the
Navajo Nation; northeastern Arizona, southeastern Utah, and northwestern New
Mexico there are herds of wild horses. In this book, Paul Goble retells the
legend of how this nation acquired horses, or became “horse people.” The book’s
central character is a tribal girl that loves wild horses. She is drawn to
these horses and spends most of her days riding among them, even sleeping in
the meadows with them while they graze. When caught in a storm, she rides
through canyons at night with a frightened herd and soon discovers she is
lost. A spotted stallion calms her and
she becomes a member of the “horse family.”
While she is living among the horses on the plains, her tribal family
wonders where she is and misses her dearly.
One day she is seen riding the spotted stallion in a group of wild
horses and she is rescued or rather ‘taken’ back home. Although glad to see her parents again, she
is very sad to be away from the horses that she now feels so attached to. She tells her people that she will return to
the horses and promises to give them a colt each year. As the story ends readers are introduced to
a new beautiful black mare that is obviously the girl. Having loved the horses
so much, she becomes one herself. Although
it is never mentioned that this mare was once the Indian girl, one can gather
that is what happens to her in the end.
Also in the end of the
story are several Navajo songs about horses.
In looking them up online I discovered authentic recordings of Navajo Horse Riding
Songs. This hypnotic music
seems to bridge the gap between humans and animals to touch the souls of both.
Reflecting on his
childhood in an interview with Wisdom Tales Press, Paul says, “I loved nature and would often walk to the
lake at the end of our garden. I enjoyed the trees, flowers, birds, and
insects. I spent much of my time in search of wild flowers for my
pressed-flower collection, and watching birds. I drew and painted birds and
butterflies from books in our home, and from things I saw in museums.”
The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses was awarded a Caldecott Medal in 1979. The Caldecott Medal was named in honor of
nineteenth-century English illustrator Randolph Caldecott. It is awarded annually by the Association for
Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, to
the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children. Goble uses pen and watercolors to illustrate
his books. Joe Medicine Crow, Crow
Tribal Historian, and oldest living member of the Crow Tribe describes Goble’s
work, “His art is tremendous because he is able to recreate the traditional
forms with great accuracy and detail.
The designs he draws are completely authentic and his colors are the
same ones that were used by the old-timers before the reservation days. He is able to recreate the spirit of the old
stories with his illustrations and his words.”
When I review children’s books, I like to get a child’s opinion. I read this award-winning picture book with Elizabeth
Moseley, a young illustrator of her own stories. Elizabeth has just begun kindergarten and
already has notebooks full of drawings that feature animals, people, flowers,
trees, and even dinosaurs. While reading about the wild horses, we discovered
all sorts of other animals hidden in the scenery … lizards, prairie dogs,
rabbits, badgers, and elk. Elizabeth
noticed the buffalo and recalled seeing buffalo out in a pasture along Hwy 221.There
were flowers, birds, butterflies, lightening, and rainbows. Goble’s pictures
engage adults and young readers in conversation surrounding the story, and for Elizabeth
new vocabulary was also discovered. Children grow up knowing about horses, but
maybe not hearing the words stallion, mare, or colt. I recommend this book for its cultural and artistic
expression, but most of all for opening the door to your imagination.
‘Spotted
Stallions’ by Elizabeth Moseley and Paul Goble
No comments:
Post a Comment