An Imaginary Life by David Malouf

 

This turned out to be a little gem, and one of those books that make you feel as though you have read something important.  At first I thought it was going to be one of those books that are beautifully written, but never really goes anywhere, but the further you go, the deeper it gets.

As the title suggests, its an imaginary tale and it is about the poet Ovid during the time of his life when he was in exile.  David Malouf tells the reader in his notes at the end that very little is know about Ovid's life, so he had plenty of scope to make it up any way he wished but the environment feels very real.  

There are no real markers in the book, so you don't know the exact date when the story takes place, and you don't know where he has found himself, and that helps because as a reader you don't start padding the narrative out with detail that you think you know.  Everything is as new to you as it is to Ovid.  

He is living in a compound with an extended family, and at first he doesn't understand a word of their language, but over time he begins to pick it up and develops a bond with the head of the family who is around his own age.  The man and other members of the village eventually allow Ovid to accompany them on autumn hunting trips, when they go out to kill deer to provide themselves with food for the winter.  One day when they are out hunting in distant scrublands, they catch a glimpse of a wild child who appears to have been living with a pack of wolves.  Ovid becomes obsessed with the idea of a child living without other human contact, and for many months his mind is filled with questions about how he can have survived.

Many months later, when the villagers make the same journey, they manage to capture the child and the remainder of the book describes how they deal with him in the confines of the household.  The child is like an untamed animal who is unable to even form words in his throat, and all his behaviours are the same as any other wild animal in a trap.

The book raises many unspoken questions about what it means to be human, and what right we have to control the lives of other humans who do not conform to our version of normality.  Why do we fear difference and seek to eradicate it?  We do not have the right to ownership of everything and everyone we come across. 

Some big thoughts indeed.