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An Imaginary Life

3.84 of 5 stars 3.84 · rating details · 704 ratings · 74 reviews

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 depen...more

Paperback, 156 pages

Published by Vintage (first published 1978)

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Aug 07, 2012 Mollie rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites

“Our further selves are contained within us, as the leaves and blossoms are in the tree.”

Journeys in the conventional sense take us from one physical point to the next. They are often very sensory experiences. We may sail day and night upon rough waters and taste the splayed salt on our lips. We may walk for many miles under an unforgiving sun and feel the dryness of our throats. We come in contact with others along the way who affirm, change, mold, teach, question. Through language we interact,...more “Our further selves are contained within us, as the leaves and blossoms are in the tree.”

Journeys in the conventional sense take us from one physical point to the next. They are often very sensory experiences. We may sail day and night upon rough waters and taste the splayed salt on our lips. We may walk for many miles under an unforgiving sun and feel the dryness of our throats. We come in contact with others along the way who affirm, change, mold, teach, question. Through language we interact, we externalize, and we become a very small part of a tremendously greater whole.

What if that greater whole was suddenly unreachable and your former self so far from you it becomes almost a figment of your imagination?

The journey in An Imaginary Life is an internal one, full of so many wonderful discoveries of freedom that I am left typing this review through tears. I was incredibly moved by the transformation of Ovid throughout this book. In the beginning of his exile, Ovid seems almost child-like because he’s become so incredibly dependant on a life of comfort and knowledge. He’s a lost man, close to not even existing in his strange new home. His power (through word) has been taken from him. Ever so slowly, however, he begins to renounce his previous life (even going so far as to call it ‘frivolous’) as his personal transformation becomes more and more apparent. Through his later connection with a child of the wilderness, he is almost reborn. His ties to the Great Mother are cultivated, loved, nurtured. Ovid releases his prior notions of self and finds comfort, peace, and happiness from deep within. Quite unexpectedly, his exile provides him the very freedom he requires to find his true self.

This book is a simple one, and one without many twists and turns. Some will love it, some will hate it. I’ve read some reviews where people didn’t enjoy it because it wasn't very 'Ovidian’ in style. I agree with this statement – the lush poetics of the Ovid residing in Rome aren’t overly present here. What is present is a beautiful, simply-told struggle of a man’s life and it’s meaning. If this book were written in the style of Ovid, then I’d (obviously) have to question the transformation the author does such a splendid job of conveying. The point is that what was once Ovid’s center is beautifully and gently released into the wind as he reverts to what his true self very simply needed to be at peace.

Beautiful, philosophical, and poignant. One of the best books I’ve ever read, and one of the few that has left me in tears, wonder, and utter fulfillment.
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Mar 31, 2012 David Sarkies rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: modernist

The first thing I did when I came to comment on this book was to go to my uni notes to see if I could get any inspiration from them only to discover that there were none on this book. This is not surprising because it was the last book that we read in English I and by this time I had pretty much become sick of writing down the rubbish that was coming out of the lecturer's mouth.
I must admit that English I was one of the most painful subjects that I studied at university and in a way it was bec...more The first thing I did when I came to comment on this book was to go to my uni notes to see if I could get any inspiration from them only to discover that there were none on this book. This is not surprising because it was the last book that we read in English I and by this time I had pretty much become sick of writing down the rubbish that was coming out of the lecturer's mouth.
I must admit that English I was one of the most painful subjects that I studied at university and in a way it was because of how they seemed to read simply too much into some of the books that we studied. I had decided, by the end of the year, that I would not be going on to do any more English subjects (I did, one of them was Renaissance Poetry, the other being English for Professional Purposes). Instead I jumped over to focus on Classical Studies and Ancient Greek (and was glad that I did).
In a way English I destroyed much of my appreciation of a number of writers, including Emily Dickenson. In a way I admired this closeted woman who would churn out poetry mourning per pitiful state, and then was told that she hated God. In my own fundamentalistic mindset I suddenly rejected her as a good author and have never read any of her writings since. As for David Malouf, I simply found him to be very dull and boring.
It seemed that the English faculty of the Australian Educational Institutions (no such organisation, but I am bringing universities and highschools all into the fold here) love this author because he is Australian and Post-modernist. Okay, my attitude towards post-modernism may be changing slighty as I come to understand the concepts that it revolves around, however I am still quite antagonistic towards relativism, that is what you believe is what you believe and nothing can challenge that belief. Well, I may believe that the world is flat, but if I continue to do so after circumnavigating the world, then I am little more than a fool.
This story is about Ovid, an Ancient Roman Poet who upset the powers that be at the time and was exiled to the shores of the Black Sea where he lived among barbarian tribes. It is in a way about language and about isolation. Ovid was a great poet, and his epic, Metamorphosis, is one of the classic pieces of Roman Literature. In a way Malouf seems to be bringing Metamorphosis into Ovid's own life as he changes from being a civilised Roman to becoming a barbaric tribesman. This book is very existentialist in that it deals with language and the differences between them. Ovid speaks fluent Latin, a skill that is pretty useless where he is located. Thus he must learn from scratch how to communicate and to then in turn become a story teller once again.
I am not hugely familiar with Ovid's life, though I have read the Metamorphosis. That is a book about change as told through Greco-Roman mythology. What struck me the most was the opening stanzas where we see one God creating the world and creating all that is within this world. This is standard Greco-Roman creation myth, and we see the same in Apeliaus, Plato, and even Hesiod. This in turn is seen in Egyptian mythology, and in turn in Hebrew mythology. Many Christians write about how the first three chapters of Genesis were designed to set the Hebrew nation apart from the nations around them, and while I will say that that is true to an extent, it is not entirely true. Many of the theologians seem to be ignorant to the actual beginnings of these ancient Mythologies, particularly those that have a single supreme god creating the world. This is very true of Egypt, the location where Genesis was written, as creation came about with the god Amun willing himself into existence (Genesis says God always was) and then proceeding to produce the world and its inhabitants out of himself (Genesis says that God created the world separately from himself).
However, I digress because this is not about Ovid's Metamorphosis, but rather a modern story about Ovid's exile written by a post-modernist, trying to bring the ancient's philosophies into our world. In a way it is probably the Metamorphosis have prompted Malouf to write this book, in that Metamorphosis is about constant change, and about how this world is also one of constant change. In a way it is true, much has changed in the past three hundred years, in fact more apparent change has come upon Western Society in the past three hundred years as opposed to the previous 1000, but even then that is very, very simplistic. It is more that over the past three thousand years change has been very slow, but it has move exponentially, to a point that in my life time we have seen huge changes in the way we relate and the way we communicate. Three hundred years ago it would take six months in a leaky boat to get from England to Australia, now it takes around two days (depending on the plane you fly), so indeed, much has ch(less)

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Nov 03, 2011 Saurabh Sharma rated it 3 of 5 stars

Recommended to Saurabh by: Friend

An imaginary Life is a beautifully written, fictional description of poet Publius Ovidius Naso's life. Ovid was sent into an exile to a place called Tomis, where he was alone and completely out of place among the locals who had their own rituals and their own language which were completely alien to the poet. Though there's little in terms of historical facts about Ovid's life in exile but the author David Malouf creates an imaginary existence and life for Ovid and takes the readers on a journey...more

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Mar 08, 2012 Jonathan rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: university

This work of David Malouf's was incredibly lyrical and well written. I found myself captivated at the start and believed I may be able to grant this four stars. However the further I read into the text the more my love of the book eroded.

This is the fictionalised story of the Roman poet Ovid in exile among supposed barbarians. It chronicles, from his perspective, how he meets a wild boy and befriends him. It is a highly poetic and fantastical story with many philosophical ideas present.

Yet on t...more

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May 21, 2011 Paul rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: own

If you like words and can appreciate a particular turn of phrase, then you may find this to be a very enjoyable book. I certainly gained satisfaction from reading it, but was even more satisfied with myself once I finished it. By writing as the poet, Ovid, Malouf has woven a story out of such flowery phrases that each moment seemed to take a lifetime to read. Slow reading, but interesting in its own way.

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Jun 01, 2012 Lawzz rated it 4 of 5 stars

The sentences flow across the page as though by drifting on and on they have the ability to take you further into that place in time. You are able to enter Malouf's imagination and too become part of the earth; to rumble like the thunder and move through the river like the very water in it.

It is so rich in its ideas about the superstitious, where the 'other' is beastly and not to be trusted. A wonderful read even if you were required to re-read a sentence in order to grasp a little more underst...more

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Mar 05, 2013 Ben Eldridge rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

Malouf's most impressive piece of prose work, in my opinion. Radically stripped back prose, which radiates with a poetic intensity (seriously, the style he uses in An Imaginary Life is magical). The plot is, like most of his work, largely secondary to his broader concerns, which in this novel appear to be metamorphosis and reconciliation. Presented as a fictional history of the poet Ovid, this is perhaps the most Australian book I have ever read... a feat managed without a single reference to th...more

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Mar 16, 2010 Tom rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

A fictional account of the later life of the Roman poet Ovid. History records that he was exiled from Roman territory for transgressions unknown. This book describes the poet's time in exile in which he encounters a feral child who hearkens back to dreams that he had as a child himself. He befriends the Child (the book capitalizes it throughout), initially to bring him into humanity. This is fraught with difficulty and eventually, the roles are reversed and the aged poet is introduced to the nat...more

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Feb 20, 2013 Em Smith added it

David Malouf's An Imaginary Life is in my opinion an odd book. The start was very slow and took a lot of motivation to continue reading, but it got easier and more interesting as I read on. It certainly has some controversial new ideas which makes the reader stop and think about topics they've never given a second thought before. I found it was hard to read because I particularly disliked the character of Ovid, especially at the beginning. The fact tha he refused to learn the language of the peo...more

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Sep 29, 2012 Mark rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 5-star

Excellent book by this Australian writer. I picked it up when I read it was about the Roman poet Ovid’s life and death in exile at the absolute margins of the Roman Empire in the first century A.D. Malouf weaves Ovid’s concepts of metamorphosis (without ever using the word) into the story throughout. Passages on guilt and shame and reintegration (like pp 86-90) are powerful. Here’s a quote towards the end of the book:

"And if other old men must be willing, at the end, to push up off their deathb...more

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May 27, 2012 Catherine McNamara rated it 5 of 5 stars

A lyrical metaphorical work about the emptying of the self and the quest for the completion of a life. The feted frivolous Roman poet Ovid displeases his Emperor Augustus and is revealed to us in exil, a man without language or kin. Without words or society he gradually finds a simpler more visceral meaning to life through the tongue of his captors. He chooses to tame a Child produced by the cruel landscape, and is so distrusted by the superstitious villagers who believe that this young boy embo...more

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Jan 10, 2013 Broderick rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: literature, owned

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. The first thing I can say about this book is that it wasn't what I expected and surprisingly enjoyable. My understanding of the book before reading it was a story on an old roman poet in exile. An understanding which didn't make me rush to read the book. I found myself skimming the first couple of pages which didn't interest me a huge amount. Once I began to explore the story more and become interested I found myself actually 'reading' the story. Unfortunately as I was beginning to enjoy the boo...more

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Sep 13, 2012 Sean Brower rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction, literary-adult, philosophical-loosely

"Our bodies are not final. We are moving, all of us, in our common humankind, through the forms we love so deeply in one another, to what our hands have already touched in lovemaking and our bodies strain towards in each other's darkness."

There are so many things operating in this novel that I have no idea where to begin. It is simultaneously sad yet joyful, piercing yet meditative, matter-of-fact yet brilliantly complex, simple yet meandering... and daring -- so very daring.

Best book I've read...more

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Feb 21, 2011 K.D. Oliveros rated it 2 of 5 stars

Recommended to K.D. by: 501 Must Read Books

Shelves: 501, australian

For me, it is sad that sometimes the sequence in our reading affects our appreciation of some books. For example, this beautiful book, An Imaginary Life , first published in 1978, has a wonderful poetic prose and it is about the last Roman poet, Ovid. However, my reading of this was “eclipsed” by Henry Miller’s Tropic of Cancer and Ian McEwan’s The Cement Garden that both use straight, brutal storytelling that keeps you leafing from one page to the next. I mean, I had a hard time appreciating wh...more For me, it is sad that sometimes the sequence in our reading affects our appreciation of some books. For example, this beautiful book, An Imaginary Life , first published in 1978, has a wonderful poetic prose and it is about the last Roman poet, Ovid. However, my reading of this was “eclipsed” by Henry Miller’s Tropic of Cancer and Ian McEwan’s The Cement Garden that both use straight, brutal storytelling that keeps you leafing from one page to the next. I mean, I had a hard time appreciating what David Malouf (born 1934), an acclaimed Australian writer, was trying to send as a message, as in this book, he tries to fill in the blank about the unknown part of Ovid’s life: his exile in Tomis. This is in the same fashion as how Anne Rice imagined how the child Jesus lived in Nazareth prior to his baptism in Jordan River in her books, Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt and Christ the Lord: The Road to Cana. Well, the other problem is that I don’t know anything about Ovid so I had to consult Wiki. I saw Metamorphoses and I thought it was written by Franz Kafka about the big bug. Oh well, my pardon my untrained literary brain. While writing this review, I have 5 Wiki screens already open so I do not create a mistake. The Metamorphosis (1951) is a novella by Franz Fafka about a monstrous insect and Vladimir Nabokov has a lecture on this that can be downloaded while Metamorphoses is a Latin narrative poem in 15 books by the Roman poet Ovid describing the history of the world from creation to deification of Julius Caesar. Maybe, I have to read both of this book and they seem to be both interesting.

Back to Imaginary, this also reminded me of a recent read, Bernard Malamud’s (1914-1986) God’s Grace, the narrator, Calvin also tries to teach a monkey on how to communicate using English. In Imaginary, Ovid is teaching a Tarzan-like child, i.e., born and reared by wolves, on how to speak Latin. The comparison stops there though. Malouf goes a step further, The Child also tries to teach Ovid of his “language” and their roles were reversed in the end as The Child becomes Ovid’s protector. How, Malouf tries to show how powerful language can be if you are suddenly thrown into a place where no one can understand you.

Don’t be misled by my 2-star rating. This is a beautiful book that just came to me at a wrong time. After all, this won a national award in Australia in 1958 and it is said to have a deeper meaning: about Australia White Policy and the treatment of the indigenous people in that country. Strong positive message. I hope I will have another a chance to re-read this book someday. Maybe when I am reading an equally poetic book similar to Anne Michael's Fugitive Pieces.
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Dec 12, 2008 FicusFan rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, historical-fiction, greeks, banished, black-sea, barbarians, read-12-08, read-2008

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Sep 07, 2010 Kari Burk rated it 4 of 5 stars

My brother lent me this book. He said , as he held it out to me "I started this but...I dunno...couldn't really get into it " But me , I tucked right in and really enjoyed this book. I liked the range , and lack there of , of the personalities in this book and both the bleakness and the richness of the environment and characters. I was surprised to find out that it was written in like 1978 or something?

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Jan 15, 2012 Sylvia rated it 5 of 5 stars

Takes us inside the mind of Ovid who was to spend the last years of his life banished from Rome for supposedly outraging the public with his explicitly erotic literature and poems. ? Unable to communicate with the barbarians he finds himself among he befriends a child who has been brought up by wolves.............He is without speech yet we are privy to his thoughts. Subtle and thought provoking

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Oct 29, 2010 Nancy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: ancient-history, historical-fiction, poetry

I’ve been going through books read years ago with the intention of keeping a few and taking the rest to our local used book store. So far, it’s been a losing battle—I keep finding ones I want to read again like this book where the author places the poet Ovid in a hostile land after he is exiled from Rome by the emperor Augustus and finds a feral child living there among the deer.

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May 26, 2012 Michele Sammut rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Stuart Barnes

Shelves: favourites

I'm awestruck but this novel. I'm not sure why I didn't give it 5 stars, possibly only because it so short, and I prefer a longer novel with a bit more detail, but for it's length, it leaves an impression. Beautiful prose that speaks to something within. I am already looking forward to reading it again, which I have to do since I'm doing my final exam essay on this book.

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Jan 04, 2010 Fionnuala rated it 1 of 5 stars

The set up is great, the individual sentences often exquisite...but the novel falls flat. Bizarrely for a book about the racy and kinetic Roman poet Ovid, it was almost anti-Ovidian in style, plot and characterization. No wit, no energy, no urbanity, no sex, scandals or romantic cynicism. Reading it put me to sleep, and not in a good way. Last thing Ovid would have wanted.

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Feb 24, 2011 Alix rated it 3 of 5 stars

A story of civilisation encountering nature, in which the poet Ovid, banished to a remote village on the edge of the Black Sea, comes to depend on the charity of people he's viewed as barbarians. Ovid befriends a wild child who has grown up among animals but who learns to trust human beings. A moving and exquisitely written book.

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Feb 04, 2011 Kara Ripley rated it 3 of 5 stars

The good things about this book: the prose are very well written, it is short, it is about an interesting historical character.

The bad things about this book: the prose is consistently too dense for pleasurable reading, Ovid is made to seem like a wimp, there is not much dialog.

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Apr 11, 2013 Robert Wechsler rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: australian-lit

I generally don̕t like lyrical prose, but Malouf is certainly a master of it, and so he managed to make it work for me. It̕s especially odd, because it doesn̕t necessarily fit the story: Ovid in exile finding a wild child like one he imagined in his own childhood. One doesn̕t associate Ovid with lyricism, but it̕s the end of his life, and he̕s looking back and ahead, coming to terms. It̕s a truly beautiful novella, just the right length. Everything̕s right about it.

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Sep 13, 2010 Emma Willis added it

My adolescent introduction to poetic metaphoric fiction alluding to Greek Mythology. The exile of a literary genious into the a forest of illiterates, and learning to love, forgive and learn a 'new language' - I will never forget.

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May 21, 2008 keith koenigsberg rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

Book takes place in the 1st century AD. The conceit is that the poet Ovid is banished to live in exile on the steppes of Asia, where he is able to establish a relationship with the wildmen who are his guardians, and with a feral child they capture. What ensues I would call overly poetic schmalz. The metaphors for lost childhood, the road not taken, civilization vs. nature, etc etc are way too trite to be thought-provoking. The feral child, and in fact all of the characters, are not given names o...more

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Jan 06, 2011 Sohini Banerjee rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Anyone- who has the patience to read through the 1st few pages

Shelves: classy-reading

The book was a part of my Masters' degree. Going down memorys' lane I recollect that we were only 2 students who wanted to study it. As such, we did not have an option but to discuss it with each other while reading, and what a joyous time it was. I believe I can read this book as many times as I want to. It's an amazing blend of the tales of the Roman Ovid with the idea of dislocation explicitly portrayed in every page. Also as a reader I felt a tremendous resemblance to Kiplings' The Jungle Bo...more

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Aug 20, 2007 Sikoni rated it 4 of 5 stars

Ini kisah imajiner tentang Ovid, penyair kontroversial Romawi, yang dibuang ke negeri Utara. Dia dibuang ke negeri berbahasa asing, budaya barbar, dan cara hidup berburu dan bertani yang amat sangat asing baginya. Di sana akhirnya dia menemukan kegiatan (hihihi...kegiatan) berupa seorang anak liar. Anak itu sebelumnya hidup bersama serigala dan akhirnya diambil oleh Ovid untuk 'dimanusiakan'.

Alas, seperti kisah-kisah heroik kemanusiaan yang disajikan secara realistis, kisah ini cenderung gelap....more

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Jul 10, 2011 Stephen rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011

All a book needs to earn my stamp of approval is an exile--in this case, Ovid--and a feral child. Add some lyrical prose and you've got the recipe for a memorable novel.

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Jul 16, 2010 Derek Mong rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The only trouble with this novel, which is delightful in concept, is that it takes Ovid as shallow and irrevere city poet until he discovers the Romanian wilderness.

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Oct 22, 2012 Brian rated it 3 of 5 stars

In spirit, the exact thing I'm interested in. But the focus on poetics and the lightweight treatment of all left me unfulfilled, and not in a good way.

1 like · like · see review

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About David Malouf

David Malouf is the author of ten novels and six volumes of poetry. His novel The Great World was awarded both the prestigious Commonwealth Prize and the Prix Femina Estranger. Remembering Babylon was short-listed for the Booker Prize. He has also received the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Award. He lives in Sydney, Australia.

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Quotes from An Imaginary Life

“What else should our lives be but a continual series of beginnings, of painful settings out into the unknown, pushing off from the edges of consciousness into the mystery of what we have not yet become.” — 8 people liked it

“I have stopped finding fault with creation and have learned to accept it. We have some power in us that knows its own ends. It is that which drives us on to what we must finally become… This is the true meaning of transformation. This is the real metamorphosis.” — 2 people liked it

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