By E-chou Wu English Dep. Providence Univ. 06/10/2006 The English Patient South Asian Readings
The English Patient Michael Ondaatje -- poet, filmmaker, and editor. -- born in Colombo, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) in September moved to England in 1954, relocated to Canada in 1962, -- B.A., the Univ of Toronto -- M.A., Queen's Univ in Kingston
The English Patient Poetic Works: The Collected Works of Billy the Kid (1970) There's a Trick with a Knife I'm Learning to Do (1979) Fictional Works: Running in the Family (1982) In the Skin of the Lion (1987) The English Patient (1992) won a Booker Prize, and adapted into film in 1996 Editor: Brick
The English Patient Settings: between 1930s and early 1940s a villa in the hills near Florence, Italy Cairo the Libyan desert England
文字 The English Patient Thematic Concerns: 1.Poetical Diction – the tense the shifting point of view reverie and hypnosis a poem or a novel
The English Patient Thematic Concerns: 2. Love – time, space, and death as ability physical or soulful adultery
The English Patient TEXTEXT Thematic Concerns: 3. Body – the burned body as inscription body gloss: body as a map (e.g. Katherine’s vaccination scar) cultured body: ownership the racialized body (e.g. Kip’s hair, brown skin and lithe body)
The English Patient TEXT EXT Thematic Concerns: 4. Nationality – personal identity, racial identity, and national identity spy the isolated Italian villa (c.f. Huck’s raft) Almasy’s conception of nationlessness (e.g ; ) As a sapper, who defuses bomb, Kip’s reaction to the atomic bomb
The English Patient Thematic Concerns: 5. Death – in a Holy Place (260-61): e.g. Katherine--cave; Madox--church; Patrick--dovecote the injection of morphine—death-in life
The English Patient Questions for discussion: 1.Is love splendid when it is uncommon? E.g. Kath and EP ; Hana and Kip, 2.Why does humanity change so drastically during the wartime? 3.What role do desert and aviation play in the novel? 4.Why “international bastards?” 5.Discuss the nature of adventure. Is it truly masculine?