An Imaginary Life

"This is an imaginary life of the poet Ovid, who was exiled from imperial Rome to a remote village on the edge of the Black Sea. And once there he encounters a wild boy who has no language. So you’ve got this highly attuned language person, Ovid, and this wild boy with no language. And it is about the communication between them, as Ovid gradually sheds his old identity and experiences the world in a new way. Support Five Books Five Books interviews are expensive to produce. If you're enjoying this interview, please support us by donating a small amount . Well, they do it through the body, in looks and movements and by sharing the simple rituals of daily life, as they find a new language of mutual understanding. What is interesting about it is that it seems to be a metaphor for Australia. This wordless, maybe innocent, maybe not so innocent space. And what Malouf does is interesting because he turns the commonplaces of this ordinary inarticulate Australianness into a philosophical meditation."