Approaching "That Perfect Edge": Kinetic Techniques in the Poetry and Fiction of Michael Ondaatje
Abstract
In his poetry and fiction, Michael Ondaatje has shown a concern for both the power and the emotive limitations of words. He has grown increasingly interested both in making his words more public and accessible, and in the dynamic elements of other artforms that make such communalization possible. To some extent, his poetry constitutes a kind of exorcism, an exercise aimed at confirming and refining a unique approach to writing. With Coming Through Slaughter, Ondaatje shows that his personal aesthetic is fully matured, for it represents a complicated and successful fusion of kinetic artforms and the physical rhythms on which they depend. Through this integration, Ondaatje has transfigured words into Word and has made his writing more tangible, more true, and more immediately accessible to his readers.Published
1988-06-06
How to Cite
Heighton, S. (1988). Approaching "That Perfect Edge": Kinetic Techniques in the Poetry and Fiction of Michael Ondaatje. Studies in Canadian Literature, 13(2). Retrieved from https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/SCL/article/view/8088
Issue
Section
Articles
License
Permissions requests from authors to reprint their work in books or collections authored or edited by the author are granted gratis, with a requirement that acknowledgement of first publication in Studies in Canadian Literature is included in the publication. Permission requests from external sources are charged a fee at the discretion of Studies in Canadian Literature; 50% of this fee is given to the author.