ANIL'S GHOST

London, England: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2000. First Edition. First Printing.. Hardcover. Fine/Fine Dust Jacket.. London, England: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2000. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. First Edition/First Printing. 307 pages. The author's fourth novel. Now considered a contemporary classic. The first appearance of the title in the United Kingdom. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only. The First Edition is now scarce. Presents Michael Ondaatje's "Anil's Ghost". His "Sri Lanka" novel. An intimate and spellbinding story of what civil war can do to a country and its people, it is a literary mystery and a jigsaw puzzle of the highest quality that is written in the author's characteristically brilliant, richly layered, and emotionally resonant prose. "The novel explores that territory where the personal and the political intersect in the fulcrum of war. Its style is more straightforward, less densely poetical. While many of Ondaatje's literary trademarks are present (frequent shifts in time, hallucinatory imagery, the gradual interweaving of characters' pasts with the present), the prose is more accessible. This is not to say that the author has forgotten his poetic roots. Subtle, evocative images abound. Michael Ondaatje has crafted both a brutal examination of internecine warfare and an enduring meditation on identity, loyalty, and the unbreakable hold the past exerts over the present" (Alix Wilber). Part of the majestic and lyrical beauty of his fiction comes from the fact that Michael Ondaatje has a poetic sensibility and writes what Joseph Brodsky once called "poet's prose": "Her toes were among the white petals, her arms folded as she undressed the day, removing layers of events and incidents so they would no longer be within her" (Michael Ondaatje). An absolute "must-have" title for Michael Ondaatje collectors. This copy is very prominently, neatly, and beautifully signed in black ink-pen on the title page by Michael Ondaatje. It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. This title is a contemporary classic. This is one of few such signed copies of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing (British) still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright. Please note: Copies available online have serious flaws, are subsequent printings, or are remainder-marked. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A scarce signed copy thus. Winner of the Booker Prize in 1992 for "The English Patient". One of the greatest writers of our time. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER MICHAEL ONDAATJE TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 074754865X.