ABSTRACT

From his first books of poetry to his recent widely acclaimed novel, The English Patient (1992.) Michael Ondaatje has received serious and very favorable critical reception. The early confidence of the Canadian critical establishment, which to some appeared rather indiscriminate praise, has been justified by his subsequent artistic achievement: Ondaatje’s work has been warmly promoted and praised by academies and reviewers since the mid-1960s, and he is the subject of numerous articles, several book chapters, and a few critical volumes.