Michael Ondaatje was born in Sri Lanka in 1943 and moved to Canada in 1962, where he has since remained to established himself as a well-respected author of poetry and fiction. I am a huge fan of Ondaatje's work, which is what gave me the idea for this pathfinder. I also constructed in fulfillment of a requirement for the Reference Sources and Services class taught by Nora Bird at Rutgers University.
This page is a place for Ondaatje fans, scholars, or even those new to his work to begin their research. Below is a primary source list of Ondaatje's publications, as well as suggestions on the best places to find secondary source material, and a list of useful websites. Call numbers or restricted-access websites are referred to by their availability to those with Rutgers University login access. I hope this is a helpful resource for you. If you have any questions, please contact me via the email link at the bottom of the page.
Ondaatje's Works (listed with information from first publication):Prose:- Leonard Cohen. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1970
- Coming Through Slaughter. Toronto: House of Anansi, 1976
- Running in the Family. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1982
- In the Skin of a Lion. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1987
- The English Patient. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1992 [An index of this novel by Lisa Mirabile can be found here]
- Anil's Ghost. Toronto: McCelland and Stewart, 2000
- Divisadero. New York: Knopf, 2007
Poetry:- The Dainty Monsters. Toronto : Coach House Press, 1967
- The Man with Seven Toes. Toronto: Coach House Press, 1969
- The Collected Works of Billy the Kid: Left Handed Poems Toronto, Anansi, 1970
- Rat Jelly. Toronto: Coach House Press, 1973
- Elimination Dance. Ilderton: Nairn Coldstream, 1978
- Claude Glass. Toronto: Coach House Press, 1973
- There's a Trick with a Knive I'm Learning to Do: Poems 1963-78. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1979
- Rat Jelly and Other Poems: 1963-78. London: Marion Boyars, 1980
- Tin Roof. Lantzville: Island Writing Series, 1982
- Secular Love. Toronto: Coach House Press, 1984
- Two Poems Mt. Horeb: Perishable Press, 1986
- The Cinnamon Peeler: Selected Poems New York: Knopf, 1991
- Handwriting: Poems. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1998 [exerpts from this collection can be read here, and here]
- The Story Illustrated by David Bolduc. Toronto: House of Anansi, 2005
Other Non-Periodical Publications- Leonard Cohen. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1970
- The Broken Ark: A Book of Beasts-- Poems chosen by Ondaatje. Ottawa: Oberon Press, 1971
- Personal Fictions: Stories by Munro, Wiebe, Thomas & Blaise. Selected by M. Ondaatje. Toronto: Oxford UP, 1977
- The Long Poem Anthology. Ed. Michael Ondaatje. Toronto: Coach House Press, 1979
- "Garcia Marquez and the Bus to Aracataca," in Figures in a Ground. Eds. Diane Bessai and David Jackel. Saskatoon: Western Producer Prairie Books, 1978
- Brushes With Greatness. Eds. Russell Banks, Michael Ondaatje & David A. Young. Toronto: Coach House Press, 1989
- From Ink Lake: An Anthology of Canadian Short Stories. Ed. Michael Ondaatje. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1990
- The Brick Reader. Eds. Linda Spalding and Michael Ondaatje. Toronto: Coach House Press, 1991
- An H in the Heart: A Reader. Selected by George Bowering and Michael Ondaatje. Toronto: Coach House Press, 1994
- Lost Classics. Eds. Michael Ondaatje, Michael Redhill, Esta Spalding and Linda Spalding. New York: Anchor Books, 2001
- The Conversations: Walter Murch and the Art of Editing Film. New York: Knopf, 2002
- Gallant, Mavis. Paris Stories Introduced by Michael Ondaatje. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 2002
Video and Audio Recordings- Films by Michael Ondaatje (The Clinton Special (1974), The Sons of Captain Poetry (1970), and Carry on Crime and Punishment (1970)). Dir. Michael Ondaatje
- Previous Canoes. Toronto: Coach House/Music Gallery, 1989 [audio-- read by Ondaatje]
- Michael Ondaatje Interview with Len Scher. Colombia MO: American Audio Prose Library, 1993[audio]
- In the Skin of a Lion; Running in the Family. Columbia MO: American Audio Prose Library, 1993[audio-- read by Ondaatje]
- The English Patient. Dir. Anthony Minghella. Mirimax, 1996 [film adaptation of Ondaatje's novel]
- Running in the Family. New York: Random House Audiobooks, 1996 [audio-- read by Ondaatje]
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How to Locate Ondaatje's Works:BooksellersFinding Books to Borrow- OCLC's WorldCat is allows you to search or browse catalogs of libraries around the country.
Those with a Rutgers Login can use this link to access the catalogs. If you don't have a Rutgers login, try your local or university library home page to see if you can get access that way. - Ondaatje's works can be found by searching for "Ondaatje, Michael, 1943-" in the subject category.
- Remember, you can always ask your reference librarian for help finding anything if you're having trouble.
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Useful Reference Sources:Electronic- Contemporary Authors. Published online by Galegroup. Click the link to access this through RU Libraries.
- Gale Literature Resource Center. Gale Group/Thompson Corp [Restricted]
Contains full text biographies-- including a very detailed Ondaatje biography, and full text critical resources on authors, as well as encyclopedia entries. Covers mostly English language literature from 1400s to the present. The critical essays are scholarly, but the encyclopedia articles and brief biographies are geared toward a more general audience. - The Literary Encyclopedia Online has a good overview of Ondaatje's life and works
- The Canadian Encyclopedia Online has an extensive article on Ondaatje.
Print- Benson, Eugene and Leonard W. Conolly. Encyclopedia of Post-Colonial Literatures in English, Vols. 1-2. New York: Routledge, 1994
[LC Call Number: PR9080.A52E53 1994 v.1-2] - New, William H. Ed. Encyclopedia of Literature in Canada. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2002
[LC Call Number: PR9180.2.E53 2002] - Serafin, Steven Ed. Encyclopedia of World Literature in the 20th Century, Vols. 1-4. Detroit: St. James Press, 1999
[LC Call Number: PN771.E5 1999 v.1-v.4]. - Tibbetts, John C. Encyclopedia of Novels into Film. New York: Facts on File, 2005
[LC Call number: PN1997.85.T54 2005]
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Secondary Sources: BooksBiography- Barbour, Douglas. Michael Ondaatje The Twayne World Author Series. Toronto: Twayne Publishers, 1993
- Waldman, Neil Kozak. Michael Ondaatje and His Works. Toronto: ECW Press, 1992
Criticism- Mundwiler, Leslie. Michael Ondaatje: Word, Image, Imagination. Vancouver: Talon Books, 1984
- Solecki, Sam. Spider Blues: Essays on Michael Ondaatje. Montreal: Vehicule Press, 1985
- Totosy de Zepetnek, Steven. Comparative Cultural Studies and Michael Ondaatje. West Lafayette Ind.: Purdue UP, 2005
- Turci, Monica. Approaching that Perfect Edge: a Reading of the Metaficitional Writings of Michael Ondaatje. Bologna: Patron Editore, 2001
*It is also useful to search for the following subject headings*: Ondaatje, Michael, 1943- Authors, Canadian--20th Century Use OCLC's WorldCat to search availability of primary or secondary Ondaatje sources from libraries around the world [Link leads to Rutgers' WorldCat proxy sign-in]. |
Secondary Sources: Electronic Indexes and DatabasesScholarly Sources- Arts and Humanities Citation Index. Philadelphia: Institute for Scientific Information. 1978-present. Available in print and online from Web of Science [Restricted]
Covers a wide range of topics and allows easy cross-referencing. The sources are mostly scholarly and are arranged in away that allows for citation chasing. Key subject search: Ondaatje, Michael. This interdisciplinary index enables the user to locate items related to his literature and film in the same index. - MLA International Bibliography. Modern Language Association. Available online through EBSCO Host. [Restricted]
[Note: Print version-- Modern Language Association Annual Bibliography began coverage in 1921]. Covers criticism, drama, folklore, humanities, language, linguistics, literature, and film works. It is an index of scholarly criticism in these areas. The online version covers from 1963-present. Useful subject headings include: Canadian Literature; Ondaatje, Michael. The MLA Bibliography covers literature from around the world, which is particularly pertinent because Ondaatje is a Canadian of Sri Lankan descent who writes in English. - Literature Online contains full-text primary resources as well as access to 175 full-text literary journals [Restricted].
- Humanities Full Text is a good general humanities database that includes full-text literary criticism [Restricted].
- Also: The Journal, Essays on Canadian Writing devoted its entire summer 1994 issue to Ondaatje (issue no. 53). ISSN#0316-0300
- Please Note: In order to find the text of articles listed in databases above if they do not give full-text electronic access, follow this procedure:
(1) Take down the bibliographical information from the article you found either by hand or by using the export/email feature of the database you are using. (2) Go to your library's catalog and search for the title of the periodical in the "begins with" field. (3) If your library owns the journal, the catalog entry should appear, and if electronic access is available, the link should be in the catalog listing. (4) If your library only owns the print copy of the issue of the periodical you need, take down the call number and find the periodical in the library. (5) If your library does not own/ have access to the journal, ask your librarian about interlibrary loan or other options. Remember that you can ask a librarian for help during any stage of your search process!
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Web ResourcesGeneral- ***The New York Times' featured authors page on Ondaatje is a wonderful resource for past Times reviews and articles!
- Fantastic Fiction has an unusually up-to-date page, and also has an "Ondaatje Recommends" section at the bottom
- Michael Ondaatje Information contains a primary bibliography and links to many other pages related to Ondaatje, including news pieces and publisher pages. It was created by a Canadian English professor
- The British Arts Council's Contemporary Writers' Michael Ondaatje page contains information on his publications, prizes, and brief criticism
InterviewsLists of Critical Resources- University of Calgary's page has an extensive list of secondary sources.
- National University of Singapore's postcolonial site has a good listing of online Ondaatje resources.
- University of Manitoba has a secondary bibliography of criticism.
Publisher Pages- Barclay Agency represents Ondaatje. Their official bio. and selected portions of reviews can be found here.
- Anansi Press's Ondaatje page has information on his latest release, The Story
- Vintage's Ondaatje page has summaries of many of Ondaatje's books.
- The Random Housepage has an exerpt of Anil's Ghost along with other general information
- Bloomsbury's Ondaatje Page has information on the editions of his books published by them in Britain.
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