The triumphant word: Malouf's Heideggerian vision in An Imaginary Life

Abstract

Malouf remarked that he had found in Martin Heidegger's thought all that he himself had felt, thought, and written about in his early work. This proposition is tested in terms of Malouf's An Imaginary Life, with specific reference to Heidegger's notions of the abyss, language, and transfiguration, all of which have close fictional parallels in Malouf's novel. Direct influence is neither argued for nor explicitly excluded, although it is demonstrated how Heidegger's work helps clarify significantly the implications of Ovid’s sojourn and adventures in Tomis.