• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Ransom Center Magazine

  • Articles
  • Sections
    • Art
    • Books + Manuscripts
    • Conservation
    • Exhibitions + Events
    • Film
    • Literature
    • Photography
    • Research + Teaching
    • Theatre + Performing Arts
  • Print Edition

Michael Ondaatje’s The English Patient wins the Golden Man Booker Prize

July 9, 2018 - Megan Barnard

Michael Ondaatje’s The English Patient wins the Golden Man Booker Prize

Congratulations to Michael Ondaatje, whose 1992 novel The English Patient was awarded the Golden Man Booker Prize on Sunday, July 8. Ondaatje’s archive was recently acquired by the Harry Ransom Center and contains extensive materials relating to the award-winning novel.

Ondaatje has an unusual writing process, which his archive documents clearly. He writes his initial drafts by hand in a series of notebooks, often inserting photographs, drawings, maps, poems, or clippings into the notebooks as he writes. His handwriting can be difficult to decipher, and he claims to be a slow typist, so he dictates his final handwritten draft onto an audio recording, noting all punctuation in the dictation. He sends the recording to a typist, who creates a computer typescript of the draft. Ondaatje then reviews the typescript, correcting any errors, and works through additional drafts on the computer, printing out the pages, editing them by hand, and revising the electronic files himself. Evidence of each stage of this creative process can be found in his archive.

One of the notebooks containing the first draft of Michael Ondaatje’s novel The English Patient, with a clipping of the Libyan desert inserted, 1988. Michael Ondaatje Papers.

The first draft of The English Patient fills four notebooks. Throughout the notebooks, Ondaatje inserted images, quotes, and other clippings that relate to his writing, such as a map displayed here of the Libyan desert, an important setting in the novel. Also housed within the archive is a cassette tape containing Ondaatje’s dictation of his draft, a computer disk containing the typist’s draft based on the dictation, and hand-corrected printouts of the typescript, among other materials.

/ransomcentermagazine/files/2018/07/C_Ondaatje_02_01_edit_20170830.mp3
The first typed draft of Michael Ondaatje’s novel The English Patient, 1991. Michael Ondaatje Papers.

Also included in the archive is substantial documentation relating to the 1996 film adaptation of The English Patient, including correspondence between Ondaatje and the film’s director and screenwriter Anthony Minghella; letters from actors Juliette Binoche, Willem Dafoe, Ralph Fiennes, and Kristen Scott Thomas; publicity materials; and other documents relating to the production. The English Patient was the most highly honored film at the 69th-annual Academy Awards, receiving nine Oscars, including the award for Best Picture.

These materials, and many others documenting Ondaatje’s remarkable literary career, are currently being cataloged at the Ransom Center.

Austin residents will have the opportunity this fall to hear Michael Ondaatje read from his newly published novel, Warlight, on Thursday, October 18, at 6 p.m. in Jessen Auditorium, in an event co-sponsored by the Ransom Center and the Michener Center for Writers.

One of the notebooks containing the first draft of Michael Ondaatje’s novel The English Patient, 1988. Michael Ondaatje Papers.

The Golden Man Booker Prize was awarded in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Man Booker Prize, one of the most prestigious literary awards for fiction writing. A panel of judges selected a shortlist of five previous Booker Prize–winning books, one from each of the past five decades, and the public voted to select the winner. Among the five shortlisted finalists was Penelope Lively’s 1987 novel Moon Tiger, described by its nominee, poet Lemn Sissay, as “a unique book about a fascinating unpredictable woman way ahead of her time and yet absolutely of her time.” Lively’s archive is also housed at the Ransom Center.

The English Patient was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1992. Fellow nominees that year included Ian McEwan and Barry Unsworth, whose archives are also part of the Ransom Center’s collections. In an unusual turn of events, the Booker Prize was awarded to two books in 1992, Ondaatje’s The English Patient and Unsworth’s Sacred Hunger, one of only two times in the prize’s history when a tie was awarded.

The announcement of the Golden Man Booker Prize was the culmination of the Man Booker 50 Festival, a series of events featuring several Booker Prize–winning authors. As part of the festival, Michael Ondaatje participated in an un-moderated conversation with current Nobel Laureate Kazuo Ishiguro where the two authors discussed their creative processes and the influences that have informed their work. The archives of both authors are part of the Ransom Center’s collections, and they referred to specific items from their archives in their discussion. Other festival events featured Ransom Center authors Penelope Lively, Anita Desai, and Julian Barnes.

Top: Notebooks containing the first draft of Michael Ondaatje’s novel The English Patient, 1988. Michael Ondaatje Papers.

Filed Under: Books + Manuscripts, literature Tagged With: Man Booker Prize, Michael Ondaatje

About Megan Barnard

As Associate Director for Administration and Curatorial Affairs, Barnard manages the acquisition of collection materials and provides support and guidance for the Center’s curators and for a variety of activities relating to the administration of the Ransom Center.

Primary Sidebar

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ze-D9_lmKuM

Recent Posts

  • Wonder, depth, understanding: Scholarship in process
  • Highlights from an unprecedented year
  • Inspiration and insight in the papers of author Julian Barnes
  • EXCERPT: Julian Barnes From the Margins: Exploring the Writer’s Archives
  • The camera as a weapon against racial injustice: Eli Reed’s Black In America

Tags

acquisition Alice's Adventures in Wonderland archive archives Art Books Cataloging Conservation Council on Library and Information Resources David Douglas Duncan David Foster Wallace David O. Selznick digitization exhibition Exhibitions Fellows Find Fellowships Film Frank Reaugh Frank Reaugh: Landscapes of Texas and the American West From the Outside In Gabriel Garcia Marquez Gabriel Garcia Marquez archive Gone with the Wind I have seen the Future: Norman Bel Geddes Designs America Lewis Carroll literature Magnum Photos Manuscripts Meet the Staff Nobel Prize Norman Bel Geddes Norman Mailer Performing Arts Photography poetry preservation Publishing Research Robert De Niro Shakespeare theater The King James Bible: Its History and Influence The Making of Gone With The Wind Undergraduate

Archives

Before Footer

Sign up for eNews

Our monthly newsletter highlights news, exhibitions, and programs.

Connect With Us

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

About

Ransom Center Magazine is an online and print publication sharing stories and news about the Harry Ransom Center, its collections, and the creative community surrounding it.

Copyright © 2021 The Harry Ransom Center Magazine


The University of Texas at Austin · Web Privacy Policy · Web Accessibility Policy

Copyright © 2020 Harry Ransom Center

Web Accessibility · Web Privacy