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In the Skin of a Lion
作者Author  /  Michael  Ondaatje  麥可•翁達傑

In the Skin of a Lion

 
The following notes focus on chaps 1 & II. ( In the Skin of a Lion. Toronto: Penguin, 1987.)
 
 Setting

 Historical Photos

 
 Setting
 
  • Toronto the Good and the Grey:
    • In the words of Hugh Hood,
      "I thought that the bridgets and ravines were the most important imaginative properties on the Toronto scene.  . . .
      I still think that Toronto is a city where sooner or later you find yourself going down into a dark place in the ground."
    • Bloor Street Viaduct, Victoria Park filtration complex
       
  •  Time 1913-1940
    (Ambrose's disappearance 1919;  1921 the hiring of searcher; 1924 Patrick as a searcher,
     
  • The have's vs. the have-nots:  Rowland Harris vs. Alice and Nicholas Temelcoff, Ambrose Small vs. Clara, Alice and Patrick
    • Rowland Harris p. 29 Commissioner of Public Works, sees the bridge as his first child 29
    • Working class --logger (dynamiter, , bridge builder, tunneller, tanner (130-31; their sufferings)
  • the Immigrant-workers:
    • hardships: Patrick's father ( Hazen Lewis)saving the holstein, p. 11-14; river drives 16-17; bridge builders p. 25-27 (tarrers p. 27)
    • different ways of claiming the country:
      • 30 loggers p. 7; 10 skaters p. 21-22
      • the bicyclist p. 27
    • the dangerous beauty of their work -- Nicholas Temelcoff  34-35; his history, p. 43-
    • Nicholas' immigration 45; free of the bridge 49
         

      Daniel Stoyanoff his tale, p. 44

      Nicholas --language as barrier 43; the talking picture
      The Immigrants' learning the language 47
      If they do not speak in English in public, they will be jailed.  133
       

  • Patrick as a searcher
    • bugs and moths: p. 9-10
    • Patrick and his father p. 15; 18;
       
  • Style: the use of painting and filmic techniques (e.g. camera perspective, jump-cuts, p. 11; zoom in and out p.14 )  e.g.  p. 34; chiascuro

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 Historical Photos
 

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