Ondaatje, Michael

Rat Jelly

ISBN: 0889101078
Toronto, Ontario, Canada: The Coach House Press, 1973. First Softcover Edition. Sewn Binding. "Dear Ann Landers | I get really | turned on by flies | crawling over my body | I keep telling my husband (of 14 years) | that this is normal | and that people all over the world | feel the same way but he says | he feels jealous especially | as I'm always tired | when he comes to bed" (first stanza, Letters to Ann Landers, pg. 13). Rat Jelly, the fourth book of poetry by Sri Lankan-Canadian poet & author of The English Patient Michael Ondaatje (b. 1943) is a collection of poems that explores themes of deception, transformation, and the uneasy relationships between creation and consumption. The title itself is a play on words, suggesting a macabre and unsettling tone. The title poem (pg. 31) begins with a shocking image of a rat in jelly, juxtaposing grotesque imagery with culinary elements, creating a dissonance that invites both revulsion and fascination. Throughout the poem, Ondaatje uses surreal imagery and confrontational language to destabilize the reader's expectations, reflecting on the nature of art, sustenance, and intimacy. The poem's structure and tone contribute to its unsettling and complex nature, making it a significant work in Ondaatje's literary career. Ondaatje's Rat Jelly challenges readers to grapple with discomfort and ambiguity, using the grotesque to explore deeper themes of artifice, consumption, and human relationships. The rat, both a literal and symbolic presence, embodies the tension between the natural and the constructed, the repulsive and the alluring. Through their shocking imagery and dark humor, the poems in Rat Jelly invite reflection on the ways in which we package, present, and consume the world around us, often without fully confronting its underlying truths. In its bold defiance of conventional aesthetics, "Rat Jelly" stands as a provocative exploration of the boundaries between creation and destruction, nourishment and revulsion, intimacy and alienation. From the collection of scholar, poet and our dear friend Robin Eichele (b. 1941), noted Mimeograph Revolutionary & co-founder of the Detroit Artists' Workshop with the late, great John Sinclair (1941-2024). Trade-Format Softcover in Sewn Binding: First Softcover Edition, second printing per endpage colophon. A most collectible Ondaatje book of poetry in one of its rarest contemporary forms with distinguished provenance. In relatively fine-to-very fine condition with mild rubbing mostly to fine edges of front, back covers & spine; minor bumping of corners at same; mild age-toning to text block. Interior relatively fine-to-very fine with mild age-toning mostly to blank margins & fine edges of page leaves; mild bumping of corners to some of same. Fine-Very Fine. [Item #8810]

Price: $25.00