Reading Guide: The English Patient

The English Patient
by Michael Ondaatje

• Publishing Data • Preview • Background • Discussion Guide • Further Exploration •

Publishing Data

Published in 1992

Co-winner (with Sacred Hunger by Barry Unsworth) of the Booker Prize

A film, The English Patient (1996), won nine Oscars, including Best Supporting Actress (Juliette Binoche as Hana), Best Director (Anthony Minghella) and Best Picture.

The film also starred Ralph Fiennes (Almásy), Kristen Scott Thomas (Katharine Clifton), Willem Dafoe (Caravaggio), and Naveen Andrews (Kip).

Preview

In the spring of 1945 when her unit evacuates the Villa San Girolamo, Canadian nurse Hana Lewis stays behind to care for a nameless burn patient. She is soon joined by Caravaggio, a spy and thief who knew Hana as a child and who is determined to uncover the patient's true identity, and Kip, an Indian sapper (i.e., military engineer) and defuser of bombs.

The story moves between the present and the past so that we eventually learn the identity of the English patient and how he came to be injured.

Background

The English patient is actually Count Ladislaus de Almásy, an Hungarian mapmaker and explorer who served prior to and during World War II as a guide to German spies trying to cross the desert into Cairo.

Discussion Guide

The structure of this novel is circular; the plot advances and retreats, always circling around the Villa San Girolamo and the burned man at the center of this little community. What effect does this non-linear telling of the story have on your reaction to the story and the characters?

The Villa San Girolamo is a physical place but it also functions as a metaphor for what is going on in these characters' lives. Describe the Villa and demonstrate how it reflects its inhabitants.

Almásy is fascinated by the desert. Explain the importance of the desert to the English patient. What does the desert represent?

Almásy carries around with him the Histories of Herodotus. Of what significance is this book to Almásy? How does this book figure into the plot of the novel? How does this book enhance your understanding of what is going on in the novel?

There are many other allusions to books and writing in this novel. What do all these references contribute to your understanding of the characters and theme of this novel.

Fire is another central metaphor in the novel. How is each of the major characters in the novel connected to fire and flames? What else does the fire represent?

All of the novel's main characters (Hana, Almásy. Caravaggio, and Kip) have special skills. What special abilities does each of the characters have?

What do each of these characters have in common?

Characterize Almásy. Is he a hero? a traitor? a cad?

As the English patient, how does Almásy function in relationship to Hana, Caravaggio, and Kip? What does he want from them? What do they want from him?

Characterize Hana. Why has she determined to stay behind with the English patient? How is caring for him helping her?

Characterize Caravaggio. How does he feel about Hana? about the English patient? about Kip?

Characterize Kip. What does he care about? Explain his reaction to the news that the atomic bomb has been dropped on Hiroshima.

Hana and Caravaggio are Canadian; Kip is Indian; Almásy is Hungarian though Hana at first thinks he is English. Of what signficance are the nationalities of the principle characters?

Caravaggio is the name of an Italian Renaissance painter. There are many references to art and artwork in this story. What do all these references contribute to your understanding of the characters and theme of this novel.

This is a story of a handful of individuals whose lives have been overturned in a variety of ways because of war. What is this novel saying about life during wartime?

This is a story full of heat: the desert, fire, passion. What is the nature of heat in this story? How does it affect the characters?

Further Exploration

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