Bringing to life the fabulous, colorful panorama of New Orleans in the first flush of the jazz era, this book tells the story of Buddy Bolden, the first of the great trumpet players--some say the originator of jazz--who was, in any case, the genius, the guiding spirit, and the king of that time and place.

In this fictionalized meditation, Bolden, an unrecorded father of Jazz, remains throughout a tantalizingly ungraspable phantom, the central mysteries of his life, his art, and his madness remaining felt but never quite pinned down. Ondaatje's prose is at times startlingly lyrical, and as he chases Bolden through documents and scenes, the novel partakes of the very best sort of modern detective novel--one where the enigma is never resolved, but allowed to manifest in its fullness. Though more 'experimental' in form than either The English Patient or In the Skin of a Lion , it is a fitting addition to the renowned Ondaatje oeuvre .

迈克尔·翁达杰

加拿大小说家、诗人。1943年出生于斯里兰卡科伦坡，十一岁时随母亲移居英国，十九岁移居加拿大，加入加拿大国籍。先后毕业于多伦多大学和皇后大学，曾长期在约克大学教授英语文学。

自1962年出版第一部诗集以来，迈克尔·翁达杰已经出版六部长篇小说、童年回忆录《世代相传》，以及多部诗集、剧本、文学评论集。他也积极参与加拿大独立出版社马车房出版社的诗歌编辑工作。他于1992年出版的小说《英国病人》荣获布克奖，后被导演改编成同名电影，2018年，《英国病人》斩获布克文学奖成立50年来最佳小说的殊荣。其2000年出版的小说《安尼尔的鬼魂》获加拿大吉勒奖、加拿大总督文学奖、法国美第奇奖。2007年出版的小说《遥望》获加拿大总督文学奖。