The Conversations is a treasure, essential for any lover or student of film, and a rare, intimate glimpse into the worlds of two accomplished artists who share a great passion for film and storytelling, and whose knowledge and love of the crafts of writing and film shine through.

It was on the set of the movie adaptation of his Booker Prize-winning novel, The English Patient , that Michael Ondaatje met the master film and sound editor Walter Murch, and the two began a remarkable personal conversation about the making of films and books in our time that continued over two years. From those conversations stemmed this enlightened, affectionate book -- a mine of wonderful, surprising observations and information about editing, writing and literature, music and sound, the I-Ching, dreams, art and history.

The Conversations is filled with stories about how some of the most important movies of the last thirty years were made and about the people who brought them to the screen. It traces the artistic growth of Murch, as well as his friends and contemporaries -- including directors such as Francis Ford Coppola, George Lucas, Fred Zinneman and Anthony Minghella -- from the creation of the independent, anti-Hollywood Zoetrope by a handful of brilliant, bearded young men to the recent triumph of Apocalypse Now Redux .

Among the films Murch has worked on are American Graffiti , The Conversation , the remake of A Touch of Evil , Julia , Apocalypse Now , The Godfather (all three), The Talented Mr. Ripley , and The English Patient .

“Walter Murch is a true oddity in Hollywood. A genuine intellectual and renaissance man who appears wise and private at the centre of various temporary storms to do with film making and his whole generation of filmmakers. He knows, probably, where a lot of the bodies are buried.”

From the Trade Paperback edition.

著者

迈克尔·翁达杰（Michael Ondaatje），加拿大著名诗人、作家，1943年生于斯里兰卡，11岁随母亲来到英国，19岁移居加拿大，毕业于多伦多大学。他的作品兼具文学的语言美感和电影的视觉冲击力，通过诗性直觉和叙事节奏的交揉变化，达到一种极具个人风格的境界。迄今为止，翁达杰共出版了6部长篇小说、10余部诗集和其他一些非虚构著作。其中，《英国病人》荣获布克奖，由沃尔特 ·默奇担任剪辑、安东尼 ·明格拉执导的同名改编电影获9项奥斯卡奖。

译者

夏彤，北京大学及加拿大艾米利·卡尔艺术大学（Emily Carr University）毕业，电影作品多次参加国际电影节并获奖，现为中央美术学院电影系教师，工作涉及独立电影和科幻研究多个领域，译有《眨眼之间》（沃尔特·默奇著）、《纪录我们自己》等。