Recorded in the village of Quincy, in Mieussy, France, in October 2002.
John Berger is a storyteller, essayist, novelist, screenwriter, dramatist and critic, whose body of work embodies his concern for, in Geoff Dyer’s words, “the enduring mystery of great art and the lived experience of the oppressed.”
He is one of the most internationally influential writers of the last fifty years, who has explored the relationships between the individual and society, culture and politics and experience and expression in a series of novels, book works, essays, plays, films, photographic collaborations and performances, unmatched in their diversity, ambition and reach. His television series and book Ways of Seeing revolutionized the way that Fine Art is read and understood, while his engagement with European peasantry and migration in the fiction trilogy Into Their Labours and A Seventh Man stand as models of empathy and insight.
John Berger in conversation with Michael Ondaatje at Berger’s home, a working farm, in Quincy, Mieussy, France, October 2002. Michael Ondaatje is a poet and novelist, and editor of the literary journal Brick. You can read more about John Berger on Wikipedia. You can also read about Michael Ondaatje on Wikipedia.
This was absolutely fascinating. It has given me a new outlook on writing and creativity. It would be impossible for me to express my appreciation in so tiny a box.
Two masters of simplicity! John met his match in Michael! Thanks for recording it!
A most valuable video recording that opens a window on the thoughts of two remarkable creative men of our age. I feel greatly privileged for having been made, in a way, privy to what by all measures appears to be a deeply private conversation between John Berger and Michael Ondaatje. My most sincere thanks to Lannan Foundation for making this video available to general public.
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