The relationship between Ovid and the boy, at first one of protector and protected, becomes an alliance between two people in a foreign land.

Ovid comes to Tomis enculturated with a Roman world view and through his attempts at teaching the boy language is able to free himself from the constrictions of Latin and the encompassing perception of reality that is his only barrier against transcendence.

In this book all is worked out carefully, perhaps at times over-carefully, giving the impression that it is a superbly controlled exercise in style.

"[2] "An Imaginary Life is, in part, about an individual journey from a state of being cut off and apart from the environment – of wishing to tame and exploit nature, of being totally entangled in language and culture – to a state of being in intimate contact with the untrained, wild things of the world.

An Imaginary Life does not provide a workable template for how to navigate the complexity of belonging and un-belonging, nor should it.