Archaeology and Teleology in Ondaatje's Anil's Ghost

Abstract

Critics have observed that Anil Tissera, the forensic pathologist in Michael Ondaatje's Anil's Ghost, adopts an aerial view of the war in Sri Lanka, but they have noted less frequently the novel's emphasis on excavation, and together the motifs make for a dialectical logic that opens up possibilities for healing both the nation and the self. Her Western ways are not necessarily repudiated by the text, especially since they reflect a devotion to individual freedom as much as they do to scientific objectivity.