Transplanting Seeds in Diasporic Literature: Michael Ondaatje’s The Cat’s Table and Amitav Ghosh’s Sea of Poppies and River of Smoke

Abstract

This paper examines the notion of transplantation on the literal level and as a metaphor, geographies of displacement being illustrated by the metaphor of botany. Ondaatje and Ghosh literally revisit the word “diaspora,” the scattering of seeds, through a reassessment of botany, and the power and money interests which underlie the discovery and commerce of plant species. Ghosh’s rewriting of History furthermore unveils the collusion between scientific, aesthetic, commercial and political interests at the core of imperialism, and the displacement of people, cultures, languages it entails.