Reflections of Peace and Nationalism in Sri Lankan Literature

It was one evening, while I was reading the novel Anil’s Ghost by Michael Ondaatjee that my ideas for a doctoral project took shape. Before reading the novel, I had heard from my Professor who taught me Post colonial studies (a course for which the novel had been prescribed) that Ondaatjee’s only novel about Sri Lanka has often been subjected to heavy criticism because of the fact that it fails to portray the island’s civil war in a credible manner.

Literary scholars have subjected Anil’s Ghost, Michael Ondaatjee’s only novel about Sri Lanka, to heavy criticism on grounds that it fails to portray the island’s civil war in a “credible manner”. Indeed, working primarily as a historical backdrop, the war does not directly concern Anil Tissera, the expatriated Sri Lankan protagonist. Anil seems to function not as an insider but rather, as an investigating spectator concerned about the nature of extrajudicial killings in the island. The critique leads to several questions: To what extent did postcolonial literary studies comfortably accommodate the genre of ‘literature of conflict’ to denote the faithful portrayal of violence and war? What, if any, are the possibilities for what we term ‘literature of conflict’ to point out ways in which peace can be imagined in nations such as Sri Lanka where the ethnic war has become the defining postcolonial national reality? How do these imaginings or reflections of peace, in turn shape ideas of nationalism? Transition sentence here.

The doctoral research that I hope to pursue at -------------- intends to analyse these questions more systemically (more thoroughly?). My research archive would cover Anglophone literary production from Sri Lanka between 1983 and 2009 - the time period of the ethn...

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... program in the Department of Comparative Literature at -----. In order to complete my doctoral project successfully, I am seeking a thorough exposure to critical literary theory, an option that was limited during my one-year postgraduate degree. Additionally, the program also allows room for the exploration of a particular national literature, a focus critical to my field of study. The ‘special field’ component of the program would allow me to explore complimentary avenues such as film archives from Sri Lanka that could augment/supplement my research. In addition to providing opportunities for the successful completion of my doctoral research, I feel the ---------department’s strong emphasis on independent research, creative and critical thinking coupled with ample prospects for teaching would help me realize my career objectivities objectives as a future academian.