1、ANILS GHOST,Mouse Distance,Central Issues,Gaminis Detachment Trauma and the War: The Brothers Reconstructions (1) The roles of Truth Reconstructions (2) Sarath and Anil The Novels Reception,ONDAATJE SAYS: “1 WAS THINKING WHAT DO 1 LIKE MOST ABOUT ANILS GHOST? IT WAS A SCENE WHEN GAMINI DOESNT WANT T
2、O EMBRACE SARATHS WIFE BECAUSE SHED DISCOVER HOW THIN HE IS. FOR ME, THAT WAS A HEARTBREAKING MOMENT, LIGHT YEARS AWAY FROM THE OFFICIAL STORIES“ (7).,The Personal Aspects of a National Trauma,Gaminis Detachment,Gaminis detachment e.g. 210-11, 224 vs. helpfulness 212, with the guerillas 220 Reasons
3、for Gaminis Detachment: 1) The wifes departure 210 2) Childhood loneliness a. apparent Contentment; b. ignored and lonely in a cocoon 213; 221-; 224 spinning chair, air rifle 3) His love relations with Ss wife, with a nurse 4) Boarding school and work in Northeast area 5) His present work -another c
4、ocoon (215); 213,Personal Traumas and Connections: Leaf and Anil,Their interest in knowledge 236- Leaf with Altzeimers - 254- The letter 258 The phone calls 257,Traumas & the War: The Brothers,Gamini about Ss wifes death 251-53 Sarath about the death of his wife 278 hiding himself in his work, in be
5、tween mortality and immortality of a stone (out of an idea) In Anils mind They are closer than they imagined 286 Gaminis taking care of Saraths body 287- “a pieta between brothers”,The roles of Truth geological,soil as a novel 190 A monastery 190 a walawwa (prestige place) p. 202,The roles of Truth
6、and Value,Truth not connected to authority: e.g. Katugala weary and tired Where is the President “a green card-board cut-out” (293) The body of president Katugala not found for a long time, and “the truth slipped across the city within an hour” (295) For Sarath pp. 261-62 the discovery of the Chines
7、e musical instrument Idealism or madness in any structure of civilization Anil has it, too 258, Different forms of truth 259,The Critics Responses,1) failure to counter “the stereotype of the savage, violent South Asian“ “the absence of detail in historical contextworks against an informed reading,
8、leaving just a general impression of self-destructive violence as the major thread of the novel“ (Ranjini Mendis qtd in Kanaganayakam 11-12) 2) all the significant actantsSihalese: “The JVP . is portrayed as human; the LTTE Tigers in contrast, as inhuman terrorist, killers of children“ (Qadri Ismail
9、 qtd in Kanaganayakam 13). 3) failing to capture the “truth of history“: “The decision to write an apoliticaI novel set in the tragic situation of Sri Lanka is profoundly political” (Kanishka Goonewardena qtd in Kanaganayakam 13-14 ),Factors to consider,The novels historical methods the italicized p
10、arts and its views on “truth” The individual connections: Anil (a Sinhalese and expat) and Lalitha (a Tamil) Anil and Sarath Anil and Sri Lanka Palipana and Lakma Arts, Rituals and Nature: e.g. Ananda performing the Netra Mangala ceremony,References,Kanaganayakam, Chelva. “In Defense of Anils Ghost.” ARIEL (Jan, 2006),
