Michael Ondaatje's Anil's Ghost and the Aestheticization of Human Rights (original) (raw)

2004, ARIEL: A Review of International English Literature. Vol. 35, issue 1-2. pp. 121-139

Restless Somnambulists: Reflections on Violence, Accountability, and Historical Practice from Sri Lanka by Andi Schubert

History Workshop Journal, 2024

How would you try to ‘do’ history in a context like Sri Lanka that has too much history and never enough justice for violence and impunity? This paper suggests that you may find yourself at the mercy of ‘demons, ghosts, and malevolent beings’ who have concluded that [insert suitable ghostly pronoun here] should just ‘do’ history themselves. Using the form of a ghost story and a 2nd person narrative voice, you will find here a discussion on silencing, accountability, and violence that explores how centring the demands of the dead for justice might influence historical practice more broadly in a space like Sri Lanka.

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