Truthful (hi)stories in Michael Ondaatje’s Anil’s Ghost

This paper examines the ways in which fiction and historical fact are combined in Michael Ondaatje’s novel, Anil’s Ghost (2000), which set against the backdrop of the civil war in Sri Lanka. Kokkola argues that the novel foregrounds the contested nature of truth by questioning its value in the context of such a complex conflict. Ondaatje undermines the possibility of truth existing independently of circumstance by dismissing forensic science’s claim to be a neutral method of obtaining fact. Instead, the contingent nature of truthfulness is recognised and the only truth which is valued is that which leads to healing and reconciliation.