Michael Ondaatje: Distance, Clarity and Ghosts: an Analysis of Ondaatje's Writing Techniques Against a Background of War and Buddhist Philosophy

Michael Ondaatje, a celebrated author and poet, has a distinct writing technique of interest to students of literature as well as writers of fiction. He manipulates reader participation with continual changes of focus, alternating between distance and Zen-like moments of clarity. Ghosts and a Buddhist sense of detachment invest his texts with a poetic sense of romance and intrigue. Taking the backdrop of war in Sri Lanka from the novel Anil¿s Ghost and selected poems from Handwriting. Joan von Memerty¿s critical analysis of Ondaatje¿s techniques concentrates on the aspect that, given the transience of nature, conflict is irrelevant with the passing of time.