History as a “Well-Told Lie” in Michael Ondaatje's Running in the Family

Abstract

This paper reads Michael Ondaatje's Running in the Family as both a subtle critique of the exclusionary narratives of nation-building in Sri Lanka and an imaginative reconstruction of personal and national history. Through a brief study of the nation's history, this paper first traces the creation of the dominant national narrative. In the second part, this paper demonstrates how Ondaatje attempts to reclaim the nation for those who exist in the periphery by placing his eccentric father at the center of the novel. This recuperation of both familial and national history establishes the essential fictionality of all narratives.