Introduction

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Sonja Lehmann
change in his self-understanding but also the beginning of a literal journey to Sri
Lanka in order to reconnect with his country of origin in order to understand the
newly found transnational self. In addition, the dream is the first of many instances
that confront the narrator with various boundaries and their crossing or at
least attempts at doing so.
The starting point for Anil’s decision to re-connect with her Sri Lankan identity
is harder to pin down. Her initial request to go on a human rights investigation
to Sri Lanka had been “halfhearted” (AG 15) and once she arrives she seems to be
unsure about how to proceed. Even though Anil has some relatives left in Colombo
she decides not to contact them (AG 10). Moreover, she makes it very
clear that she is “not a prodigal” (AG 10) and dislikes being connected to her past
as a famous swimmer (AG 16). By this she refutes any connectedness to the country.
30 This is also demonstrated in her – erroneous – belief that “t[h]e island no
longer held her by the past” (AG 11). She does not understand herself as Sri
Lankan. As Woznialis remarks, “she seems to have decided to go to her motherland
as a foreigner” (280). Even though she later admits that she “decided to
come back […] wanted to come back” (AG 200) she attempts to look at Sri Lanka
with a “long-distance gaze” (AG 11) and by this acts like she did with regard to
her Western countries. Anil appears to have walled herself off from national and
therefore also transnational groupness or connectedness and seems unwilling to
remove these barriers between herself and the world. Not unfittingly, David Farrier
describes the life she led in the West as a “somnambulant existence” because
of its utter lack of deep and meaningful connections (84). She seems to be completely
oblivious to anything outside the world of science with its sterile labs. She
is awoken from this sleep by the resurfacing of long-forgotten memories from her
childhood in Sri Lanka, which can be seen as a first boundary crossing experience
for her as the memories manage to escape her subconscious. They make her realize
that there is, or at least once was, more to her life than just science and she
feels that she must face the “background” she had previously ignored and refused
to address (AG 36), which results in her hesitantly changing her selfunderstanding.
5.1.2. Confusion and Isolation
As Saul rightly says, there is a “theme of searching […] at the heart of Running in
the Family” (37) and this description certainly also applies to Anil’s Ghost. The
searches are quite different, though. Ondaatje sets out to discover his family history,
and especially the father he hardly knew, to find his “roots” in the country
30 Woznialis points out that when Anil begins to identify with Sri Lanka again in the end she does
no longer reject her labelling, even refers to herself as “the swimmer” (AG 270) and thereby
“reinstates her old identity” (282).