Michael Ondaatje: Distance

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 Anils Ghost and selected poems from Handwriting. Joan von Memertys critical analysis of Ondaatjes techniques concentrates on the aspect that, given the transience of nature, conflict is irrelevant with the passing of time.