Salgado, Minoli (2012) Rebirth of a nation or 'The incomparable toothbrush': the origin story and narrative regeneration in Sri Lanka. South Asian Review, 33 (3). pp. 239-256. ISSN 0038-2841

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Abstract

I examine the post-Independence role of Sri Lanka’s origin story, revealing the ways in which the foundational myth of the Mahavamsa functions as a conflicted site of cultural ‘encompassment’ (Kapferer) in literary and political discourse. Through an analysis of the fiction of Tissa Abeysekara, Carl Muller and the assassinated president Ranasinghe Premadasa, I show how the scripting of this myth in fiction reveals a shift from the celebratory drives of nationalism to a critique of patriotism in a way that both reflects and anticipates a broader paradigmatic shift in the construction of belonging and the outsider found in post-war Sri Lanka.

Item Type:	Article
Keywords:	myth, origin story, Sri Lanka, nationalism, the Mahavamsa, Tissa Abeysekara, Carl Muller, Ranasinghe Premadasa
Schools and Departments:	School of English > English
Subjects:	P Language and Literature
Depositing User:	Minoli Salgado
Date Deposited:	30 Sep 2013 08:01
Last Modified:	06 Mar 2017 03:53
URI:	http://srodev.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/43768

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