Jan Gresil S. Kahambing
Leyte Normal University, Tacloban City, Philippines, vince_jb7@hotmail.com, ORCID: 0000-0002-4258-0563
Volume 11, Number 1, 2019 I Full Text PDF
DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v11n1.09
Abstract
Human rights discourse in Ondaatje’s novel Anil’s Ghost is premised in the insistence of seeking responsibility for the deaths of the victims and viewing them within a shared sense of humanity. Although inserted with throwbacks, there is a linearity in the text that proceeds with Anil and Sarath seeking Sailor’s human identity. Taking an alternative from this linear fashion, this paper presents the discourse of rights within an inhuman or spectral turn. To do this, the paper exposes some components of spectrality or spectralizations in the novel, namely: 1) Plural and Re-SriLankanized Spectrality, 2) Good and Bad Spectrality, and 3) Delirious Spectrality, and how these reflect further the inhuman or spectral character of rights.
Keywords: Humanity, Rights, Anil’s Ghost, Spectrality, Inhuman
