Times of Trouble: The Production of ‘Truth’ in Anglophone Sri Lankan (Post-)Conflict Fiction
© Franziska Röber
Research Associate
NameMs Céline Schmidt M.A.
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Chair of English Literary Studies
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By examining the interplay of truth, power, and fiction at times of war and conflict, this project investigates how (the) ‘truth’ about two of the most violent conflicts in post-independence Sri Lanka is constructed, portrayed, and negotiated in contemporary Anglophone Sri Lankan literature. The overall aim is to assess fiction’s place in the power play that surrounds the island’s recent history of conflict, paying attention to fiction’s negotiation of multiple existing ‘truths’ and its own production of (alternative) truth(s). The question addressed is whether these texts establish truth as the most significant instrument of power in respect to Sri Lanka’s conflict situations, highlighting perhaps that war is not only waged by means of arms but also truth.