Rebirth of a nation or ’The incomparable toothbrush’: the origin story and narrative regeneration in Sri Lanka

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

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Official URL: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/027595...

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
Peer-reviewed:	Yes
Date Deposited:	16 Dec 2020 08:30
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Additional Information:	This is an Author Accepted Manuscript of an article published in South Asian Review.
Divisions:	Faculties > Arts and Humanities
Subject terms:	myth, origin story, Sri Lanka, nationalism, the Mahavamsa, Tissa Abeysekara, Carl Muller, Ranasinghe Premadasa
URI:	https://e-space.mmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/627014
DOI:	https://doi.org/10.1080/02759527.2012.11932905
ISSN	0038-2841

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