Relocating Literature: Rereading “The Waste Land” from a Sri-Lankan Post-war Perspective

Abstract: T.S. Eliot‟s “The Waste Land ” is a poem written in response to the post-war conditions of Europe after the First World War. Even though the poem does not overtly appeal to the First World War, and a very few references are made on the First World War, an underlying reading of the poem proves that “The Waste Land ” does have the First World war in its background. What Eliot sees as the waste of modern civilization i.e., the spiritual dryness, fruitless sex, illicit sexual affairs, sexual laxity, hopelessness, and psychological and cultural deterioration cannot be restrained only to the westerners of the twentieth century. It has resonance with all the post-war communities and especially to those in the Northern part of Sri Lanka who had experienced a ferocious war for three decades. What this paper proposes is to relocate “The Waste Land ” in post-war Sri Lanka. In clear terms this paper perceives the post war conditions of Sri Lanka from Eliot‟s point of view, according to his “The Waste Land”. The comparative analysis adopting the qualitative methodology proves that the psychological deterioration that comes along with the war remains irreparable for a long time as observed by Winston Churchill “injuries were wrought to the structure of human society which a century will not efface ” [4]. The paper also looks forward to create awareness to the present plight in Sri Lanka, the spiritual cultural and psychological deterioration, which Sri Lankans face including moral degradation