DERRIDA’S DIFFÉRANCE- ‘TO DIFFER’, ‘TO DEFER’/ OPEN-ENDEDNESS: A POSTMODERNIST CRITIQUE OF THE SELECTED POEMS OF ONDAATJE

Postmodernism as an academic discipline established in art, architecture, film, literature, etc. in 1980s. It is a contradictory and deconstructing phenomenon. Derrida’s différance is a hallmark of postmodernism but its integrals i.e. ‘to differ’ and ‘to defer’ have not yet been explored from Ondaatje’s poetry. The study argues that integrals of différance are reflected in the selected poems of Ondaatje because these integrals are vividly seen in the theme and textual techniques of his poetry that rank him among other postmodern poets. The study explored: (i) the reflection of the first integral of différance i.e. ‘to differ’/ blurring the boundaries from the selected eleven poems of Ondaatje. (ii) investigating ‘to differ’ or dissolving the boundaries from the postmodernist textual techniques i.e. intertextuality, non-linear structure, pastiche, parody, and multi-voiced narrative from Ondaatje’s selected poems. (iii) reflection of the second integral of différance- ‘to defer’- postponement or open-endedness from the selected eleven poems of Ondaatje. These integrals have been explored through textual analysis in the paradigm of différance. The study is qualitative in nature which tries to investigate how Ondaatje’s poetry reflects ‘to differ’ through dissolving the cut-off points between present and primitivism, man and nature, husband and wife, man and nature, east (Ceylon) and U.S. (Connecticut), prose and poetry. Through ‘to defer’/ postponement, open-endedness has been identified from the selected poems of Ondaatje in the form of heterodiegetic narrative and rejection of authorial voice