Woolf in Ceylon

Leonard Woolf, who, along with his wife, Virginia, was a founding member of the Bloomsbury movement, spent several years of his early career in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), assisting the small group of white administrators who ruled the colonial outpost in the early 1900s. Woolf’s so journ there was personally significant, for ever changing how he thought about imperialism and war. Sri Lanka, in all its vibrant glory, also lives profoundly in Christopher Ondaatje’s soul as the country of his birth. In this intimate memoir, Ondaatje travels in Woolf’s footsteps, brilliantly juxta posing imperial Ceylon with its post-colonial incarnation. Along the way, a fascinating portrait of Woolf emerges, interwoven with Ondaatje’s own reflection on the nature of home and homeland. With an array of both historical and full colourcon temporary photographs, combined with Ondaatje’s evocative narrative, Ceylon Revisited is an armchair adventurer’s delight.