Memory anchored by place attachment and cognitive maps in Michael Ondaatje’s warlight and the Cat’s Table

Abstract

Recollection is a gangplank between an obsolete past, indisputable present and an unidentified future, but human memory is convoluted as the compendium of a landscape. Perceptions, values and experiences fastened to a landscape can anchor memories, shift perceptions and can alter the aboriginal integrity and cognitive capabilities of an individual. This research article studies the Canadian Nobel Prize winning author Michael Ondaatje’s novels The Cat’s Table (2012) and Warlight (2018) venturing to understand how characters and their identities are created with the aid of memory. This study examines how place attachment and understanding of environmental configurations through generation of cognitive maps distorts or ascends recollection. © AesthetixMS 2020.