Novel changed course of Sinhala fiction
by Miran PERERA
A novel exponent of conventional writing Sri Lanka's prominent
novelist Martin Wickramasinghe's 120th birth anniversary falls on May
29, 2010. His novel published in 1944 changed the course of Sinhala
fiction forever. It opens with a passage evoking a sense of time and
place. This is perhaps the first time the Sri Lankan landscape entered
into Sinhala writing either in prose or verse. In the entire range of
classical Sinhala poetry and prose there is not a single memorable
passage which captures the splendour of the Sri Lankan landscape nor the
rich texture of its life.
Over 75 years ago an intelligent child could not grow up in Koggala
without acquiring a sense of curiosity about life and nature. On one
side the village was bordered by the sea. A child would watch the huge
waves hitting the coral reef forming a natural breakwater a few hundred
yards from the shore. Seasonally or with low tide the water would recede
and the little children would run along the beach deep into the sea
collecting cowrie and sea anemone. There were many little islets in the
river.
Children would creep along the marshy river bank among the kirala
tees to watch fishermen perched patiently on their dugouts waiting for
that tell tale tug on the line. On poya days they would run ahead of
their parents to the village temple where they would be thrilled at the
prospect of a cart ride to Paragoda Viharaya.
Where we stand today on Sinhala language and literature is hallowed
ground. This is so for those who consider the Sinhala language and
culture as their heritage. But for the man who was born here over a
century ago it would be too narrow a definition. His works so massive
and all pervasive by any standard cover practically every aspect of our
country. It looks at the landscape of Sri Lankan history and culture
through a surprisingly modern critical perspective.
Martin Wickramasinghe was born in Koggala. In his childhood
experiences in the village how some of the influences which fashioned
his vision of Sinhala culture, religion and literature could be seen. As
Wickramasinghe himself says as a child he was amazed by the natural life
that surrounded his village. From the sea anemone and the water slug the
tadpole and the infinite variety of fish he learnt of the wonders of
natural evolution.
If he was an early rationalist and if his literary and social
criticism is full of continuous change and growth we may seek the
beginnings of that vision in his experiences at Koggala. At a time when
Sinhala writers believed that they were descendants of angels
Wickramasinghe in his 'Satwa Santhathiya' argued convincingly that they
were after all descendants of Apes. He was then a rationalist and a
Darwinian evolutionist.
Facets of culture and social organisation were studied as aspects of
a culture which were not only inter linked but also subject to
continuous change. It is this vision of change that comes through most
clearly in Wickramasinghe's literary works. In Wickramasinghe we find a
novel exponent for the conventional writer. Time is the hero of his
triology Gamperaliya, Kali Yugaya and Yuganthaya. The titles themselves
suggest the author's preoccupation with time, change and upheaval. but
these changes are observed with a degree of detachment perhaps even
amusement for Wickramasinghe is wise enough to know that the more we
change the more we remain the same!
Wickramasinghe's great achievement is that he helped us look back
without false pride and nostalgia. Classical works which rested securely
and unchallenged on the top shelf of our literary hierarchy came under
Wickramasinghe's critical scrutiny. His writings created values and
standards which moulded our sensibility.
Only translations of his novels and a couple of slim volumes written
in English are available. He found Buddhism and Marxism to be congenial
philosophies. He was attracted by the Buddhist perception of change. In
his view it was the rational values of Buddhism that conditioned and
created Sinhalese.
Wickramasinghe was in the line of cultural rebels who questioned the
endocentric view of Sinhala culture, religion and history. For over 40
years he went on plugging his theories of Sinhala culture and Art. In
his Kalu Nika Sevima and critical evaluations of traditional poetry he
argued for the existence of an indigenous Buddhist folk tradition which
challenged the pedantic Sanskritic culture of the elite who slavishly
imitated Indian high culture.
It is this dialectic which makes Wickramasinghe's early writings on
literature particularly 'Sinhala Sahithye Negima' and Guththila Geethaya
easily the best pieces of literary criticism.
His analysis and insights into traditional poetry remain unparalleled
despite the upheavals of the last 50 years the spirit of old Koggala
survives in the folk museum. Like Devalegala which translates as the
shrine rock the museum of Wickramasinghe is both an epitaph and a
manifesto of a way of life that offers us values which are still
relevant. |
