|
|
|
| Sunday, 28 August 2005 |
 |
|
 |
Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
|
Book reviews Turning the first turf on 'All God's Children' by Aditha Dissanayake A young man who had wanted to be a writer all his life, turned up on Ernest Hemingway's doorstep once, and asked the eminent writer if he could answer some questions on writing. When I wrote to Mr. Carl Muller, asking him for advice in much the same way, specially about writing book reviews, he was kind enough to send a prompt reply. Unlike Hemingway who asked the young man to read a collection of classics and then, if he still felt he was not a good writer, suggested he shoot himself, Mr. Muller wrote, "The road may be full of potholes but don't ever let it get you down. Do your best in your own way... can I just add something? Never revise. What spills out of your mind in the first writing is always the best. Its pure mind blaze. That's how Joyce and Paulo Coeho and Erica J ... did (or do) and also Sylvia Plath. Every new writing is breaking new ground. Turning over that first turf is precious ..." Today I"m going to use this piece of advice on Mr. Muller's own book 'All God's Children'. Write everything that comes to mind, with no revising. So, here's turning the first turf. I did the wrong thing. I read Ravi Dahanayake's review before I read the book. I started to read the first sentence of the review, telling myself after reading the first paragraph I'll stop, then read the book, and come back to the rest. But before I knew it, I'd read the whole article to the end, every sentence having been irresistible, especially the last, how true, when you lend a Carl Muller to a friend you never get it back. Most of the books written by Mr.Muller that I have, have been borrowed from friends, and I know the ones I'd bought are with one or the other of my friends out there. But, even if I had not read the review, the cover would have been a good warning to approach the book with apprehension. A warning that here is something entirely different to what I had found in The Jam Fruit Tree or Yakada Yaka. Yet, in spite of the preparation, when the shock comes, it comes with staggering force, one wonders if one would ever recover. This is so because the first two stories act as foil to what follows. Yet, the small affair described in the Dinner Party, is anything but small. It ridicules the "charismatic churches that claim to know God so well ..." This particular church is called the Beacon Church because they bring the "light of God to the darkness of the soul". Watching a group of Bible-toting Beaconians hurrying past him, Anton Williams, the protagonist who wishes to see God in his own way, comments "What a sorry bunch ... if these are God's children, that old bugger really made a mess of it". His friend Ralston has the last words. "That he did, for sure". On to the second story, God's Child, where Ranil claims "No one can beat me. I'm God's child", then, to the poem "Sahbby People" ... so far so good. Then comes the blow. A blow of such force on your conscience you would never have known before. A blow which would make you wish you could stop living al together. Read Lakshmi and you'll realize what Lenin said about writers is true. They are the eyes and ears of society. Read Nelum, Cassandra Point, Lymphademia and you'd realize to your horror that the picture on the cover is just right, Yes, this is how 'All God's Children' look. This is you and I. You'd want to wish you didn't belong to the human race. Here is how the beginning of day, praised on ever so many pages of literature in the past and the present, is described in Lymphademia. "It was four a.m. she needed to stake her claim on that patch of pavement before dawn. " It was the time when night was ready to hitch its sarong, flee the onrush of day". In Yakada Yaka the author says everything is fiction, leaving the reader to decide as he or she pleases whether there is more fact or more fiction. How comforting if he had written the same in "All God's Children", the fact that he doesn't make the going tougher. But you plod on, because now and then there's something to make you grin, wearily, but still, grin anyway. Here's how the importance of living only for today, the notion of carpe diem is described in the Starseeker "Now I must climb that mountain/Now I must pick mulberries, eat a pizza/Savour a sunset, f.... the girl next door...". And would you like to know what MVVD stands for? Could it mean, Member of Venereal Vertical Dipsomaniac or a Master of Violent Voracious Dingbats? Or simply some Roman Numerals? Wrong. But I won't tell you the answer. Find out for yourself. I have read up to Road Blocks. Can women stop their menstruation cycles? Will they get breast cancer if they do? I have stopped reading. I am a coward. I have not got the guts to continue. I leave off ... on to everybody else who is stronger than me, who can bravely face more revelations (yes, to use that overused cliche) of man's inhumanity to man. Prince Sidhartha would not have been so shocked when he saw the sathara pera nimithi, (an old man, a sick man, a dead body and a priest) had he read 'All God's Children'. Time to sign off. But, I can't help recalling Hemingway's words in parting to the young writer. "Write, if you work at it for five years and you find you're no good you can just as well shoot yourself ....". "I can't shoot myself" says the young man in horror, whereupon Hemingway says, "Come around then and I'll shoot you". Would Mr. Muller say the same to me after reading this review? In case he does, folks, if I go missing in the next couple of days, you'll know what happened to me. Great classic horror stories The USborne Book of Classic Horror consists of three of the world's greatest classic horror stories Dracula, Frankenstein and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde which have been retold over the years. Dracula is one of the most powerful horror stories of all time written by Bram Stoker in 1897, and since that date it has never been out of print. Dracula has been translated into nearly 50 languages while count Dracula remains one of the most popular figures in contemporary horror fiction, represented in countless films, books and comics. Dracula draws its inspiration from many sources and its dark brooding style and episodes of bloodthirsty terror resemble the horror and suspense stories known as Gothic novels which became popular in the previous century depicting tales of blood-sucking monsters like the vampire and several historical characters that stoker may have been familiar with, all combined to create a dramatic portrayal of evil. In the 18th century people had been taught that science, reason, industry and wealth would solve the world's problems but in the victorian era people began to doubt it. Dracula tapped into these fears by including a scientist, a lawyer and an aristocrat in the group of people who challenged to conquer the vampire. The author did ot allow terror to remain a distant fantasy, instead he brought the vampire to England and eventually to the heart of London, placing unimaginable evil right on the doorstep of his readers. Although much of the action of Dracula happened in the Victorian reader's own time and place, and though the world has changed since the book was written, our tears have not, which is why Dracula remains a classic. Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin (later Mary Shelley), the author of Frankenstein to fascinated readers for nearly two centuries, while being a horror story it also asks questions about the purpose of science and the responsibilities of scientists and whether people are born good, evil or neutral, a popular philosophical cuisines which yet provokes discussion today. Frankenstein's monster cannot tell good from evil because he is badly treated, first by Frankenstein himself, and then by others in society. But as his understanding grows, the monster learns that evil is wrong and the third strand of the book deals with the power of learning and education. And thirdly Dr. Kekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886), which became a classic film too brought novelist Robert Louis Stevenson widespread popularity while he was living in England. The book charts the terrifying downfall of Henry Jekyll, a society doctor who invents a potion that alters his character. While under the influence of this drug, Jekyll becomes Edward Hyde, a man without any sense of good or evil, who acting like a wild animal, commits hideous crimes. Gradually Jekyll loses control over his tell counterpart, with dreadful consequences. This noel by Stevenson contains elements of mystery and suspense and the book is all about hiding and concealing. Many facts are hidden in scribbled notes, messages and letters or letters within letters. Stevenson even hides some of the basic elements of a standard plot; for instance, the book has a real hero, and though there is an end to the story there is no real conclusion Stevenson asks who is more wicked: the scientist's creation, with little sense of good or bad, or the scientist himself, who knows his experiments are wrong but prolongs them for personal gain. These problems still concern us today, which may well be why Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde remain one of the most popular novels ever written. (R.K.) A Lankan Canadian's perspective by K. S. Sivakumaran This 148 page book with photographs describes the 'history of Tamil struggle for survival' as stated in the subheading of the book. The author is Lankan born Canadian Supiramanaiam Makenthiran who served in Sri Lanka and the African continent as an accountant and retired as a World Bank Project Finance Officer. He is a graduate of the then University of Colombo and a fellow of the Chartered Association of Certified Accountants. The blurb of the book says that in this book he has traced the struggle of the Tamils from the time Ceylon became independent to the present time. It starts with the non-violent Satyagraha led by the Upcountry Tamil leader Thondaman and then by the Northeast Tamil leader Chelvanayagam. After thirty years of futile non-violent agitation, it culminates in the armed resistance by Tamil militants. There are 21 chapters in this slim volume: Ceylon Independence, Ceylon on the eve of colonialism, Political developments up to independence, Political developments after independence, Events leading to Tamil Eelam demand, The father of the Tamil nation, Vaddukoddai Resolution, Tamil youth react to Sinhala terror, The 1983 genocide of Tamils by Sinhalese, Aftermath of the holocaust, The Eelam War 1, The patriarch of upcountry Tamils, The IPKF War, The Eelam War 2, Eelam War 3 begins, The liberation of Mullaitivu, the liberation of Vanni and Eelephant Pass, The Hero of Tamil Liberation, The Agni Keela and Katunayaka debacles, Leaders of Tamil speaking people and ceasefire. I wish that the writer had used sparingly some terms and not generalise as Sinhala terror (because only a section of the unenlightened Sinhalese resorted to violence due to their stupidity of understanding history) and also as genocide of Tamils by Sinhalese (because not all Tamils were killed by all the Sinhalese).The emotional element in his writing could have been minimised and an impassioned approach to the muddled problem would have been appreciated by neutral observers. The author is right in saying that the history of Lanka has been distorted and many facts suppressed by interested parties. But he had this to say: I have briefly touched on the history of Ceylon Tamils from the time Lanka was connected to India by land, and the Great Tamil Hindu king Ravana who ruled over all Lanka thousands of years ago. I leave it to the readers understanding and interpretation of some of the statements made by the author. Here are some gleanings: The Buddhist chronicles, Mahavamsa written in the 6th century A.D., and the later Chulavamsa, give information about Ceylon history from the 6th century B.C. Commonsense dictates that Tamils were the original inhabitants of Sri Lanka (P 4) the Sinhalese were converted to Buddhism during the reign of King Devanampiyatissa. The Sinhalese are of Aryans as claimed without any basis. They are a mixed ethnic group, largely Dravidians, speaking the Sinhala-language which developed later. Many south Indians who migrated to Ceylon up to recent times were assimilated by the Sinhalese (P 7). The following passage (P 25) is subject to be reviewed dispassionately: In pursuance of his racist policies, D. S. Senanayake launched massive colonization of the traditional Tamil homeland of the Northern and Eastern provinces with Sinhalese from the South. He planted undesirable Sinhalese ex-convicts and thugs in Gal Oya, Allai, Kantalai, Pavatkulam and other places squeezing the Tamils out of their own homeland of Northeast, driving them out of their villages and committing atrocities, the writer continues : If D.S.S started Sinhala State terror against the Tamils in 1948, the Sinhala mob terrorism started in 1956. (P 26) To add to the bitterness of the Tamils, in 1958 anti-Tamil riots by Sinhalese hoodlums was organized by the racist elements with the connivance of the Bandaranaike government all over the Sinhalese provinces. (P 27) Understandably there were bitter experiences that the nation as a whole faced during the past since Independence. All communities suffered due to power hungry politicians and racists in all quarters. But is there any hope after heavy losses of life, property, prestige and human values and human rights et al? Well, the writer Supiramanaim Makenthiran has this positive statement to make: It is to be hoped that Sri Lanka will enjoy peace and prosperity and Tamils treated as equal citizens in the future. It is also to be hoped that Tamil people of the northeast and upcountry, will live happily in an autonomous set up, politically, socially, economically, culturally and linguistically. In this way, the country, which is presently divided de facto, can be reunited. Read this book to understand things from a Thamilian perspective and then criticize and find proper solution to the nations' malady. |
|
| News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security
| Produced by Lake House |
