Promoting Sri Lankan literature in a globalised world

A corpus of literary work over centuries is a product of unique human cultures. This statement is applicable to multiple genres of creative literature and art throughout the world. Literature and art (also music) are products of human civilizations grown at different times throughout various phases of the history of humanity.

One of the important factors of civilizations is the common language or lingua franca which has been used dominantly in diverse human creative processes including creative writing. In some civilizations and even in modern nation states, language has been functioning not only as an invisible boundary but also as a binding tool of humanity. That's why we read and appreciate the works of Shakespeare, Tolstoy, Pasternak or Martin Wickramasinghe's creative prose at a given period of time in human history.

In addition to creating a worldview and moral rectitude, it has been accepted that the vital role the language plays in the representation of identity, both at global and national levels. In nations such as Germany, France and Israel, the dominant language has been functioning as an invisible boundary. The language is a key to a distinctive literary culture and a world centred on the dominant language such as English or the World Englishes.

Though there may be several languages used by diverse ethnic groups of a given national state, there is one language which dominates the affairs of the state and in which the national literature is created. For instance, in India, though there are hundreds of provincial and regional languages, it is either Hindi or English which dominates the affairs of the State. After centuries of colonial rule, when India became a nation state as eloquently declared by its fist Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. "At the stroke of midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom", it had created a language common to its diverse ethnic and linguistic groups; English. Even before India gained the Independence, Indian English writers such as Mulk Raj Anand's Untouchable (1935); R. K. Narayan's Swami and Friends (1935); and Raja Rao's Kanthapura (1938), were capable of providing "the first mature fruits of a growing creative impulse" in English language to the world.

However, the important fact is neither the adaption of English and the transfer its ownership from colonial master to the Indian masses, but the preservation and growth of literatures in regional and provincial languages.

At no point in its development as a formidable nation state, India has neglected the literatures in diverse languages. In fact, literature, for instance, in Bengali has been growing with an increasing population which uses Bengali in day-to-day interactions. In addition to flourishing literature, a large number of periodicals and newspapers are being published in Bengali. We should also not forget the fact that Rabindranath Tagore's original work was written in Bengali and he is the first Asian to receive the Nobel Prize for literature and primarily he was a poet who wrote in his native tongue.

French, Italian and German literatures have also been flourishing and major literary works have been translated or adapted into English. It is a two-way or sometime a three-way process where English literary works have been translated into French, Italian and German languages. The important facet of that process is the encouragement of authors in diverse linguistic strands to continue their creative work in their respective languages, capturing the distinctive world created by them while making their works accessible to an international audience in translations. This highly productive process is at work in our neighbour, the progressive Singapore. So it is worthwhile looking at the case of Singapore.

Multilingual Singaporean literary landscape

In Singaporean literary landscape, albeit dominated by English, the authors in other major languages such as Chinese, Malay and Tamil have been producing a considerable body of creative work. Space for the growth and sustenance of literatures in languages other than English has not been denied. Authors in Chinese, Malay or in Tamil publish their work and market them in Singapore. A by product of this healthy trend is the production of different voices distinctive to their literary cultures and language pools.

As literature is a creative process of codifying contemporary history and the milieu, it is important to accommodate diverse voices which would create a tapestry of literatures.

Such literature rich in diversity will contribute to the formation of a multilingual literary landscape which ultimately would form the character of the nation. Apart from literary value, this process would act as a unifying factor, creating a strong sense of belonging and nationhood in the minds of otherwise linguistically-segregated population. Though Singapore has a history of less than forty years after it emerged as a modern nation state, it has definitely created a strong sense of belonging and nationhood in its multi-ethnic and multi-linguistic population. In fact, the seed of nationhood and a vision for a united Malaya was sowed in the colonial days in the Raffles Society of the University of Malaya (Singapore). Among other things, the idealistic students in the University envisioned a strong indigenous literature and a common tongue.

Sri Lankan literatures in diverse languages

Looking at the evolution of Sri Lankan literary landscape, it is evident that there is little or no interaction among literatures in diverse languages. Since the literary pie is divided on three major linguistic stocks, namely, Sinhalese, Tamil and English, the major portion of the pie is, naturally, occupied by Sinhalese literature followed by Tamil and English respectively.

Though there was a literary resurgence in the aftermath of the independence and with the establishment of universities, that popular wave has gradually receded in the ensuing decades. The early Sinhalese authors such as Piyadasa Sirisena, W.A. Silva, Martin Wickremasinghe and the post 1950s authors like Gunadasa Amerasekara would have carried a vision for a vibrant literary tradition in Sinhala in post-colonial era. However, contemporary Sinhala literati seem to have lost their way and stranded in the wilderness of hardly-known literary theories such as post-modernism.

Contemporary Sinhala literary scene dominated by Colombo-centric pseudo literati, seems hardly to reflect on the milieu or the society at large.

Literary awards which would have been the benchmark of qualitative literary work and trendsetters have now been reduced to medals of deception rather than achievements. Little or no attention is given to the state of Tamil literature in Sri Lanka. However, it is certain that there is little or no interaction among Sri Lankan literatures in diverse languages. Apart from internationally reputed Sri Lankan Diasporic writers such as Michael Ondaatje, Romesh Gunasekara and academics like Prof. Yasmin Goonaratne, indigenously-grown considerable corpus of Sri Lankan literature in English is yet to emerge. Broadbasing English and promoting literature in diverse languages such as Sinhalese, Tamil and the establishment of a dynamic translations of good Sri Lankan work of lasting value from Sinhala and Tamil into English is the need today.

One of the important measures in promoting literatures in Sinhala and Tamil is to produce anthologies of Sinhala and Tamil literary works in English, thereby promoting the interaction among literatures in diverse languages and bringing Sri Lankan literature to an international audience.

It is only through such a process that Sri Lanka will be able to produce a vibrant literary culture that the country can be really proud of.