Stock taking of literary affairs

Traditionally, this is time for stock taking of affairs and activities we have been engaged over the vanished months. As the new year dawns, individuals may make New Year resolutions, print and digital journalists may look back on the affairs of the months past and particularly various developments that took place in diverse realms of human affairs, ranging from politics and economics to literature.

Our focus is on the literary scene; the ups and downs and what’s goings on and the major developments that took place in literary societies, literati, the awards that were granted on literary productions and their merits and demerits in terms of literary theories and standards.

When we commenced the special section “Montage”, Cultural Paradigm, one of the founding objectives of the section was to offer deserving English readership with critical perspective on literary scene in general and on Sinhala and Tamil literatures in particular. It was emphasised that such a critical examination was necessary for readers to be enlightened on the goings on in diverse literary societies, activities and on some occasions expose behind the scene agendas, particularly the merits and demerits of literary productions that were bestowed with “literary awards”.

One of the objectives of offering a critical perspective is to inform readers of diverse developments in the literary scene and their impact on the future of literature at large in Sri Lanka. We have consistently maintained the stance that in order to create a dynamic literary culture, it is imperative to maintain higher standards at all levels of literary production. For instance, books, plays or films should not only look impressive but also contain a universal value. In other words, the literary and cinematic artefacts should be able to create a lasting impression in the minds of the reader or viewer. Otherwise, a literary production is of no value.

Literature is a commonly mistaken terminology used to describe written or spoken material. Generally speaking, “literature” could be anything from creative writing to scientific works, but the term is commonly used to refer to works of the creative imagination, including works of poetry, fiction, drama, and nonfiction. If any of these literary artefacts contain of little or no artistic value, they simply cannot be considered as literary productions. It is highly doubtful whether most of the ‘literary works’ which were conferred awards in the course of the year past, were even qualified to go beyond this fundamental phase of initial screening!

Mediocrity breeds mediocrity

One of the principle criteria in granting awards is the literary merits of the work at hand. Literary awards as bearer of standards should set precedence in encouraging the production of literature of lasting value. It is primarily on this criterion that literary critics and enlightened readers consider the 1950s and 1960s as a benchmark in understanding and analysing contemporary literary landscape and the literary productions in Sri Lanka.

But the situation has deteriorated drastically. For example, it is clear that the contemporary Sinhala idiom has suffered a setback given the poor status of the quality of Sinhala idiom appearing in Sinhala fiction and poetry.

Except for a handful of writers, most of the Sinhala literati have apparently used coarse and crude idiom which is inappropriate for literary production and generating zest. Obviously the result is the production of monotonous narration which makes most of the ‘literary work’ unreadable. By and large, the same is true for Sri Lankan literature in English and Sri Lankan writers in English with perhaps a few exceptions.

Hailing mediocre or even far below the mediocre work as masterpieces and conferring awards on them would lead to the production of more and more mediocre works. The role of the judges on diverse award committees should be questioned in this regard. Without doubt, the role of the judges should be to examine the work at hand in terms of relevant literary theories and standards.

Mass betrayal

However, it seems that their role, unfortunately, has been reduced to be the blind signatories to a treacherous accord often drafted by the so called chairpersons of literary panels. The chairperson who, on some instances, happened to be the worst kind of creature, is perhaps not guided by lofty principles, but by worldly desires in determining the literary work for awards. The end result of this mass betrayal is conferring awards on works which do not even deserve to be published. When the literary works which, thus, robbed awards, are being dissected into pieces at literary seminars and in series of articles in terms of their literary and artistic value, invariably the victims are the so called learned judges on the award committees who are collectively responsible for their judgment.

They not only look like absolute fools, but also like crooks with ulterior motives primarily due to their subsequent deafening silence. Even at this stage, none of the judges has come forward either to justify their decision which is impossible given the extremely poor literary quality of the awarded works or to deprecate the verdict that they may have been compelled to take due to the pressure applied on them.

Tapping the international literary market

If the Sri Lankan literature to be read and appreciated by an international audience, it is imperative for Sri Lankan literati to aspire to international standards. This is particularly relevant for Sri Lankan writers in English. Except for well established Sri Lankan writers such as Romesh Gunasekara, Michael Ondaatje, Salam Selvadorai, Yasmine Gooneratne very little is known about Sri Lankan literature in English beyond our shores.

One of the cardinal causes for the present plight of Sri Lankan literature in English is lack of promotion at international level. However, our own, Hawaii based Prof. Wimal Dissanayake’s excellent work on Sinhala writers and cultural intellectuals have begun to expose our previously unheard Sinhala writers and their work amongst the international critics and readers. Prof. Dissanayake’s two recent English publications (‘Enabling Traditions: four Sinhala cultural intellectuals’ - ISBN 9559170775; and ‘Sinhala novel and the public sphere: three illustrative moments’ - ISBN 9789551741143) are the two examples to study in this regard.

For diverse reasons, Sri Lankan publishers failed to have a substantial presence at prime international markets even through agents. Lack of perceptive original fiction in English is another ground for it. Over emphasis on literary genres such as light humour and sheer engagement in banter would not augur well for a brighter future for Sri Lankan literature in English.

Translation is another area Sri Lankan literature has to excel yet. Most of the translated works into English from Sinhala and ‘vice versa’ are of poor quality. Particularly most of the Sinhalese literary works translated into English are either distorted version of the originals or just a set of words which convey an incomplete sense or no sense at all. It is a home truth that translated work should stand on its own as a commendable literary work in the host language into which original work from either English or Sinhala. For instance, the late K.G. Karunatilake’s Sinhalese rendering of western classical literary work, are perceptive literary works in Sinhala. Unfortunately, most of the English translations of Sinhalese literary work cannot be considered as perceptive literary work in English as well as most of the literary works by Sri Lankan writers in English.

Through Montage we have attempted not only to highlight the shortcomings of the Sri Lankan literary scene but also to introduce both Sinhala writings and new English writings coming from far off places such as Down Under. For example, our arduous task of translating the complex Sinhala prose of Sumithra Rahubadde’s popular novel *Iti pahan* (Burly Lamp) on a weekly basis and publishing Perth based Sri Lankan writer, Sunil Govinnage’s first novel, ‘Black Australian’ are a few attempts to introduce new Sinhala and English writings. We hope to contine our efforts to expose “treacherous accords often drafted by the so-called chairpersons of literary panels” and introduce new Sinhala and English writings in 2010.