Adding zing to detective stories

by R.S. Karunaratne

The detective story is a type of mystery story that features a private detective as the prime solver of a crime - usually a murder. The story is narrated by the detective who is also the protagonist. He interrogates the suspects and tracks down the killers. He also shares his experiences with the reader.

The detective story, often called a whodunit, became popular when Sir Arthur Conan Doyle started writing his popular stories with Sherlock Holmes as the protagonist. His detective novels became an instant hit in the 20th century and they still continue to attract readers.

Thompson A. Vande Bona novelist and translator

Dame Agatha Mary Christie (1891-1976), popularly known as Agatha Christie, was a prolific mystery story writer who is noted for her clever twists of plot and for the creation of two unconventional fictional detectives. They are Hercule Poirot and Miss Maple. The former is the hero of her classic detective novels "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd" (1926) and "Curtain" (1975). The detective dies in The latter story. Agatha Christie's "Murder in Mesopotamia" (1930), "Death on the Nile" (1937) and "Appointment with Death" (1938) reflect the experiences of her trips to Iraq and Syria.

Thompson A. Vande Bona of "Parisiye Kathavak" fame took a fancy to detective stories way back in the 1950s. As a budding writer he tried his hand at writing detective stories. When he found that his stories were not appearing in the local press, he started writing love stories. "Silumina", "Irida Lankadeepa", "Riviresa", "Sri" magazine and the "Rasavahini" magazine promptly published them.

"Then I started writing novels. My first novel "Muhudin Etharata" was published in the 1960s. However, I could not continue to write novels as I was sent to Paris by my employer," he said.

"While working in Paris, Vande Bona contributed many short stories to local newspapers. Some of his stories were translated by Edwin Ariyadasa and published in The Sunday Observer.

It was during this time that his popular novels "Parisiye Kathavak" and "Viya Sidurin Sasara Ditimi" were published. They were followed by "Semada Samarami Sudu" (1971) which was serialised in the "Sri" magazine. Another novel "Ashavo" (1972) was published. "Sandamali" was made into a film. His other novel "Thada Ima Man Ava" was serialised in the Sirikatha before being published as a novel.

Then something strange happened. Vande Bona disappeared from the literary scene for nearly 25 years. It was only after his retirement in 1995 that he put pen to paper once again. Turning away from creative literature he started writing books on literary history such as "Sinhala Navakathave Adithamayo". The book consisted of some of the oldest Sinhala novels such as "Wimala", "Adara Hasuna", "Siribari" and "Vesak Duthaya". After writing "Bentota Ruhunu Doratuwa" which depicted how a sleepy town became a tourist attraction, Vande Bona tried his hand at translations.

His first translation was "Umathu Mahallekuge Dinapotha" ("Diary of a Mad Old Man"). This was followed by "Deriyakage Dinapotha" and "Ibbekuge Kathava". "Badaginna" and "Chara Purushayo". His latest translations include Agatha Christie's detective stories. Some of them are "Orient Seegragami Dumriye Minimeruma", "Roger Akroid Marademeema", "Style Walawwe Abirahas", "Nayil Nadiye Minimeruma" and "Makulu Dela".

"Agatha Christie's detective stories are popular because she was able to maintain the suspense from the beginning to the end. "I decided to translate them because that is the only way to make world literature available to the younger generation," Vande Bona explained. He said translating her stories posed many challenges. One was the background to her stories. The translator cannot change the names of characters and place names. This is because some readers may have already read the original books in English. The other difficulty was to find the equivalent local idiom for her expressions.

"The translator should have a firm grasp of English and Sinhala. He should also have a clear knowledge of the culture of the countries where the story takes place. Therefore, a good knowledge of Sinhala alone is not sufficient to translate English fiction into Sinhala," Vande Bona pointed out.

He said many translators are in the habit of leaving out whole chunks of the story and putting out an abridged translation of the original work. Although English books are edited, Sinhala translations do not go through that important process. Readers expect translators to do a good job of work by giving them an authentic version of the original. Otherwise translators will have to face the wrath of readers.

There should be some mechanism to evaluate good translations. This can be done by giving awards to outstanding translations.

Speaking on the genre of detective stories, he said that they are not alien to local readers. According to him even "Ummagga Jathaka" had some elements of the detective novel. Meanwhile, Piyadasa Sirisena's "Wimalatissa Hamuduruwange Mudal Pettiya", Walawwaka Palahilawwa" and "Kongoda Wickramapala" was the detective in his novels. Deemon Ananda also wrote a number of detective novels that appealed to a cross section of readers.

"Detective novels are important to us because they are based on the axiom," Crime does not pay. "In addition, our own detectives can learn something new from these stories.

However, some knowledge of the law, medicine and a little bit of common sense will have a greater impact on the part of the writer. For instance, Agatha Christie worked as a pharmacist and her knowledge of poison and other lethal drugs has given her a high degree of authenticity to her detective stories", said Vande Bona.