First anniversary of Montage :

Looking back on a trodden path

This week 'Montage', the Literary and Cultural Supplement of Sunday Observer marks its first anniversary. It is time for us to look back on the trodden path that laid through a hostile terrain. At the time, we commenced 'Montage', Sri Lankan literary scene was saddled with many issues virtually threatening the very existence of Sri Lankan literature in English and Sinhalese literature.

One of the fundamental issues was the glorification of questionable English and Sinhalese literary productions at national literary ceremonies and the non-transparent criteria adopted by panels in selecting awards.

Apparently, literary panels including the state literary panel which selects literary awards for the annual State Literary Festival were biased in their selections. It was obvious that the selections were made not on the basis of literary merits of chosen works but on tribal affiliations. Literary awards by both state and non-state sectors have become highly predictable mock awards.

Most of the awards winning literary productions including novels were unreadable thrash with disjointed plots leading nowhere. Self-proclaimed pundits cum academic imposters came out with theories to justify such award winning literary productions claiming them to be post-modern literary productions. Some of the literary panels were occupied by charlatans and buffoons. It became public that on one instance where a close relative judged a relative's work and panellists for that award happened to be from the same caste, albeit it was said be a strange coincident. Cronyism was rampant in literary panels which selected so called 'best' literary productions of the year. It was against this backdrop that Montage came into being a year ago.

From the very inception, the 'Montage' embraced a fiercely independent editorial policy. Promoting high culture, raising public taste, taking the Sri Lankan literature beyond our shores and introducing contemporary Sinhalese literary work to English readership in translation are some of the achievements of Montage. Montage editors were and will not be reluctant to expose nefarious characters and scandals in the field of literature, journalism and culture. For instance, articles critical of swindler's language project were carried out in Montage to allow the expression of multi-faceted opinions and views on a critical issue which determines the destiny of the nation. For obvious reasons, pseudonyms have to be used in such exposures in keeping with the norms of journalism. I wrote in the inaugural Cultural Scene spelling out the aims and objectives of Montage:

"The need for Montage arises out of necessity to providing alternative platform for deserving works of arts and also in promoting and propagating celebrated Sinhala literary work in translations so that they could be appreciated by global audiences. In a way this move would also promote bi-lingualism in keeping with the Government's avowed policy of promoting English as a life skill.

Given the unique historical and cultural legacy that Sri Lanka is heir to, promoting Art and Literature is the best tool to reach international audience and to project Sri Lanka's image as a country with a rich culture.

Montage is dedicated to promoting international literature in Sri Lanka and Sri Lankan Literature both in English and Sinhala beyond our shores. For instance, some of the masterpieces in Sinhala literature such as Gunadasa Amerasekara's literary work and academic work such as Dr. Sarath Amunugama's 'Maname Mathakwee' have not yet been translated into English or featured in an English newspaper. It is pertinent to state here that Gunadasa Amerasekara maintains a high standard in his writing. This is present even in his latest publication, an anthology of short stories 'Wil Thera Maranaya'. The target audience of the Montage is school students (it will provide supplementary reading material for them), academics and scholars, professionals, teachers, students of other institutes of higher education, international community including Sri Lankan diaspora, prospective Sri Lankan writers and artists.

We wish to create a forum for responding to literature in Sinhala, Tamil and English (Analysing works in Sinhala, Tamil and also responding to works in Sinhala and Tamil by way of articles on them). It is our objective to make Montage a gateway to Sri Lankan cultural landscape. Therefore, we hope that readers would send us their comments on the maiden issue of the Montage.

Contribution by way of articles, reviews and comments on the content and the quality of this segment is welcome as long as they are constructive.

Montage always intends to step into areas where substandard works of art and literature are being awarded undeserved praise and accolades. Among the challenges we confront today are recognising talents in all spheres of activities, restoring standards and promoting higher quality of literature which can reach beyond our shores.

Montage takes this opportunity to salute the rich tradition of journalism bequeathed to us by pioneers in the field such as Reggie Siriwardena, Dayasena Gunasinghe, Benedict Dodampegama, Gamini Hathtthotuwegama, Jayavilal Wilegoda and Ajith Samaranayake.

After a year from the commencement, it is up to the readers to evaluate content and the brand of journalism we represent in Montage. What is in store for us in Montage and Sri Lankan readers is exciting and challenging time with shifting paradigms in the newspaper publishing industry from printed version against electronic version in the Web.

Prominent role of diaspora

A growing Sri Lankan diapora across the continents is poised to play a vital role in influencing literary discourse in the motherland. We in Montage have taken that vital aspect into consideration and readily allocated space for diasporic writings both in English and Sinhalese. In this regard, we are privileged to receive the rich weekly columns by Prof. Wimal Dissanayake from Hawaii, USA. Prof. Dissanayake through his contributions has not only sought to roam freely between deconstructive gymnastics of Derrida but also the intricate poetics of cinema of Deleuze. In addition, he has an extraordinary ability to discuss any complex literary issue or theories when he writes on rhythmic qualities of either Sinhala, English or Sanskrit poetry or his insightful comments on the novels of the Nobel laureate J.M. Coetzee or those great works of Martin Wickremasinghe.

We also have introduced hitherto unknown talents of some of Sri Lankan born writers who have crossed the Mute Indian Ocean taking their rich literary traditions. For instance, Montage carried a full-length unabridged version of the debut novel 'Black Australian' by Sri Lankan-Australian writer Sunil Govinnage who is also a regular contributor to Montage.

Another very prominent contributor of Montage is Kalakeerthi Edwin Ariyadasa who has witnessed the growth and development of Sri Lankan's journalism from the mid of the last century up to today. Kalakeerthi Ariyadasa is a bi-lingual journalist par excellence who has written over 20,000 articles on diverse subjects in both Sinhala and English and adding to that number through his regular contribution to Montage. We are grateful for his time and efforts.

As a direction to lead Sri Lankan readers to rich Asian literature in English, we have exclusively covered international literary events such as Malaysia and Singapore Writers' Festival 2009 and LIT UP 2010, Writers and Performers Festival held in Singapore recently. We have also introduced the work of eminent Asian writers such as Edwin Thumboo and the works by Sri Lankan born Malaysian writer Lloyd Fernando.

Montage endeavours to feature other international literary festivals and writers from all corners of the globe to establish much-needed connectivity between Sri Lankan literati with their international counterparts.

Literature and art in a globalised milieu

With increasing accessibility to internet, web based literary journals are playing a vital role in the propagation of arts and literature in a globalised milieu. Internet version of printed newspapers and literary supplements such as New York Times and the Guardian UK come with interactive features such as blogs, virtual picture galleries and interactive news and literary maps. E-paper is another feature which will allow readers to read the printed version of the newspaper as it is on the web. Montage will endeavour to add such interactive features with graphical interfaces as our commitment to expand the horizons Sri Lankan literature, culture and cinema abroad.