The use of literature

Having observed September literary awards and associated rituals of several events, grasping both covert and overt trends of outcomes, ceremonies and major stakeholders, I got the impression that the major focus is on awards, personalities and not necessarily the quality of literary products.

It appears that most of us forget why we have September literary festivals and awards. Most of the organisers and participants have forgotten the fact that focus should be on literature and literary products and not on the events or on personalities. So I thought it would be beneficial to examine, at least briefly, the uses and benefits of literature.

What is literature?

Literature covers the production of written works with the quality of excellence of form or expression and dealing with ideas of universal interest. Literature encourages us to see things from another point of view. Understanding or analysing various issues from another point of view is incredibly important.

Literature can nourish ones imagination and encourage one to imagine things from writers' point of view. This is undoubtedly one unique benefits of literature. Literature could also a means one form of education and gaining knowledge of culture, the evolution of language over time or even understanding issues during a specific historical period. Good literary texts essentially reflect the time, people, ethos of the society in which literary productions were made. For example, if one studies either medieval English literature or Elizabethan dramas one can gain insights into the history of that period, power, people, authority, kingdom and various knowledge of the contemporary issues prevailed during that period.

Elizabethan drama covering the plays produced while Queen Elizabeth reigned in England, from 1558 until 1603 also coincides with opening of several playhouses including the famous Globe Theatre (1599), which was the home to many of Shakespeare's works clearly suggest an increased patronage for art and theatre. The most popular types of Elizabethan plays were a kind of direct and indirect histories of then England's rulers giving us insights into their lives, activities and even acts of cruelties. When reading the texts Elizabethan plays give us deep human insights of universal value such as love, hatred, desire, rejection and revenge.

Major literary works

Reading, studying and understanding literary texts, undoubtedly a difficult task compared to watching tele-dramas, and listening to FM channels which are multiplying like wild mushrooms in Sri Lanka. By reading good literary texts undoubtedly help readers to develop their analytical skills and an ability to increase written communication skills.

Reading good literary texts not only educate the readers but also provide insights into intricacies of human life and relationship. Reading provides entertainment and helps readers to reach faraway lands both realistic and imagined places. Reading good literary texts leave deep impressions while enriching the worldly experience of the reader.

If we read our own great writer, Martin Wickramasinghe's trilogy: Gamperaliya, Kaliyugaya, and Yuganthaya it is evident that how our greatest author has used medium of literature to narrate a broader social milieu of our country. Gamperaliya, undoubtedly the first, artistically crafted Sinhala novel. As Prof. Wimal Dissanayake writes it; "... inaugurated a new chapter in Sinhala fiction ...deals with the collapse of the feudal society and the rise of the middle class [in Sri Lanka]".

We don't read Gamperaliya to learn Sri Lanka's economic history or how Sri Lanka's feudal society ended. We read the novel for entertainment and learn through the way how Wickramasinghe has crafted his characters, their interactions and conflicts. When we finish reading the novel, we develop deeper insights into the characters that Wickramasinghe has crafted artistically and we know that his protagonists are real and not flat or round charters which is an essential aspect of a good novel.

I want to briefly look at the theme, plot and the philosophy of the Russian Boris Leonidovich Pasternak's novel, Dr Zhivago. It is an epic novel, by a Russian poet and translator who was deeply into humanism and poetic vision for his contemporary society. At a surface, the novel follows the romance between Yuri Zhivago and Larissa Antipova amid the social changes during and after the Russian Revolution of 1917. This very complex and multi-layered novel is more than a tragic love story or a social and political chronicle about the Russian revolution.

Dr Zhivago tells the story of a medical doctor and a poet and how he lost his personal freedom, his love and family during and after the Russian Revolution. Pasternak's classic is not a propaganda novel as some critics claim, and it broadens the social and political understanding expanding the life's philosophy of any good reader. This is one the benefits of reading good literature. Contemporary English literary works such as Aravinda Adigar's 'White Tiger', Arundathi Roy's 'God of Small Things' and Thomas Keneally's 'Schindler's list' which was made into an award winning film by Steven Spielberg.

It is pertinent to look at a salient feature of a great work of literature irrespective of language in which it was written. A cardinal feature of a great work of literature is that it is not only written in finest expressions but in many ways it codifies humanity at large and reflect the milieu, culture, ethos, attitudes and mentalities of a cross section of the society. It is one of the reasons why we still appreciate great literary productions of author such as Shakespeare, Leo Tolstoy and Martin Wickremasinghe, Guandasa Amersekara and K. Jayatilake.

Appreciating literature is undoubtedly, the preliminary step towards building an informed society where people cannot be taken for granted. Reading classical literature irrespective of whether they are in Sinhalese, Tamil or English will undoubtedly improve one's language skills; thereby truly increase an awareness of the world around.

All that glitter is not gold

In this literary month, readers should exercise their prudence in purchasing books, fictions and non-fictions. It is extremely important to note that prospective readers should not be lured by glossy covers with tags of awards. What matter is not the cover or tag of awards but quality of the literary work that you are going to purchase with your hard-earned money. Most of the books with award-tags are not paper they are printed on albeit 'glitter' on the surface because they are not good literary texts.