Circles of fire
Author: Kathleen Jayawardena
Translator: Ranga Chandrarathne
The English translation of popular Sinhala author Kathleen
Jayawardena’s novel Agni Chakra ,Circles of fire presents a story of our
times. The protagonist of the novel Prof. Saddhamangala Siriniwasa who
shot to the glamorous academic arena, is a man with a miserable past and
represents the diverse strata of society as well as some of the cardinal
issues such as caste oppression. The novel deals with a wide ranging
socio-cultural issues, representing a vital phase of Sri Lankan
society’s passage from semi-feudal social set-up ridden with issues of
caste, religion and ethnicity to a market economy with its own legacy of
socio-cultural issues and personalities of dubious reputation
dominating
the core sectors of the society. |
Textual Tapestry
Author: Dilshan Boange
A collection of short fiction, poetry and narrative prose that
thematically entwine very subtlety as imagery that builds a picture of
varying emotions.
The work is made up of five segments –Silken
Scriptures, The Swan Collection, Musings and Beyond, Verses, and
Climbing the Mango tree (a collection of short stories).
The book, among
other things, is noted for its innovative application of modern literary
theory such as magical realism and structuralism.
|
The Cultural scene
thus far
Author: Indeewara Thilakarathne
The book contains a collection of critical essays shedding light on
myriads aspects and dealing with vital issues in the arena of Sri Lankan
arts, literature and culture. It is noted for its critical observations
on areas such as language education, state of criticism, social validity
of literary awards and standards of contemporary Sri Lankan English and
Sinhalese literature.
The book offers critical observations on some of
the vital issues such as gangsterism in the field of art, literature and
culture and importance of up keeping standards of language, literature,
translations ( both from English into Sinhalese and vice versa) and
literary production if and only Sri Lanka really wants to carve a niche
in international literary market. |
Hola El Che!
Author: Dilshan Boange
A set of three separate pieces of fiction Hola El Che!, is made up of
–a short story titled ‘Hola El Che!’ a novella named ‘The Galle Face
Literary Eve’ and a novelette called ‘Cannibals in the corner room’.
The
connecting factor between these three pieces of fiction is that they are
constructed on the technique of magical realism grounded in a strong Sri
Lankan context.
In terms of its structure and use of techniques, the
book is poised to make a qualitative change in the contemporary Sri
Lankan writings in English.
It is a model of apt use of modern literary
theory in an innovative manner. |
