The Cultural Scene thus far - an outsider's perspective

When I was asked to write a review of The Cultural Scene thus far, I knew that it would be a challenge to speak with authority on matters pertaining to the Sri Lankan cultural scene. Professor Wimal Dissanayke has already written an excellent and detailed review of this thought provoking book. Since he is Sri Lankan born, he is able to undertake this important task with a depth of understanding that, as an observer from a different society, I am not able to do. Therefore, I can only review his book and comment from the perspective of a puzzled and fascinated outsider seeking to understand something new. I will seek to engage with the issues that the author has highlighted from an objective position and trust that in the process, I manage not to tread on anybody's toes!

Reviewed by Madeleine Wightman

The Cultural Scene thus far by Indeewara Thilakarathne is a detailed overview of art, literature and cinema within Sri Lanka. It compares the local cultural scene to that of other parts of the world, particularly other countries in the region, such as Singapore and India. Thilakarathne also focuses on the ways in which merit is bestowed upon writers and film directors in Sri Lanka. His passion for good quality work and a fair system of recognising this comes through very clearly, especially in the first third of the book. Some of the chapters which cover these issues are 'Awards of badges of shame?', 'Cinema and propaganda seminars', 'International book fair and award committees' to name but a few. Throughout these chapters, Thilakarathne is not afraid to be direct in expressing strong opinions.

The focus of the book moves onto what can best be described as comparative writing in South Asia. This section of chapters encompasses the topic of Sinhala within the wider context of South Asian literary culture. The discussion also includes the subject of the type of English used by Sri Lankan authors who write in English.

The author fearlessly tackles the subject of the political and social significance of English as the language of the 'coloniser'. As well as pointing this out as a fact, the objective of the author is to go a stage further and provoke thought and discussion about whether or not it is appropriate to a) write in English and b) 'give in' to the 'coloniser' and write in standard international English. Included in this particular discussion is the observation that if an author is going to write in English, then he or she may as well make the effort to write in standard English.

Otherwise, he argues, it is effectively a pointless exercise. He suggests that either an author writes in his own language for the audience of his own people, or he writes in standard English not only for those among his people who understand it but also for the international audience. He argues that if it is the latter and he wishes any kind of international acclaim, then he needs to write in standard English.

Otherwise his target audience will be lost and he will not be taken seriously and this could also damage the reputation as authors of his fellow countrymen. Thilakarathne discusses this subject at length and uses Singaporean literature as an example of the kind of writing in standard English which brings international acclaim as an example.

The other topic which is inextricably linked to the matters dealt with in those chapters, is that of the necessity of good translations. Thilakarathne argues that without a decent rendering of a text, the fact that the writer is incredibly talented at producing work in Sinhala is irrelevant if he is seeking to be recognised as such in another language. This sounds eminently sensible (though of course, only IF he wishes his art to touch the mind and imagination of the international community).

The author points out that a bad or inadequate translation is carried out, the original will be meaningless to readers seeking to understand a different culture through the writer's work. Connected to this discussion is the question as to if, how and when Sri Lankan literature will be able to go global.

Having been born and raised in another society, the early chapters of The Cultural Scene thus far presented me with some rather unusual concepts. As an onlooker, I had very little understanding of the award systems for art, literature and film in Sri Lanka. From my reading of Thilakarathne's chapters on this subject, it seems that if an artist has the necessary financial and moral support, he will get an award regardless of the quality of his work.

This is something that is quite alien to me and so I can only try to make sense of it from my own world perspective. It seems clear that a tight knit community of authors and artists, people will inevitably back each other. This is natural and must be of enormous encouragement to a budding writer or film maker. However, as Thilakarathne suggests, the real litmus test as to the success of the work will take place if and when the artist decides to go global.

Recognition of art in other cultures

The dilemma is the same for script writers, film makers and authors all over the world. An artist can produce something in a sheltered environment that his small group appreciates. However, it is when he approaches those of have the power to decide whether his work should be put 'out there' for wider consumption, that he may have to face some setbacks and disappointments.

In the west, everybody knows of somebody who has written books or a film script and of some who have even paid to make their own amateur films. Those who know, love and support them appreciates the effort that they've put in. Perhaps the supporters genuinely feel that the work will be appreciated by a publisher or famous director.

Very occasionally fortune will smile on the artist; someone truly powerful will choose to undertake and promote the work. Occasionally the book, film or TV series will be such a success that the author or script writer/director is nominated for a special award. Out of any number of blockbuster films, there will occasionally be one which gets multiple awards. However, more often than not, even a successful film will get just one or two awards. Most novels never get any awards at all, unless the book is also a terrific success on screen and gains international acclaim. Awards which mean something on a global scale are very rare. Quite often, even when a script writer gets a lot of financial backing, his film is what is known as a 'box office flop'!

The surprising success of JK Rowling

The one person who springs to mind who had talent, worked hard and had a truly lucky break was JK Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series. Rowling's humble beginnings can be traced back seven years after graduating from university. She had a failed marriage, she had no permanent work, and she had a young daughter to take care of. Trying to survive in Scotland she lived on benefits and wrote the work in different cafes in Edinburgh. Only when Jessica was asleep could Rowling begin writing the novel. She had to tire Jessica by walking to different cafes and only then could she resume writing. The first book, entitled Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, was originally a manuscript written on an old manual typewriter brought to completion in 1995. However, twelve publishing houses initially rejected the manuscript. Fortunately, a small publishing house owner Barry Cunningham agreed to publish the book owing to her eight-year-old daughter who loved reading the first few pages immediately requesting the follow-up texts.

Since then, Rowling received several grants, one of these from the Scottish Arts Council. From then on, she became a highly sought after writer and subsequent installments were successfully released with the series growing more and more in popularity. The Harry Potter fantasy series won several book awards. It won the Smarties Prize a record three times in a row, but with a naturally charitable spirit, Rowling withdrew the novel from the contest to give a chance to other books to gain recognition.

In 2000, the fourth installment entitled Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, which was released in the UK and the US, broke the sales record of the two countries. Comparatively, the Prisoner of Azkaban sold some 300,000 copies in a year, while the fourth book sold 300,000 copies in just a day.

Her books were later adapted to film in the equally famous Harry Potter film series. Impressive but rare....

Why a proper awards system is important

It is obvious and vital that a proper awards system be in place in any country so that those people who are truly brilliant can be recognised as such. This is the point that Thilakarathne is making. It is clearly unfair if those who are given awards because of who they know are put on the same level as those who have truly reached a world class level in their own country.

If this is the case, it will bring the whole cultural scene in that country into disrepute. In Sri Lanka alone, there are some extremely talented authors, some of whom write in Sinhala, some in Tamil and some in English. Sadly my Sinhala is not yet good enough to be able to read some of the brilliant works that are available.

The only book that was originally written in Sinhala that I have read is Agni Chakra, which has been translated into English and which I recently had the privilege of reviewing. It is truly a great novel and one that I was able to appreciate due to the high standard of translation into English. This also reinforces Thilarathne's point about the importance of good translations to make a novel (and therefore a culture) accessible to the wider world.

Chapter on Sri Lankan cinema and film-makers

The issue that Thilakarathne raises over translations in an endeavour to be read internationally, is also pertinent to film making for the wider audience. One of the earlier chapters of The cultural scene thus far that I found most interesting is Chapter 23 - 'New-age Sri Lankan cinema and filmmakers'.

I have to confess that I have not seen many Sri Lankan films. Again, this is largely because my Sinhala is not good enough to have a sufficient understanding of the storyline. It is also partly due to the fact that cultural events are not always that well publicised.

That said, I have seen one of the films that the author refers to in Chapter 23. Again I can only comment as an outsider who, at the time, had a very limited grasp of Sinhala. However, I thought the Sri Lankan scenery featured on the film was absolutely stunning. The panoramic views were spectacular. In addition, the people in the film provoked my interest and made me want to get out into Sri Lankan society.

By the end of the film, I felt as though I had a much better understanding of some of the issues of this society that I wouldn't normally have been exposed to. I understood on an emotional level some of the daily challenges that people experience in a society which remains, in many ways, a mystery to me. All these things are very positive indicators for a film to become a successful export. However, there one some things in the arrangement and flow of the story and the believability of some of the plot which would need polishing.

Thilakarathne points out that for a storyline to work it must be coherent. It is no good putting a jumble of words or concepts together and expecting it to make sense to a reader or audience in the name of art.

He is also right in saying there is absolutely no sense in the director getting praise heaped upon him for the sake of it and being lulled into a false sense of security, only to find that his work is not marketable to a wider audience. It is better to give and take constructive criticism, in order to make the appropriate changes so that the the film is ready for general release. If praise is given too early, this sells the director short and gives him no room for improvement and true success. Plus the world misses out on what could have been a truly brilliant, eye-opening and inspiring film.

Once again, the subject of exportability to the international community is pertinent. Thilakarathne highlights time and again that it is vital for artists and organisers not to remain parochial in their thinking. They have to think about what message they want to get across and to whom.

If they are only aiming to speak to their own people and reinforce the existing opinions of their culture, there is no problem. Yet if they want to export and be recognised by the wider and international community, they do need to think about what messages they want to get across to their target audiences.

For instance, will what makes sense and what is accepted is their culture be recognised and interpreted correctly by the international audience? For example, this particular film had one part which featured a young Sri Lankan boy on the beach.

He approached an obnoxious, sunburned English man, riding a bike along the sand. The child speaks to the man in English and the man replies "why are you talking to me?" Right on target, the request for a dollar escapes the boy's lips. The foreigner continues to ride his bike without so much as a backward glance and snears in his broad, cockney accent "What? You're not even worth a dollar!!". This inspires the boy to redouble his efforts to make something of his life.

There is obviously an important message here for unprivileged Sri Lankan boys to ignore negativity, in order to enhanace their self-esteem and subsequent life choices. It's serious stuff! Nevertheless, this is a prime example of something that has not exported well across cultures.

The foreign viewer recognises the boy's serious predicament. Yet it is is negated by the caricature of the insensitive foreigner.

The western viewer finds the Englishman so far fetched that the scene is hilarious. Yet I doubt that delighted laughter at political incorrectness is quite the reaction that the director hoped to illicit.

Of course, many Bollywood blockbusters also have an undesirable effect on western audiences. Rather than being moved by the film, the viewer is sometimes perplexed and distracted from the emotion of the story with the sudden change of location and a cast which randomly breaks into song and dance. I have also noticed that Asian audiences are usually bored silly by science fiction films and TV series which fascinate westerners. So this phenomenon cuts both ways. However, when making a production, every director has to decide whether he wants his work to be exportable and make necessary adaptions, so that he does not produce an undesired reaction in his target audience.

The remaining chapters of The cultural scene thus far

It is beyond the scope of this review to cover every topic and issue that Indeewara engages with in The cultural scene thus far. Included in the remainder of the book are informative chapters on Indian writing and film, as well as on authors from all over Asia. I found these chapters, some of which were variations of Indeewara's columns in Montage very compelling and instructive. As a result, I am now hoping to read some of the work that he mentions in the columns and book.

In conclusion, I would recommend reading 'The cultural scene thus far'. I am certain that any reader will be able to learn something that he or she was not previously aware of, relating to Sri Lankan culture. I also believe that the book is a fantastic 'spring board' from which to begin a lively discussion on the issues that the author raises. I would even recommend parts of it to be used in discussion groups for school and university students, as well as for book clubs. I also hope that the organisers of the events that Thilakarathne mentions, as well as writers, translators an film makers will think seriously about the issues raised. All in all, a thoroughly stimulating read.

The writer has a Master's Degree in Hispanic and European Studies from Aberdeen University, Scotland. She also writes for The Guardian (UK).

Aliens have come

Reviewed by Kalakeerthi Edwin Ariyadasa

The formal expression, 'Book review', is drastically inadequate for the work we are looking at, in this instance.

It is the riveting record of a widely-scoped flight through the universe, visiting the hoary cultures of the far past and the immediate world around us. Informed and learned glimpses of what is to come, have also been accommodated in this work, to enthrall and astound the reader.

In sum, the work is an overwhelming compendium of knowledge on a series of issues, that tend to get categorised usually, under such subject - divisions as the occult, the supernatural, the mysterious and exo-biology.

But, what is this book we are talking about, one may very well ask.

The title of the work is "Alien Mysteries in Sri Lanka and Egypt." It is written by Mihindukulasuriya Susantha Fernando - a one-man research conglomerate, out to disturb the matter-of-fact world-view of the average person, who is not generally propelled to seek anything beyond his day-to-day certainties. If you allow the author to guide you along the pages of his sizeable tome, you will wake up profoundly shocked, into an unseen universe that has always been around us.

Central premise

The central premise, on which the author builds his thesis, is that, our self-pleasing view of a home-focussed universe, in which this carbon-based biped is all alone, is totally and utterly untenable.

After his bold and defiant proclamation, that, 'Man is not alone in the unfathomable void of the universe,' the author sets out to amass his evidence - in epic fashion - to uphold and buttress his theory, that extra-terrestrial presence on earth, is an unassailable fact. He goes onto posit, that macro-cosmic collaboration reached earth and the humans, from the earliest days of our planet.

Major cultures

We have to grant, that major cultures of the world, as well as the systems of belief of the so-called 'primitive' persons, assumed alien presence, in a variety of ways.

But, to my mind, it is the present author, who has for the first time attempted to establish in a substantially convincing manner, alien presence in a specific culture group - in this instance Sri Lanka and Egypt.

On many an occasion, pronouncements made about the supernatural and the occult, tend invariably to be irresponsible and highly arbitrary. Conclusions arrived at, are primarily personal, and cannot be tested adequately to measure their authenticity and acceptability.

But, the work of the present author marks a salutary departure from that kind of questionable practice. His work is distinguished by his meticulous research and his scrupulous pre-occupation to avoid, airy, fanciful and effusive observations, that are not firmly rooted on transparent actualities.

What surprises the absorbed reader is the seeming facility with which he roams the world and its multiplicity of cultural institutions, to discover the telling detail that proves his central theoretical position.

Extensive research

The extensive research excursions he has made to seek Sri Lanka related lore, myths and legends, command admiration.

The initial chapter of the work is comprehensively set aside to an extensive exploration of Sri Lankan experiences of alien presence. In this section of the book he quotes both local and foreign sources, including folk-tales and mass beliefs.

His major finding is the parallel between the Sri Lankan and Egyptian cultures.

He provides his rationale for why he has thought it essential to establish the similarities between the ancient culture of Sri Lanka and that of Egypt. According to him, these two dynamic nation's have provided the world with more alien, or so-called god-mysteries', than most other countries in the world.

Egyptian culture

The author devotes a special chapter, to dwell substantially on the fascination of the Egyptian culture and the Sri Lankan culture, to constant stupendously colossal edifices.

His work is deeply analytical. Copious and rich in the material gathered between its covers.

The extensive illustrations that support the text, are for the most part, extremely rare. His text, and the 600 or so monochrome pictures that adorn the work, make the reader wonder about the stamina, patience and the sustained, super-human ("alien" if you like) effort, the writer has brought to the production of this unusual work.

To promote his theory of the presence of extra-terrestrial intelligence, in various star-systems of the universe, he launches a prolonged discussion on UFOs.

Readability

His style is admirable. It ensures readability. His articulate expositions, help the reader imbibe the significance of the esoteric subject-matter of the work, with impressive facility.

With unabashed exultation, the author concludes, that evidence of extra-terrestrial life has been found.

This is what he has to say:

"It is no longer a myth or a fairy tale to believe. That life is found in some far-off planets in the universe.

.... We have now accepted the stark reality, that there can be intelligent celestial beings, elsewhere in the cosmos, who have been definitely visiting our own earth, from the misty horizons of antiquity.

The work, without any doubt, is outstanding as a substantial contribution to the discourse extra-terrestrial intelligence.

Author Susantha Fernando's work is so, impactful, that one day a green, red or blue being may step out of a UFO, and will accost the nearest human: "Hey, you, please take me to Susantha Fernando - The alien-ally. I have a few things to talk about with that guy."

In all probability, the Alien will be armed with a copy of his book!