Display of complex literary sensibility

By Prof. S. W. Perera

The twelve stories in Asitha Ameresekere's Wedding Gifts and Other Presents, his first attempt at fiction, will never earn the Petrachan reprimand "sameness is the mother of disgust. . . " because these vignettes differ from each other in style, language, setting, and subject matter.

A reputed maker of short films and winner of a BAFTA award, Ameresekere has also utilised his cinematic vision to structure some of the stories.

Since the exigencies of space preclude lengthy analyses of such techniques as they affect the stories, however, it is best for the reviewer to provide insights into some of the "Presents" and allow readers to discover the rest for themselves.

"Shame of the Pig" focuses, in unusual vein, on the commonplace theme of illusion versus reality. Guiseppe is fascinated by the poised, sophisticated appearance of a "goddess" whom he later courts and marries. He discovers eventually, however, that the woman's dress and bearing conceal major social deficiencies. What gives the story its poignancy is Guiseppe's decision to copy her lack of social graces (eating like a pig to be exact) as a gesture of solidarity even when hosting an eminent politician to dinner.

This story could be contrasted with "Someplace, Montana" which explores the sterility and boredom that enervate some marriages after years of cohabitation. Tobias's and Winnie's humdrum existence is enlivened when strangers come into their midst but their departure further exacerbates the couple's isolation. A particularly moving eco-story, which has faint echoes of R.K. Narayan's The Guide, is "A Little Rest," a piece that is enriched with the introduction of magic realism towards the end, and the suggestion that the "holy man" was perhaps a tree.

The most haunting piece of all is "A Song and a Dance" in which an orphaned girl who had brought joy to a band of gypsies with her dancing and a travelling organist who had helped revive a moribund Christian congregation, meet unexpectedly and fall in love. The villagers who have become totally dependent on the organist resent Salvatore's decision to leave so they destroy the mobile organ with which he had welded the community together and which constituted his only means of livelihood. As an artistic exploration of folk culture, possessiveness, ingratitude, the capriciousness of human beings, and the multifaceted nature of love, this story is second to none.

Perhaps placed first because of its palpably Sri Lankan setting, "The Litmus Test" is not necessarily the best in the collection. Rajasingha, a widower and an English tuition master living in a village, fails to find a suitable partner for his overly protected daughter among his students.

The reader tires of hearing that "Fernando's personal pronouns were atrocious" and that de Silva "had a problem with his tenses."

Yet the story has an anti-climatic and engaging ending. A potential partner is unexpectedly identified when his student Manju's brother arrives to articulate in impressive English that Manju is unable to attend class.

His waving familiarly at Rajasingha's daughter's half open window prior to leaving also makes the father realize that his daughter had been looking after her own interests unbeknownst to him. "Sonnet Story" and "Stoned Angels," which playfully "spoof" the life and work of two canonical English authors, will be particularly appreciated by students of Shakespeare and Keats.

Ameresekere's consummate awareness of what makes a good story, his quirky sense of humour, and his ability to supply many points of view in the telling-including that of a dog-disclose a complex literary sensibility that belies his neophyte status as a writer. Perera-Hussein should be congratulated on publishing another book that is "out-of-the ordinary" while dealing with commonplace issues.