Diasporic long – fiction debut

Reviewed by Kalakeerthi Edwin Ariyadasa

“These international writers, are harbingers and heralds of – What literature will be like in the 21st century. We are going to live in a new century not only of instant communication but of instant migration.”

Carlos Fuentes
Mexican writer (1928-2012)

Through his penetrative vision, novelist Carlos Fuentes, foresaw a development, which has already begun to manifest itself, at a global level.

The ‘Instant Communication’, he visualised as a characteristic of the new century, has now begun to burgeon into a massive universal flood of print, digital and on-line messages, filling human space with a non-ending electronic chatter.

This overwhelming ‘communications eruption,’ has welded a vast throng of today's global population, into an intimate ‘tribe’, sharing not only their mutual sorrows, joys and happiness but also the indignations and vexations they experience.

Instant Migration

The second equation of Fuentes’ formula, is “Instant Migration.” At this moment, in the new 21st century, the “Instant Migration” has evolved, in a whirlwind gallop, into an earth – shaking phenomenon, inserting the ubiquitous expression ‘Diaspora’ into modern and current trans–cultural discourse.

‘Diaspora’ accommodates within its definition, those uneasy spirits, who roam the length and the breadth of the earth, in our day, in an unprecedented exodus, seeking solace outside their native cultures.

They have lost their original, comforting moorings and find themselves adrift in lands and cultures, where they are perpetually outsiders.

Their incapacity to merge seamlessly into the living cultural texture of their host settlements, reduces them to the status of the spiritually dispossessed.

When these alienated global – voyagers, turn to creative expression to seek relief for their gnawing inner anguish, they produce a genre of writing, that has been readily dubbed by critics as “Diasporic literature.”

As Fuentes has envisaged, these international writers, emerging from a wide variety of cultural backgrounds, have begun to be “harbingers and heralds” of what creative literature will be like in the 21st Century.

Our own writers too have enriched the field of diasporic creative writings, at times, commanding extensive attention to what they are keen to say.

Diasporic destiny

The diasporic writer of Sri Lankan origin, who has been able to establish a considerable reputation for his creativity, is, of course, Sunil Govinnage.

In his desperate effort to come to terms with his diasporic destiny, Sunil Govinnage has resorted to such genres as poetry and short-fiction, exhibiting an admirable bilingual dexterity.

Today, we meet him in his debut novel, titled disturbingly “The Black Australian”.

In sum, it is a literary chronicle, that aims at setting down the aches, pains and pleasures of a diasporic psyche, driven relentlessly by a nameless restlessness, that stubbornly refuses to be quelled. In spite of the formal avowal, that the characters, incidents and situations in this work are entirely fictional, it is stark clear, that the protagonist Siripala Wickramasinghe is the fictionalised alter ego of the Author himself.

The central personality in Sunil Govinnage's ‘Black Australian, typifies the soul-profile of the intellectual Sri Lankan, metamorphosed into a rootless diasporic wanderer, either voluntarily or driven by an inescapable fate or irrevocable circumstances (Incidentally, why “Black” and not “Brown”?)

Siripala – Siri – straddles the Indian Ocean (metaphorically speaking, of course) with one foot in Perth Australia and the other foot in his native Sri Lanka. Neither foot-hold is firm or steady.

It is the trauma of this precarious cultural stand, that runs right through this novel, as a muted undertone.

In this diasporic cultural encounter even the most intimate personality possession – one's own name – has to undergo comprises, as a sacrifice for comfortable inter-personal relations within the host milieu.

Rituals of adaptation

Daryl-Siri's boss – is working on the rituals of adaptation. He explains:

"We must arrange a Western name for you! I'm sure that our customers would find it difficult to pronounce your last name, let alone the middle ones.”

Sunil Govinnage's most esteemed contribution to the global conceptions of the make-up of the inner being of the diasporic creative writer, is his oblique chronicling of the ups and downs that affect the psyche of the sensitive intellectual caught up in the eddying swirl of the diasporic torrent.

The fluctuations in his daily routines, may beguile by their compelling illusion and variety. But, Siri's mind registers all those as soul-less monotony, bereft of any satisfying emotional tinge to them. But, the glitzy, tinsel-dazzle of the urban sky-line, the magically lit-up nocturnal cities, instil at least a momentary self-importance, enabling Siri to indulge in a deeply felt sense of pride and achievement.

The choice of restaurants, adept selection of menus, the participation in the social goings-on, revive within him the feel that he has done well. But, the remorse of alienation nags at his heart.

The outsider

The chapter titled “the outsider”, is a highly significant segment in this novel, as the naïve and superstitious rural-folk, foist a charming innocence, taming their diasporic cynicism. Siri, in the throes of the ‘private’ loneliness bred by his diasporic alienation, allays the melancholy by a form of bravado, which makes him feel superior to those who continue to lead their lives in the realm of the native culture, they were born into and have inherited, as the legatees of the hoary tradition. In this context, I must confess, that I was a weed-bit troubled by a reference in the chapter titled “The outsider”.

”Siri rushed to the immigration area where there was a long queue filled with servant women returning from the Middle East.” (Pg. 39)

”Servant Women?” Is it the diasporic bravado, that prompts him to refer that way to our migrant workers, who suffer to swell our foreign exchange earnings?

Sunil Govinnage's ‘Black Australian’, ranks among the most important novels, written anywhere to probe the soul of diasporic intellectuals who are fast becoming the world's largest tribe of cultural aliens, helplessly uncertain about where they really belong.

But, the saving grace in this development, is the rare creative writer of Sunil Govinnage's calibre, who triumphs by his vivid and articulate self-searching.

His diary-note style prose, and his adeptness in identifying the telling detail, contribute towards making his Black Australian, a seminal work of fiction, illuminating the complexities of the troubled psyche of the diasporic intellect, rendered creatively lonely by his deep and sensitive self-scrutiny.

The cover-art, graphically featuring a lion and the rare Australian marsupial ‘kangaroo’, is singularly alluring.

Incidentally, in the language of one native Australian, the word ‘Kangaroo’ signifies, ‘I don't know'. Thus the recorded response of a native, when asked what the name ‘Kangaroo’ meant.