|
|
 |
 |
| Sunday, 21 March 2004 |
 |
|
 |
Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
|
Japanese translator takes 'Madol Doova' to his people by LAKMAL WELABADA Martin Wickremasinghe, the well known Sinhala novelist, researcher and journalist has contributed immensely to the growth and nourishment of Sinhala literature.
Many of his books have been translated to foreign languages from time to time. 'Madol Doova' (the island of mangroves) is one such novel. Recently, Tadashi Noguchi, a Japanese scholar translated it to Japanese. Hence 'Doronko No Shima', becomes the tenth translation of 'Madol Doova'. Tadashi Noguchi was an eight-year-old when Ven.Mirisse Gunasiri Thero who visited Japan presented Tadashi's father a copy of 'Vesak Siri Sara', a Sinhala magazine published for Vesak full moon Poya. When the Thero saw little Tadashi, he had predicted that he would visit Sri Lanka one day. Those few words struck the mind of the little boy. Though his father nor he could read Sinhala, the roundish letters in the magazine impressed little Tadashi a lot. In 1965, young Tadashi visited Sri Lanka for the first time. He entered the University of Peradeniya and started learning Sinhala. He mastered Sinhala literature under the guidance of Professors D.E.Hettiarachchi, Ediriweera Sarachchandra, M.B.Ariyapala and Ananda Kulasooriya. Tadashi's first ever novel 'Anithya Jeevithayak' (Life amidst impermanence) is written in Sinhala. In 'Japanayata Keti Magak' (A short cut to Japan) he describes an easy way of learning Japanese language. The two massive dictionaries; Japanese - Sinhala and Sinhala - Japanese are among the most distinguished work of Tadashi. He had translated famous Japanese novelist Natsume Soseki's 'Kokoro' (Heart) into Sinhala. 'Hasu No Michi' (The way of lotus) is the Japanese translation by Tadashi of Martin Wickremasinghe's other famous novel 'Viragaya'. Apart from them he had translated many Japanese children's books into Sinhala. Tadashi is at present continuing his literary work with his newest translations of 'Gamperaliya', 'Kaliyugaya' and 'Yuganthaya', the three codified volumes (novels) of Martin Wickremasinghe to Japanese. Tadashi's wife is a Sri Lankan. The translator teaches Japanese and Sinhala in a University in Japan. Any Japanese or Sri Lankan visiting Japan or Sri Lanka always contacts him. Tadashi who is in his 60s today has been the most adorable teacher among the diplomats of both nations. For an indepth study of the translator and his translation, the Sunday Observer met Prof.Kusuma Karunaratne, Senior Professor, Department of Sinhala, University of Colombo. She brief reviewed'Madol Doova' and 'Doronko No Shima' on behalf of Tadashi Noguchi. "The story in 'Madol Doova' is about Upali Giniwelle, a boy from a wealthy family from a village down South who looses his mother when he was very small. His father, a respectable person in the area remarries. Upali thinks he cannot recover his mother's love again. Though the step mother does not ill treat him, she tends to pay more attention to her new born son. Upali's father loves Upali, but is more attentive to his (second) wife and the second son. Upali gets hurt over this and becomes stubborn and arrogant. Upali's best companion is Jinna, the servant boy of the house. Both are of the same age. The two get together with a gang of village boys and engage in all sorts of mischievous acts in the neighbourhood. The furious father punishes the son. Upali thinks no one in his family loves him and decides to run away. Jinna joins him. The two travel by train and come to a remote village in the costal area. There they find a small island called 'Madol Doova' in the lagoon which the villages believed was a haunted place. But, the brave boys conquer the place and start cultivating it. After a few months Upali becomes a successful cultivator. He goes back to his native village to meet his father and the family. At that time only he gets to know that his father is dead. When he heard how his father grieved over his disappearance, Upali felt so sorry. He realised the love of his father towards him. But it was too late. He decides to take care of his younger brother and his step mother who have also been lamenting over his departure. "Many say 'Madol Doova' is a children's story. Some question whether it sets an example for a 'good child' as the mischievousness of a kid is recited interestingly. But from another point of view it depicts the courage of a teenage boy who is once seen as a notorious imp. He starts a new life and finally becomes very successful," says Prof.Karunaratne. "The story unfolds child psychology by describing the inner feelings of the boy by adding many fascinating incidents. Upali is a born brat. But like other children of his age, he also seeks motherly love, attention and care from his elders, and fails to get it. Loneliness and negligence makes him more mischievous. This must be one reason that provoked the Japanese translator to relate this story in his language. The vivid description of the natural scenario of the coastal line of Down South in 'Madol Doova' must be another fact that attracted Tadashi Noguchi," said Prof.Karunaratne. |
|
News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security Produced by Lake House |
