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Sri Lankan writers in English :

Trailblazers of a new generation

by Ranga Chandrarathne


Ashok Ferrey


Lal Medawattegedera.
Pix by Kavindra Perera

Ever since "The English patient" - the film based on the novel of the same name by Sri Lankan writer Michael Ondaatje - won the award for the best film at the Academy Awards, little has been said about Sri Lankan writers in English.

Romesh Gunasekara, Punyakanthi Wijenaike, Carl Muller, Jean Arasenayagam and Shyam Selvadurai have dominated the English literary scene in Sri Lanka. These writers belong to the older generation, whose themes were often dominated by the upper middle class characters, depicting the posh and affluent lifestyles of Colombo. It is doubtful that the characters and their experiences in those works reflect society at large, and the socio-economic realities of the country.

However, the new generation of writers in English is quite different from their predecessors, in their gamut of experience, and the characters they employ in their novels and short stories. The element of satire has been effectively used in some of the works by these new writers.

Madhubashini Ratnayake, Nihal de Silva, Cap. Elmo Jayawardena, Ashok Ferrey and Lal Medawattegedera represent this new generation of Sri Lankan writers in English. Elmo Jayawardena's " Sam's story " won the prestigious Gratiaen Prize in 2001 while Nihal de Silva's " The Road To Elephant Pass " won it in 2003.

"COLPETTY PEOPLE", an anthology of short stories by Ashok Ferrey, shortlisted for the Gratiaen Prize in 2002, could perhaps be identified as a book of modern day parables: where the stories are constructed in layers, so that the reality, or message if you like, is not immediately obvious.

The top layer is the humour - and you can always read the stories just for that. But if you read them a month or year later you might, just might, find another layer, another meaning.

The humour is the sugar coating on what is at times a very bitter pill. For this writer it is the characters in the story that play a predominant role, not the plot. He sets the stage with a certain real life situation, and allows his characters to play out their story, but he brings the curtain down before the end, leaving the reader to draw his own conclusions.

The author never makes his own preferences very clear. So if you read " Colpetty People" again some months after the first reading, you may find that you have actually changed sides, because your thinking on the subject has changed. Another characteristic in almost all of Ashok's stories is that you encounter characters very true to those you meet in society today! They are life-like because the author never draws them in black and white, but in the many shades of gray in-between.

The narrative form used in many of the stories is the third person, and even when it is the first, it tends to be from the perspective of a total outsider, who is a dispassionate observer of the unfolding events; and I have a feeling that Ashok does not want to identify himself as a writer writing from a Singhalese Buddhist or Tamil Hindu or Burgher Christian point of view.

For it is common knowledge that human predicaments and situations are universal, and not confined to any particular ethnic group or community.

When asked to quote any particular passage from his book, Ferrey quoted the sentiments of Frankie, the hero of the story "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire", who ponders on the differences between living in the East, and living in the West: "When Frankie had first come back to Sri Lanka he had been full of the fire of go-getting Western idealism, the mantra of becoming, becoming, becoming. But the East has its ways of dealing with people like that: it chips away at your rock-solid resolutions and before you know it you are just wallowing in the pleasures of just being, being, being.

On the other hand, Lal Medawattegedera who is also a writer of the new generation uses a first person narrative style effectively in his short stories. He is absolutely the opposite of Ashok Ferry, in that he writes very much from the inside.

He writes about people on the margin of society, but from first hand experience, because of his work as a journalist. I find his style of writing has freshness and urgency, because you're never in doubt about his feelings on the matter: he feels strongly, and invites you, the reader, to feel with him.

It makes for a compelling read. And of course in the middle of this passion there is humour, so you're reminded of the fact that however dire the situation, there is always a funny side. Just because you're poor it doesn't mean you can't have a laugh!

Ms. Vivimarie Van Der Poorten, a Senior Lecturer attached to the Language Studies Department of the Open University Of Sri Lanka, commenting on 'Colpetty People' says that the stories are extremely readable. "I must say that they are also funny and entertaining. His language is very sophisticated and his humour comes from his awareness of the incongruity of certain situations as well as from the use of language, the clever turn of phrase and the clash of cultures: A common theme that runs through his stories is the clash of cultures and a lot of comedy is generated by such clashes - And these cultural clashes don't always go along the lines of race, ethnicity or nationalities, but sets of values as well.

The Senior Lecturer says the stories are very well crafted and make great use of dialogue. Their settings span Sri Lanka as well as other countries such as England, and counties in Africa, but at the same time they are universal at a different level, as well in the sense that they are ultimately about the human condition.

Beneath Ferrey's satire lie deeply insightful observations of human condition I have recommended this book to some of my students at the university as I think it is a brilliant contribution to Sri Lankan writing in English, which captures the people of the country in a very unique and fresh manner.

"Window Cleaner's soul" is Lal's first attempt at fiction and it was short listed for the 2002 Gratiaen Awards. The book contains eight short stories and the stories are by and large, based on personal experience and research conducted by the writer as a journalist, a musician and an advertising writer.

While working on advertising campaigns as well as a journalist, the writer encountered many interesting details which he used to jot down in a pocket notebook. The writer says, for instance, the idea which later developed into a short story, the title story of his book " Window Cleaner's soul" came when he observed a couple who used to frequent a saiver kade across the road from where he worked.

These experiences and the plight of the common man who are denied and restricted in many ways, but nevertheless fight hard to keep their dignity the inspiration for this collection.

The writer has used a down to earth simple diction which often sheds light on the characters in his short stories, and adds a new dimension to Sri Lankan English fiction, which has usually been more or less confined to upper middle class characters.

Lal says that he is inspired by writers such as Salman Rushdie, Zadie Smith, Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Kiran Desai.

Dinali Fernando, visiting lecturer University of Sri Jayawardenapura and Bandaranaike Centre for International Studies and former editor at the English Unit of the Ministry of Education, commenting on 'The Window Cleaner's soul' says:"The title belies the startling stuff inside this slim volume of stories. He packs a lot into his stories, although they are short and light to the touch."

"Lal takes you into the slums of Colombo and into the seldom seen side of the corporate and media world, but he is not the outsider looking in, he empathises with the failings of the inhabitants of each different world.

There are no trendy "victims" that can be labelled here - each individual whether hounded by poverty, sexuality or youthful idealism are also people who have their own limitations" "Lal's style is such that rather brutal truths are presented in an almost childlike, matter of fact tone, and he is happy to let the rhythms of natural Sri Lankan English speak for him, not just his conversations."

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