Language at its best

Flexible, magnificent, attractive:

Title: Digu patu manpeth

Author : Thanuja Dharmapala

Published by :Sandakada Publications

by Deepal Warnakulasuriya

Haiku is an important form of traditional Japanese poetry which was formally established in the 1890s with the efforts of Japanese poet Masaoka Shiki. It is a 17 syllable verse form consisting of three metrical units of 5, 7 and 5 syllables.

In other words it was read and understood as an independent poem, complete in itself, rather than as a part of a longer chain. Although rules for Haiku were clear in Japan, when it was written in other languages it took different forms.

The Haiku, however, is not new to us Sri Lankans as almost all the poetry pages in the newspapers are full of this form of poetry. Unfortunately most of these poems are only good enough to look at and forget forever as the composers have not studied the structure and at times are experienced to write mature poetry.

Thanuja Dharmapala's Digu Patu Manpeth which was launched recently is a collection of some haiku poems which have been written with a thorough understanding of the subject.

Thanuja's effort should be appreciated as it is new and much thoughtful attempt. All her poems are presented without titles except for one poem.

The reader is given full freedom to go through her arrangement of words and find out what she tries to say. Anyway, Shantha K. Herath is there to assist the reader to find out the right meaning with his black and white line drawings.

Another award winning poet Nandana Weerasinghe writing an introductory note to Thanuja's book says that the author is clever at "saying one thing to mean something else".

In this exercise, Thanuja has brought very simple issues as well as philosophical issues to light allowing the reader to enjoy the flexibility, magnificence and the attractiveness of words when these are arranged in a language unique to poets.

She has enough experience f or using simple words to express some complex ideas. Those ideas come sometimes as statements, questions, or just glimpses of life. All of her creations make one think and re-think. The reader at first sight may think that there is nothing new in her arrangement of words. But, the next minute he will be able to understand that it is a real world experience which he does not notice till the poet highlighted it for us.

Then, you will see she is telling you a long story using a few words.

Visual artist Shantha's uncoloured line drawings should be appreciated in his effort to read Thanuja's poetic language and put those into drawings creating mental images.

Anyway, I am not going to say that the artiest had completely gathered what the poet wanted to instill on the society around her.

The book is only half the size of a normal book, but she brings you 60 poems with 60 drawings throughout 120 pages. This is a good book to reduce mental depression whether you are in your office or at home.

On the other hand, Thanuja shows her abilities on composing short poems when she began publishing her first poetry collection Panhidaka Kandulu in 1988. Later she also did 'Anthima Hima Piyali' in 1995 and 'Asapuwak Se Sitiya' in 2000. Her patience and thoughtfulness about the world has created a noteworthy poet for the future of the Sinhala poetry.

Here, I do not quote her creations by translating them into English as I do not want to change or disturb her ideas and thoughts brought to you in Sinhala. Now, it is your turn to read the book and discover what she has introduced to literature.

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Kaleidoscope

An Anthology of Sri Lankan English Literature* (Colombo: Vijitha Yapa Publications, 2007) edited by D.C.R.A. Goonetilleke

This anthology is the first to celebrate Sri Lankan literature in all its variety - fiction, poetry, drama and non-fiction, a cross-section of how Lankans thought and wrote from colonial times to today. It tells of love and war, of sex and food, of the tsunami and terrorism, and ranges from Senior to sci-fi. Its kaleidoscopic patterns mirror the changing nation.

Ranging from the origins of our English literature as responding to the stirrings of a patriotic fervour, a response to the glories of an ancient culture and the dreams of youth in the Kandy Lake Poets to the acid disenchantment of the 21 st century, it offers a wide range of modes and evokes a whole gamut of moods and action.

Above all, this anthology proffers entertainment and enjoyment, while simultaneously sharpening the reader's perceptions.

It includes a generous selection from our established writers such as Punyakante Wijenaike, Carl Muller, Suvimalee Karunaratna, Yasmine Gooneratne, Patrick Fernando, Lakdasa Wikkramasinha, Anne Ranasinghe, Regi Siriwardena and Ernest Thalayasingham MacIntyre as well as from outstanding recent writers (some bilingual) such as Nihal de Silva, A. Santhan, Sunethra Rajakarunanayake, Kamani Jayasekera and U. Karunatilake.

D.C.R.A. Goonetilleke, Emeritus Professor of English, is also the internationally recognized authority on Sri Lankan English literature. He was elected Fellow Commoner by Churchill College, University of Cambridge, and later Foundation Visiting Fellow by Clare Hall, University of Cambridge.

He was Henry Charles Chapman Visiting Fellow at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University of London, and Guest Professor of English at the University of Tubingen, Germany. He was the International Chairperson of the Association for Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies (ACLALS) and Vice-President of the Federation Internationale des Languages et Literatures Modernes (FILLM).

His books include Developing Countries in British Fiction, Images of the Raj, Joseph Conrad: Beyond Culture and Background, and Salman Rushdie, all published by Palgrave Macmillan (London). He has edited Joseph Conrad: Heart of Darkness, Perspectives on Post-Colonial Literature, and anthologies of Sri Lankan Literature.

He has recently completed a study of Joseph Conrad for Routledge (London & New York).