Dayasena Gunasinghe - The Veteran Journalist and Impeccable Poet

In this week's column, I would like to examine the life and times of an important literatus of contemporary Sinhalese literature, particularly against the backdrop of what I describe as bastardisations of language.

Dayasena Gunasinghe was a bilingual writer who enriched contemporary Sinhalese literature with his knowledge of classical literature. It is important to examine the pivotal role that Dayasena Gunasinghe had played at a critical phase of Sinhalese literature and Sinhalese journalism as a writer, poet, columnist, opinion leader and a master translator capturing the quintessential characteristics of a watershed of socio-economic transformation in Sri Lanka.

Life and times of Dayasena Gunasinghe

Gunasinghe was born as the eldest son of a highly respected teacher and principal of Thakshila Collage, Horana in the Kalutara District. Although his schooling is of little interest, suffice to mention that his family environment imbibed in scholastic tradition, subsequently shaped up and influenced the formative years of his life. In fact, it was this rather productive environment which made Dayasena Gunasinghe a voracious reader of both Sinhalese and English literature.

Undoubtedly it is this growing pool of knowledge spreading over many realms such as literature, philosophy, science fiction, that subsequently turned into highly-stylised columns, numerous features both in Sinhalese and English and in the form of investigative reports written under diverse the pseudonyms such as Ukussa. As Gunasinghe was not interested in using his by-line for almost all the articles and columns he penned, he often used pseudonyms such as Raigam Rala, Bhutha Reporter, Lunatikka, Seeyage Kolama and Sangurage Sanvadaya.

Dayasena Gunasinghe, a graduate from the University of Peradeniya earned an Honours Degree in Sinhalese in the latter years of the1950s. For a spell, he served as an assistant teacher at Matara Maha Vidyalaya in 1960, prior to joining the Editorial staff of Sinhalese Daily, Dinamina. Examining his own writings, it is evident that Gunasinghe became a journalist out of conviction that the profession would give wider scope of opportunities for him to represent many voices of diverse segments of the population and most of the time addressing issues relating to social justice. Dayasena Gunasinghe also won a Commonwealth Scholarship and studied journalism in the UK.

Literary career

Dayasena Gunasinghe's literary career is important on many counts: as a rich cannon which was capable of inspiring generation of novice writers, journalists and poets and as a major source of higher quality writings in diverse styles and on equally diverse subjects. Apart from Gunasinghe's award winning literary productions, his large corpus of non-fictional and journalistic writing, particularly, in Sinhalese opened up novel avenues in contemporary Sinhalese literature. However, it should be mentioned here that so far, substantial scholarly studies on his literary works have not been done against the milieu in which he lived in.

Dayasena Gunasinghe commenced his trailblazing literary career with an anthology of poetry entitled 'Ranthatiyaka Kadulu' (Tears in a Golden Plate) in 1974 while working as a journalist at Lake House. Owing to his unique poetic diction and the rich content of the anthology, it won the State Literary Award for poetry in 1974. The anthology followed a rich canon of literary productions of rare distinction including an anthology of poetry 'Novadim Siduhath', anthology of short stories entitled 'Canal Pare Nishacharayo' which won the State Literary Award for the best anthology of short stories of 1986, Sinhalese translation of Chinua Achebe's 'A man of the People', science fiction 'Nil Tharakavata Giya Thidena' (The trio who visited the blue star) and the anthology of poetry 'Doramadalava'.

His unique style of writing, narrative techniques, detailed descriptions of environment which at times represents moods of the characters and masterly crafted plots cannot be examined substantially without a detailed analysis. However, it is pertinent, at least, briefly, to examine one of his best short stories 'Kethumathi Hotalaye Raithriyak' (A night in the hotel Kethumathi) to appreciate Gunasinghe's literary excellence.

The anthology of the same name was published in 1986 as Dayasena Gunasinghe was interdicted following his critical piece on the then President J.R Jayewardene. Dayasena Gunasinghe was one of the highly educated journalists who did not compromise his ethical principles which he firmly believed in. On numerous occasions, Gunasinghe himself had mentioned that though there wasn't an ideal freedom of press in anywhere in the world, it is the duty of a journalist to strive and stretch the limits by contributing towards the establishment of a vibrant culture of journalism. Gunasinghe firmly believed that journalists in developing countries have a vital role to play, particularly to inform readers by exposing corruptions, malpractices and representing diverse voices in marginalized segments of the population.

The short story 'Kethumathi Hotalaye Rathriyak' (A Night Spent at Hotel Kethumathi) is woven around an accidental night out of a busy sales manager named, Jayadeva in the hotel Kethumathi. The very name of the hotel 'Kethumathi' which is a reference to an imaginary state like Eldorado, gives an aura of luxury. However, the important aspect is Jayadeva's nostalgia of the hotel which was once a bungalow of highly educated philanthropist Chandrasekara. His study which was packed with books of distinction has been converted into a banquet hall where the new rich spent evenings with concubines supplied by the hotel. Gunasinghe uses Jayadeva's nostalgia not only to portray the protagonist's past and his social status but also to drive home those radical changes taken place in the society. Like in most of the celebrated short stories, the ending is unpredictable and inconclusive. The story ends with a description of Jayadeva's elopement with the young and beautiful concubine.

Gunasinghe, in an ingenious manner represents that the couple did not have any physical union as the bed kept clean with uncrumpled sheets and that the couple had left in the early morning, leaving only half-filled cups of coffee. A salient feature of the story is that the writer has used classical Sinhalese idiom throughout the narration. In order to hint out social background of the waiter, Gunasinghe has used some English words in dialogues. Literary techniques such as inter-textuality have been used to suggest the changing milieu and the inroad of capitalism into the villages.

In his narration, Gunasinghe has used classical Sinhalese idiom and he has selected even the name of the hotel to suggest the mindset of the new rich. It is obvious that the rich Sinhalese classical idiom and the use of modern techniques of short story writing come from his wide ranging knowledge of classical Sinhala literature and English. Dayasena Gunasinghe belongs to a rare breed of bilinguals and literary giants such as Martin Wickremasinghe, D.B. Dhanapala, Piyasena Nissanka, Meemana Prematilake and Chandraratne Manawasinghe.

The greatest tribute that contemporary Sinhalese literati and journalists could pay to Dayasena Gunasinghe is to aspire to the shining path that he paved making worldly sacrifices and overcoming numerous odds. His rich literary legacy and canon of works serves as a source of inspiration particularly at a time, crude language is used for literary production in both Sinhalese and Sri Lankan writings in English.