Sybil on a different creative path

by Kalakeerthi Edwin Ariyadasa

After all, it is the personality of the author that gives his work its special interest. It does not matter if it is a slightly absurd one, as with Henry James, a somewhat vulgar one, as with Maupassant, a brash, tawdry one, as with Kipling - so long as the author can present it, distinct and idiosyncratic, his work has life. - W. Somerset Maugham (1874 - 1965)

In the landscape of Sri Lankan literary creativity, Sybil Wettasinghe has been typecast for sometime, as a teller of tales for tiny ones. Her tantalisingly spun yarns for the young, tabulated in child minds, right round the world, across barriers of race, religion and colour.

Sybil's story - structures, thrown into sharpened focus by her highly eccentric illustrations, generated massive juvenile joy. These children's stories exuded a magic with which the little ones of the world could readily empathise. Her Umbrella Thief of 1956, has proved a world classic in the category of children's literature.

Anthology

But, in her current anthology, Sybil presents herself in a totally different guise, wearing a hat that is in stark contrast to what she used to do, when crafting tales for her teeny-weeny enthusiasts. Her latest presentation entitled My Giddi Aunt, is a compelling collection of short-stories, that defies ready and smart definitions.

These tales are, for the most part, stories of "mystery and imagination", emerging out of a keenly personal, idiosyncratic and whimsical vision of the world and the variegated characters that inhabit it. Without even the least effort at hyperbole I am tempted to classify the stories, as the products of a new genre of short-story telling, surfacing from a highly individualistic inner depth. They are the unique outcome of a long-cultivated sensitiveness towards experiences.

As Sybil explains in her preface to the present work, short-stories of the ilk collected within the covers of this book, could very well have been her main-stream of creative writing-had it not been for her least expected, but impressive success in another genre.

Domestic accolades

Way back in 1954, she produced her first short story - The Red Hibiscus deriving the thematic material "out of a true life observation." Sybil recalls that she won ample domestic accolades for this debut, from her doting spouse. This initial short-story effort finds a place in the present collection.

In these short stories, her universally valid formula seems to be to capture people and situations that eccentrically deviate from what the generality experiences as the "objective reality".

You could explore this notion with the story that gives this work its title - My Giddi Aunt.

Displaying her accustomed deftness, Sybil narrates the story, infusing to it - surreptitiously as it were - a beguiling touch of fantasy.

Even before the central character makes her startlingly bizarre appearance, the stage is set for any untoward development by the amazing prelude to the main narrative menu. The man of the house is M.T. House. His stray female companion from the pub is - tops to the English.

Literary experience

In the character of Giddi Nona, Sybil has eccentrically given, a rivetingly odd, Gothic portrayal that nudges our perceptions into a highly quaint region of literary experiencing.

Sybil's chronicling of the advent of Connie the baby-sitter, into the visiting room of a sober middle-class household, is a stunning rubric of whimsical narration. I just cannot help but quote this piece at some length.

"That is Connie our baby sitter. She may be an outsized fatso, I told myself. We were in deep conversation, when the wooden stairs began to creek.

The heavyweight champion was descending! Heavily, silently, slowly she came down the stairs, and soon she was before us.

I was struck by the tight-fitting red jeans, and the jet black figure-hugging woollen jersey, the mop of golden curly hair pushed back from the forehead with a multicoloured bandana. Cheeks were rose tinted, lips blood red. Through the mask of heavy make-up Hathelovevai! I saw the familiar face of Giddi Aunt".

Sybil has a whole gallery of eccentric characters lined up for her readers.

Some of these way-out persons have strayed far out of the norm of sane life.

Psyche

In the story titled The Red Hibiscus, Sybil explores the deeply troubled psyche of a lonely woman, whose deviations are probably determined by her obsession with a Hibiscus of vibrant red.

In all the stories, in this anthology, Sybil quite exquisitely exhibits a dexterity for the portrayal of the human region associated with the abnormal.

Her utilisation of the English prose, in these short stories, possesses a pragmatic grasp of the language. Occasionally she enriches the rhythm of her prose with a surprising Sinhala expression that emphasises the queer and the odd in her subject matter.

The witty, tense and perspicuous foreword to this work by Prof. Ashley Halpe provides a keen insight into the quintessence of Sybil's remarkably idiosyncratic imagination that nourishes this series of creations.

If Sybil pursues this creative path, she will undoubtedly earn a prestigious place, an adored name in this genre of queer surrealist story-telling.