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| Wednesday, 3 December 2003 |
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Martin Wickramasinghe and his critics by Bandula Nonis Time and again some Sinhala critics have been denouncing Martin Wickramasinghe's novels, going to the extent that his "Yuganthaya" has damaged Sinhala literature and it seems that this thought needs the attention and appraisal of interested circles.
Martin Wickramasinghe, W.A. Silva and Piyadasa Sirisena have almost attempted to follow authors of the West such as Charles Dickens and Thomas Hardy who are famous novelists. This is something alien to Sinhala literature and culture. However, attempting to do something of that kind by our local authorities has to be appreciated. It is true that the works of these writers differ from ancient temple literature of the Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa era. These novels are different from "Amawathura" or "Budhusarana". But these novels have a remarkable acceptance by the society to which they were introduced. It was British Colonial Ceylon when we were at the threshold of independence waiting to brush aside the alien culture and traditions and metaphors. It was even before the birth of these novels we hear of nationalism and anti-British and anti-imperialism across the sub-continent of India under the patronage of Mahatma Gandhi, and Shri Nehru. Our contribution to these upheavals and national renaissance has been geared by the writers of this time such as Martin Wickramasinghe, W.A. Silva and Piyadasa Sirisena. They have stepped out to awaken society that was blindly, following and aping the Western civilization, especially by the trader middle class. The most famous novel by Martin Wickramasinghe, "Gamperaliya" remained as the apex piece of art for nearly for half-a-century in this country. It touches the hearts and minds of the Sinhalese people, and its unbroken tradition resulted the text to be produced as a cinema. This has been internationally acclaimed and honoured as a great piece of art. When it comes to language, the critics centre their argument that Martin Wickramasinghe's novels lack the skills of refined language. Language remains the medium of communication, in drama, play or script as the case may be. "Gamperaliya" bypasses all these measurements. One might say that William Shakespeare's langauge could have been better or according to "Subhashithaya" Martin Wickramasinghe's langauge needs improvement. But this kind of rational argument cannot be confined to novels by the Western or Eastern. One has to appreciate the aesthetic contribution and the literary appreciation of the novels that go farther than the language. Shakespeare's language differs from the langauge of Thomas Hardy. It is necessary to be fair by the critics since they are concerned only with the language of novels. You cannot separate the language and other ingredients such as the characters, plot and the theme from each other because the mechanism is interwoven with each other, in case of the novels. The critics should be mindful to give examples where the language is flawed or incorrect and come with better usage where needed for the information of the readers. They have to equally defend the following aspects of the modern usage of language. What is language: There is no satisfactory answer to this, because there is no good definition for the use of the language. Langauge changes and does not remain static. Language is a code system. Langauge is an arbitrary and open system of vocal syllables. Language is symbolic. Language is flexible. Language changes from time to time. It changes according to the moods of expression of characters. It changes according to the usage and function and location. Language keeps on developing taking new shapes like a living organism. Language is complex owing to its grammar. The complexity of grammar rules the langauge and makes it difficult to learn. Grammar is the barrier for the development of the language. The function of verbs, nouns, prepositions and adverbs, differ from one to the other and also within the same class of words. In language there is nothing based on law. In Sinhala singular verb in the present tense is 'Balai' for the act look. Past tense is 'Beluveya'. Future is 'Balanneya'. Present plural is 'Balathi'. past tense plural is 'Beluvoya'. But in English language, the word 'look' remains in all cases. Therefore, it is unreasonable to assess the writer's contribution on the language skills specially, where novels are concerned, since there are other measurements to consider the greatness of a text. (The writer is attached to the Media Unit of the Ministry of Enterprise Development.) |
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