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| Wednesday, 26 May 2004 |
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Ian Goonetileke : Hero of the academic vocation by Carl Muller
On March 28, Prof. Kapila Goonasekera, Vice Chancellor, University of Peradeniya, cut the first sod for the building of the "Ian & Roslin Goonetileke Gallery & Museum of Contemporary Art." When Stage One of this project is completed, it will house the late Ian Goonetileke's magnificent bequest to the university - a massive collection of paintings including over 100 George Keyts and those of all of our well-known modern artists such as Richard Gabriel, Ivan Peries, Stanley Kirinde and others. A large collection of books and papers were also bequeathed, and all this now lies in storage in the University Library. Such a University Art Gallery & Museum project was part of the original university project of Sir Ivor Jennings, but the work, sadly enough, was never touched. It was Ian Goonetileke's parting gift - a gift so unbelievably rich - that provided the stimulus; and now, as I write, the site is cleared, the earthworks begun and the Alumni Association of Peradeniya University (AAUP) has literally moved heaven and earth to raise the money. The AAUP set about it with a practised and practical approach. As Prof. Kapila Goonasekera admitted: "Funds for such a venture receive the least priority in the Government Investment Plan.: It was left to the AAUP to take leadership to raise the money - and this has been done wonderfully well. Two committees were appointed - a Special AAUP Committee chaired by Professor Ashley Halpe to co-ordinate the project; and a Steering Committee appointed by the Vice Chancellor to oversee the project. The University Engineering Design Consultancy Centre (EDCC) undertook all technical aspects. Many volunteered their help. Architect Ashley de Vos provided the architectural drawings at no cost. They are both original and practical, the proposed buildings harmonizing with the environment and the contours of the site. Love The modular design allows building in stages. Module I, now to be built, will cost Rs. 2 million; and yes, the AAUP has already raised that much and is now driving hard to raise so much more for furnishings, fittings, and so much more that needs to be put in place.
But none of this would ever have been on the cards today had it not been for one man who, with immense love, gave all his books, papers and paintings to the university. It is to him that I dedicate this article for he was, both in life and after death, the university's "sounding board" - a man who once conveyed a message to me: "Why don't you send me a copy of the books you write?" Ashley Halpe, in a memoriam, declared him to be a "hero of the academic vocation." On Ian Goonetileke's 75th birthday, a gathering at the University Library paid him respect and honour. He had compiled five volumes of his magnificent Bibliography of Sri Lanka and was working on the sixth even when he later retired to his home in Oruwela. As Ashley Halpe wrote: "This bibliographical labour of love was a natural extension of the vocation to which Ian had been called. It is not fanciful to use such language to describe the way in which Ian Goonetileke on his lifelong adventure with books and the arduous task of sustaining research and teaching in an unfriendly and indeed, I venture to say, cynical environment." On his 75th birthday, Ian said: "Words have been a source of joy and sorrow, strength and consolation, learning and knowledge. 'Words are sheer pleasure, a cure for anguish,' as Osip Mandelstam, the Russian poet summed it up. As an only child, orphaned of both parents at an early age, I grew up with books as my mute, though surprisingly eloquent, companions.... I devoured books, magazines and newspapers as soon as I learned to read - the greatest boon to a budding librarian... school possessed a splendid library... and teachers who encouraged the reading habit. My father's small library was treasure island." He added that when he entered the university and went through the portals of "Villa Venezia" where the library was housed, he experienced "the cardinal moment of inspiration (to) the serendipitous calling of a book man in a library." When, 20 years later, he was appointed to an assistant librarianship, he recalled how "for the next 27 years, Peradeniya became the inspirational centre of my professional career... the most rewarding, fruitful and enlightening period of my life... I learned... that work is a sacrament, and its only reward, and librarianship, in its highest form, an act of social service to the mind of one's fellow man." Colonial mould He recalled how the university "quickly outgrew its confining colonial mould and became an ever-burgeoning centre of higher education," and said he was "particularly happy to have been a participant in university affairs when the winds of change were blowing and altering the forms, styles and essence of university education for the greater good of the larger community." As Ashley Halpe wrote: "Ian Goonetileke was a totally civilized, academic professional, whose civilization included an intense human concern for persons as much as principles. It is fitting that such a man should have been at the centre of the Peradeniya Library, the living heart of the institution, in its greatest days of growth as well as in its darkest days of lean supplies and unintelligent university management. It is in this sense that Ian Goonetileke has been a Peradeniya man. He has been closely identified with that ideal university on the banks of the Mahaweli envisioned by the founding fathers. He has stepped out of his professional precinct to wage war for the institution when exigency demanded assembly at the barricades, as during the fight against the insane and unprincipled reorganization of University education in 1973. "It was the same man of conscience and humane concern who helped nourish the minds of University students in custody after the insurrection of 1971 with loans of books, and who compiled a bibliography of that insurrection with a substantial introduction, thorough but written from the heart." Memorial Ashley said it was entirely characteristic of Ian to make such a stupendous bequest. Its munificence stuns, but it is entirely in keeping with the astonishing generosity of his whole life. Now, Ian is assured of a fitting memorial. The Gallery & Museum will wind, as an extended corridor, through the trees behind Jayatilleke Hall, part of it reflected in the large pond set in the hill-slope facing Wijewardene Hall across the Galaha Road. It will be exquisitely simple and elegant in form and eminently a part of the environment. When completed, it will house exhibition areas, visitors' lounge, lecture theatre, souvenir shop and coffee shop. All names of donors and donor groups will be placed on a plaque in the building. Access to the complex will be from both the upper Hantane/Prospect Hill road and the Uda Peradeniya road. It must also be said that many others have also donated richly to the University and soon, there will be a fitting place that will hold all these "acts of love". Prof. D.J. Kalupahana, for one, has given his entire collection of books on Pali and Buddhist Studies to the University Library. So many others have mane so many thousands of students and knowledge-seekers their beneficiaries. Let us remember them all and honour them. When the Art Gallery & Museum is completed, they will remain with us in spirit till the end of days. Allow me to offer these lines - an elegy for Ian - from Ashley Halpe: Hail and farewell, farewell and hail Ashley adds: "In honouring him, we honour ourselves by proving that we are worthy heirs and our farewells are sanctified by a spirit of filial piety." **** Back **** |
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