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| Wednesday, 9 February 2005 |
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Focus on Books Poems with a central vision Prof. Sunanda Mahendra In an essay titled 'can we do without the poets', the late literary critic and poet Stephen Spender said poetry is a criticism of language [in which the poetry is written] as such the poetry is concrete personal and sometimes exact. He furthermore emphasized that we live in a time when language tends to be used in ways that are abstract, generalized impersonal and even inaccurate. I found this pronouncement refreshing on reading the collection of 45 poems on varying themes created and at times recreated and deconstructed from other sources as found in Aloka Minisa titled symbolically representing the persona as found in the poet Kodituvakku's creations. Like many Sinhala poets printing their works and classifying them into groups such as free verse, symbolic verse, short verse [sakeviu kavi], suggestive poems [dvani kavi ] and abstract poems [ samyukta kavi ] Kodituvakku does not want to brand his creations into categories and sub categories allowing himself to be identified as a member of the so called avant garde poets of the day. Poetic diction By the term Aloka, he means several meanings as found in the traditional poetic diction and in religious literature especially the Buddhist texts or Suttas. In one sense, the term Aloka may mean the person who has brightened his vision or more super in his human state of existence. For his poetic contents, Kodituwakku selects material from the past, present and the future with a clear vision of what he is creating. As far as possible he makes use of the legend and the myth as well as the historic episodes and folklore without making them as they used to be or in the fashion of the traditional plane of thinking instead in a new form twisting the theme suit the conscience of the reader of the modern day. Few examples could be drawn from poems such as Kinduriyage mal [p.32], Aloka Minissu [p.34-35], Panbinduvaka Vittiya [p58-59] and Hirusandu Ahimiva [p.92-93]. The poet shows a liking for the narrative or the ballad in mini form, which suits all ages and all types of readers. But within the poetic narrative, the poet tries as far as possible to reveal aspects of the vanity of false values, immorality, the inhumane qualities that come in the guise of modernity and the pseudo political ideologies, the need to sustain the vision of the elders as a means of restructuring the social order that is degenerated or collapsed and the need to build a better structure. Behind all the poems, he visualizes a man whom he identifies as the enlightened person or the person with a vision .in this direction most of his poems contain central vision understandable as prophetic [Rishi Dakma]. At times the poet Kodituvakku is seen as sarcastic and at times sympathetic. Two good examples are found in the poem Janadhipati [p.18-19] and in the poem Jala Gitikava [p122-124]. The latter is written in the form of a prose poem though it contains the vein of the vision cited early. Sensitive poem The poem titled Mav Merilla [if translated into simple English would sound as 'killing of the mother] is one of the most sensitive and thought provoking poems I have read so far in Sinhala poetic tradition. The theme is borrowed from a police report, a daring one about a dangerous drug addict who has sex with his mother and finds that he couldn't face the realities of the world or the ethics of his birth right as against the brutality of the drugged and poisoned and insensitive attitude of the frame of mind he possessed at the moment of his sexual misbehaviour. Mav ambu kamata gat mat puteki rakuseki, goes a line in the work if translated may mean a devil like drugged son who had taken the mother as his wife. This poem could be regarded as a narrative that goes beyond a report and the need to recreate such events poetically. Perhaps the existing pattern of poetic creations have been widened by this collection of poems both from the point of view of the content and the poetic structure. As is observed over the years the human insight of the poem and the technicalities of the expression are inseparable and the deliberate attempt to break the existing tradition is not anticipated. In most poems of Kodituvakku, the amalgamation of the metre rhythm and the diction and the freeing from them in order to be more modernistic is not observed as hindrances for his creations. these cannot be discerned as just a collection of free verse or blank verse or Nisandas Kavi or Dvani Kavi or Sakevi Kavi. Blend of prose and verse In fact with a collection of poems of this sort the categorisation into narrower groups of creation is also minimized or completely widened with a blend of the prose and the verse and leaving the reader to know whether they are poetic creations or not. I feel the modern poetry can never be classified into such narrow groups, instead it should be classified as either good poetry or bad poetry or wanted poetry or unwanted poetry. As Umberto Eco once pointed out 'however severe the technical and structural criteria he professes, anybody reading a work of literature can and should establish emotional and intellectual contact with the world of the author, and make a picture of the man himself and his world'. This is the success of these poems as against most poems created today which more or less look like pseudo puzzles and verbal games that come out in the name of modernism but in actual reality they cannot be considered as poetic creations. Parakrama Kodituvakku differs from this genre of pseudo creations in order to communicate his experience in the method that he believes as the most suited for his medium. In this sense, the collection of poems titled Aloka Minisa should be discussed more from several points of view by the contemporary poet himself. One could disagree with me, but let us agree to disagree without mudslinging as it happened after the launch of this collection of poems. Mutable moods of nature Saturu Mithuru Muhudu Ralla, As an adolescent of 17, I had the opportunity of reading Pearl S. Buck's novel, Good Earth narrating the story of a Chinese protagonist, Wan Lin with his legitimate wife and the concubine and their immediate progeny. Several years after that, for the second time, I got a chance of going through "East Wind and West Wind" by the same author which showed the fusion of oriental culture and that of the west in the marriage of Kwei-lan and her American-educated husband. And it unfolded "the heart searching and tender story of a young Chinese girl's troubled acceptance of an alien way of life, with all its sorrows and rewards." A few days ago, I came across a translation by Senaratne Weerasinghe, of Pearl S. Buck's novelette, "The Big Waves" based on a Japanese background but with a theme altogether different from the two novels already mentioned. The intention of the author seems to infuse the young minds with the spirit of conquering any odds and tenacity of purpose in moulding one's own life-style without any fear of the natural elements, by harnessing oneself with undaunted courage. Dementing episode This novelette portrays the dementing episode of the whole of a coastal village of fisherfolk in Japan laid waste by the ravaging effect of a tsunami and the reactive spirit of human courage reawakened. At this critical moment of the natural disaster called "tsunami" or tidal waves caused by a sea-quake which had taken place near Sumathra affecting Sri Lanka in particular and South East Asia in general, this translation of "The Big Waves" is of immense use to any person interested in studying the wonders and plunders of nature. Natural disasters can be broadly classified as Earth-quakes, volcanoes, storms, floods giving rise to land-slides too, droughts and famines. Among these, earth-quakes occur with the movement of plates which are formed by a break-up of the outer part of the Earth or the lithosphere. As a result of an earthquake in or near the earth's bedrock, the energy released causes seismic waves that spread throughout the globe. These tidal waves have brought about the recent havoc on coastal areas. Tidal waves The theme of this novelette is to convince the people on their inability to alienate themselves from any contact with the tidal waves or tsunamis or other disasters like volcanic eruptions. You have to face the realities of life and its environment or nature. You are always in it however much you try to get away from it. So, the protagonist, Jiya's maturation or the grooming of his character to lead a life of practical problems facing the dismal designs of life intermittent with rewards of hard-work is the central idea of this work. Whilst going through this novelette memories of Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe and R. L. Stevenson's Treasure Island began to haunt me. What impressed me most in the novelette under review, however, was the determination and pertinacity of the old fisherman in Hemingway's "The Old Man and the Sea "who never gave up his grit against all odds encountered by him in his fishing expedition in the sea which is a one-man show just like the admirable role of joe Abeywickrema in the film, "Saravita". far-reaching vision of life are outstanding. The character of Kino's father is the persona the author uses to express the stark truths, of the daring life-pattern of industrious and brave people who perish and prosper according to the vicissitudes of life. At intervals, the reader comes across simple passages pregnant with literary and philosophic value. The mentions, for example, of the caves which the two boys, Kino and Jiya used to visit, calls up images of abstruse and mystic Malabar Caves in Forster's 'Passage to India' and the Cave Analogy in Plato's 'The Republic'. Old, wise men like Kono's father do not get confused in panicky situations as they are armed with wide experience. It is remarkable that there runs through the novelette a morbid fear of the sea in their surrounding dread by the young and old alike. Kino's father at one stage says, "None of us can understand What sort of a thing the sea is. Kino exclaims, "I'm happy we are in the highland". "Won't, think so. There are things to be scared of even on the highlands. Do you remember how you travelled that Autumn to see the volcano?" Guidance and wisdom "Then, father, are we to be in constant fear of something forever?" Here, the father's broad outlook on life is full of guidance and wisdom: "We must learn how to live with disasters. Some day the sea will gorge the land with tidal waves and volcanoes will begin to blow up. We must not be panicked but accept that reality. However much old or feeble we become we have to realize that people die because of sea waves or volcanoes. Won't be afraid of death. Lead a good life. That's the Japanese way of life." We find two concise but comprehensive accounts of cultivation and fishery are effectively juxtaposed pointing out two different ways of living but they are complementary. How they look at their day-to-day life with endurance is evident in Kino's father's response to his son's observation of the sky getting partly convered with dark clouds. When the son exclaims, "Look Father. The volcano is again bursting out!". Then the father thoughtfully remarks "yes, there is an enraged look. I'll have to keep awake all night." Fast moving Apart from the fast moving action, this novelette is full of words of wisdom that have an encouraging effect in moulding the immature minds, for example, "God lets people tackle with their own problems"; "We must somehow or other be able to face them"; "Man becomes weak through fear. Son, if you are frightened, your limbs begin to tremble. Then the brain loses control of the limbs." At this juncture, the old millionaire shows his humanitarian concern by hoisting a red flag giving a warming to be in readiness to face disaster. And it was synchronized with the peeling of a bell from his mansion which warnings had reached the people only twice before. The innocent Kino driven by his instinct waved his white shorts signalling Jiya which was noticed by him. When urged by Jiya to leave their dwelling place, his father's far-seeing and benevolent advice to Jiya rouses Jiya's heart-rending sorrow and the reader's piercing pathos. "Now we must part. You run away for life leaving us to fight with the sea. But you ought to survive us!". Immediately after, the fishing village vanished under the mighty waves. Jiya cried out from Kino's premises "Father, Father, but in vain and fainted". Pragmatic view Kino's father's pragmatic view of life is realistic: "You should accept death as an integral part of life. Then there won't be sorrow." This is also the hard core of the Buddha's doctrine, which is the mutability of life. Kino's father's remarks regarding the recovery of Jiya are not less important than those of a present-day psychologist of a high order. The epigram: "Life is a bliss over death," uttered by Kino's father reminds one of Odysseus' observation made about the happiness of the dead souls in the Hades in Homer's Odyssey: "A day as a living beggar is far better than the lifetime of an emperor over the dead." From the middle of the book is unfolded the resolution of the story or the building up of a new life of Jiya's own based on the realistic and stoical attitude of the Japanese and the reader cannot help, remembering Albert Camu's "Myth of Sisyphus, 'trying to diagnose the human situation in a world of shattered beliefs" in which Camus movingly argues for "an acceptance of reality that encompasses revolt, passion and above all, liberty." This view is proved to be correct as finally, Jiya, a well-grown young man, marries Kino's sister and begins to build a new life on the shattered land of his father. Somapala Arandara **** Back **** |
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