29th death anniversary of Martin Wickramasinghe today:

The great Sinhala bibliophile
 

BY MIRAN Perera

IN his search for roots and the pursuit of literary and intellectual activity Martin Wickramasinghe a young writer wrote with exemplary precedence later to be remembered as the callouses of the Sinhala novels here in Sri Lanka and abroad.

Yet time and again some of his critics have been severe on Wickramasinghe's novels going to the extent that his Yuganthaya has made a bad negative influence on Sinhala literature.

These views of his critics although this great novelist is held in high esteem needs the attention and appraisal of all Sinhala book lovers.

Martin Wickramasinghe did attempt to follow authors of the West such as Charles Dickens and Thomas Hardy who are famous novelists. This is something alien to Sinhala literature but not to this great man of Lanka Martin Wickramasinghe.

Early in his life lady luck smiled on this unassuming gentleman who found an almost ideal wife who was happy to live and walk in his shadow assisting him in his numerous literary pursuits with simple endearing ways. Ultimately she was an ideal mother and a devoted wife to his closely bound family.

We should appreciate, the attempt made by local authorities and Martin Wickramasinghe himself for their effort to be within the periphery of influence of great Western writers.

Towards this endeavour the beloved wife of the great writer Prema diligently made hand written copies of the many chapters of Martin's novels and short stories.

She was a simple loving woman who was content to be in his background but help the author and their children in innumerable ways. The works of prominent Western writers differ from ancient temple literature of the Anuradhapura and Pollonnaruwa era.

These novels and different from Amawathura or Budhusarana. The much scribbled and scratched out pages of these books written from Martin's prolific pen came to lye as novels essays and short stories written out neatly by Prema his wife.

Martin had cultivated the productive habit of reading the pages of these books to his wife and children. These novels had a remarkable acceptance to the society in which they were introduced.

As a faithfull and dutifull companion Prema was aware that her writer husband always had the impatience with mistakes which she was carefull not to make when writing out his work.

Although the task was painstaking in an age of no typewriters she worked diligently to finish her task as successfully as possible.

Martin Wickramasinghe and his writing thried in the days when there were no computers, printers and other aides. During the time of Martin Wickramasinghe our locals were trying hard amielst British Colonial Ceylon to do away with the alien culture, traditions and metaphors.

Also during this period when India boasted of Mahatma Gandhi we heard of nationalism, anti-British and anti-imperialism across the subcontinent even before Martin penned his famous books.

Martin Wickramasinghe through his books did contribute to social upheavals and national renaissance much geard by his affinity in appreciating our culture.

Authors such as Martin Wickramasinghe came out and made an impact to reawaken then sleeping society which was blindly following and adulating Western imperialist culture specialy by the English educated middle class.

It was their prestige made by them to bea priviledge to have read the great classics of the West. Greece and Rome were much preferd as sources of renowned epics.

Martin and Prema Wickramasinghe settled in Colombo to bring up their six children, who as a Mother, Prema looked after with much love and care.

Prema Wickramasinghe very much loved her children equal as well to the care and concern shown to them by Martin himself. Prema was proud and approved her husband's achievements. She was contended, encouraging and always in the background with a complacent presence.

The most famons Sinhala novel by Martin Wickramasinghe was 'gamperaliya' which remained at the apex piece of art for nearly a half century in this country.

It touched the sentiments of the people specialy their hearts and minds of the Sinhala people and 'Gamperaliya's unbroken tradition resulted in making its story as a great cinematic masterpiece.

The 'Gamperaliya' film was internationaly acclaimed and honored as a great work of cinematic art. The critics of Martin Wickramasinghe incessant with their objections point out that Martin's novel's lack the skills of refined language.

The language is the medium of communication in drama, play or script as the case may be. Yet Martin Wickramasinghe's 'Gamperaliya' by passes all these measurements.

Martin with the need of an editor when writting his now famous books turned to Prema who met these needs with skill.

Prema stretched the limited resources assisted by her mother who was a gracious and loving grandmother, still Martin continued to write inspired much by his family whose interest in his work was much encouraging.

One could argue following the critics of Wickramasinghe that William Shakespeares language could have been better or according to 'Subashithaya' Martin's language of Sinhala used as it is in his books needs improvement.

In assisting Martin, with his writing Prema deviously became the force that drew all others in their family of all generations to the centre of Martin's literary world.

Prema and Martin as well bound all admireres, fellow writers, relatives, fans and the readers of Martin Wickramasinghe novels, also his critics who spoke for and against his work in to one unit, a large and happy family. Martin acquired fame as the colossus of 'Koggala' the village where he was born.

It is revealed that Prema was so enticed by her own husband's writing and his style of the Sinhala novel that she kept his famous books, like Gamperaliya, Madolduwa and Yuganthaya under her pillow.

As for Martin Wickramasinghe's writing we have to appreciate the aesthetic contribution and the literary appreciation of Martin's novels that go further than the lauguage.

We should not seperate in the works of Martin Wickramasinghe the language and other ingredients such as the charaeters, plot and the theme from each other because the mechanism is interwoven with each other in case of the novels.

It is unreasonable to assess Martin Wickramasinghe's contribution on the language skills specialy where novels are concerned, since there are other measurements to consider the greatness of a text.