Read The English Teacher in Sinhala
 

by W.A. Abeysinghe

R.K. Narayan, the Indian novelist, who writes in English is no stranger to us Sri Lankans, as most of his works are now translated into Sinhala. In fact Narayan's name remains household via teleplays such as 'Malgudi Days' dubbed into Sinhala and telecast over a period of several months. While his stories are well received by the local reader, his novels remain best sellers in our country.

The most recent one in this direction is The English Teacher translated by Seetha Mahendra as Avaragiraga Endisituvama (published by Godage 2005). Though Narayan came to be known by the reader the discussion about his works did not receive much attention in the capacity one sees about the works of a writer like Rabindranath Tagore.

Out of the 13 novels Narayan had written over the years, it is only a few like Mr. Sampath, Sweet Vendor, Financial Expert, and Grandmother's tales that are not translated so far.

Apart from his short stories and novels, his autobiography 'My days' is also translated and his translation of the Tamil work into English, the epic poem Ramayanaya is also translated into Sinhala. There is something strange and attractive about the novel in discussion.

The English Teacher, in the first place is translated for three times by three different types of translators with three headings. Seetha Mahendra's is the third translation to come out. This clearly indicates that this particular novel is well-known and recognised as more essential than the others.

I feel that the novel contains an element of household intimacies that are sensitively touched by the original writer. The material marital love between a wife and a husband reaches a spiritual state of bliss culminating in some aspects of a metaphysical plane of thought and experience. As such, the entire work could be reckoned as a study in metaphysical communication transcending the common romantic plane of love.

As one sees it is the husband who attempts to find solace in life via spiritual means after the death of his wife, one who was so dear and near to his heart.

Perhaps it could be surmised that the Sinhala title given is more suggestive of the poetic and meaningful taken into consideration the content blended with the spiritual layer of the central experience.

The Sinhala title Avaragiraga Endi Situavama suggests the picture or the portrait of the last rays of the sun gradually waning off. The novel in its original flavour is also symbolic of the spirit of the Indian cultural traits where one sees the affinity of the living towards the dear departed.

This is perhaps the influence of the Hinduism in the Indian society at its best form which has seeped into creative communication at all levels. The concept that the death does not end in itself as a mere material manner instead elevates to a plane of a higher order is suggestive in its manifold manner.

This concept is born out of the socio-religious attitudes prevailing in the Hindu society. A creative work born out of that concept ought to be both poetic and spiritual. To the best of the credit Novelist Narayan achieves this end in his work both from the point of view of the technique and the humane content.

The Sinhala translation to the credit of Mahendra, goes hand-in-hand with the original rhythm and the verbal patterns visible in the original enabling the reader to obtain a better panoramic vision of the experience in its totality.

In most of his novels, Narayan underlines some of the humorous elements in society perhaps in a constructive manner. He sees how the common folk are at the mercy of the well-to-do people and the tendency to suffer in the hands of the latter. But in this work there is a difference in the attitude.

Instead of the humour that is normally extant, he attempts to draw a serious character, the characters of Krishna and his wife Susila as people who elevate from the planes of materialism and succumb to place their lives in a higher plane of living.

Krishna, the protagonist of the novel believes that the death of his wife does not end but a continuous flux, a sort of a samsaric traverse, which he is challenged to accept as god given.

Even when his mother says that the child born to them should be looked after by herself he refuses to give in saying that he has to accept the challenge of the god and insists that the child, the daughter, should be looked after by him. These are some of the creative innovations born out of the influence of Hinduism.

He makes the reader believe that the concept of death is not a mere materialistic end in itself or a finale, but tries to say that it is a supra human state where one can converse if the proper source is tapped.

One may wonder whether Narayan is writing a fantasy in the most common sense of the concept, but it is different from a mere fantasy as it is made to be an extra sensory expression.

Excerpts from the keynote address delivered by Mr. W.A. Abeysinghe at the launching of Seetha Mahendra's Sinhala translation of R.K. Narayan's novel The English Teacher (Avaragiraga Endisituvama).

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