Homage to a book publisher

Professor Sunanda Mahendra

PUBLISHING: Ever heard of a book publisher being honoured by authors? It looks rather a strange phenomenon from several points of view in any part of the world. In a country like ours, however, we find such a publisher being constantly admired over the years for his service and polite mannerism.

He is no other person than the well-known local book publisher, Deshabandu Sirisumana Godage, who had to come a long way from down South with a little money in hand to start his livelihood in the most dismal conditions imaginable in Colombo.

He has been the largest book publisher and State Award recipient continuously (according to today's book). This was an idea projected by the late President J. R. Jayewardene at a literary day celebration in Matara.

This is intended to be published, to the best of my knowledge, in the Guinness book of world records, but due to some disarray, the report did not appear first in the Asian edition of the publication, hence the omission.

To his credit, three books have so far appeared relating to his service in the book industry. They are: *Sevadipani*, Ranjit Palihapitiya edited collection of essays on this publisher, then the Sinhala journalist Denagama Siriwardena's children's book titled *Guna Nena Belen Yutu Putumaya Ita Garu,* and the latest from the pen of an Administrator and Theatre Critic Y R de Silva, *Nilvala Gangabada Kembima*, 2006.

The title looks an oxymoron as the term *Nilwala* denotes one of the major rivers in the country, and the term *Kembima* too denotes an oasis in a desert. Perhaps de Silva had a symbolic title in his mind.

To mark the launch of the book, predominantly a series of interviews with the publisher Godage, de Silva intersperses biographical details like in a narrative intending to trace the success story of Godage, the man and his achievements.

Young boy

The narrative starts with a note of a bright young boy coming from South with the blessings from his mother to make a better living in Maradana, where he meets some erudite monks like the late prelate Most Venerable Balangoda Ananda Maitriya.

And through him he starts to associate teachers, principals of schools, university lecturers, social reformers, and several others to whom he pays a great respect for teaching him the great art of being alive and wide awakened with a positive thinking mind and taking him around with complex human experience enveloping the challenges of varying nature.

The reader encounters his simple life style of meagre mannerism and the good will to live, and how people try to help him as well as try to cheat him in the day-to-day duties in the urban sector.

Where he was led to live mostly in rented rooms as a boarder continuously living a struggle firstly, learning the trade of a printer with the necessary ingredients that go into the handling of printing machines, where the types were not only composite from cases, but also made to be created through technological means, cutting and gathering, and then to book binding process, where he excelled above other things, and then followed by the techniques of mastering the publishing industry and the connected trade, distributing the printed books to public libraries, school libraries, and bookshops.

He leaves no stone unturned in this direction, mastering all the aspects of the trade and the interlinked public relations, first from a local publisher named Dodangoda and Company, and then proceeding to other units of execution.

It looks as if the concept of rivalry had not been encountered in his learning process.

One of the most striking ventures is his association with the learned persons connected with religious institutions, for which he owes a respect and gratitude citing it was a blessing in disguise.

From this point onwards, he seems to believe that he had the chance of becoming an independent minded person, who could manage his beginning, a business of his own, especially as he was quite good in his mathematical calculations [he says that he was fond of numbers from his boyhood days], a subject which he cherished and taught even to his friends in Palatuva, the birthplace from which the title for the book comes.

Small hamlet

Palatuva is a small hamlet by the riverbanks of Nilvala, a subject for a number of creative works. The river, according to the protagonist Godage, is supposed to be good and friendly, at times causing fertility to the farmer, as well as disastrous floods to the villagers.

As such, he says that he had witnessed the natural disasters, as well as the man-made disasters ultimately leading to the making of the balanced creature in him today.

His main intention today, according to the notes kept by the biographer cum interlocutor de Silva, is to assist the needy in the best manner possible, and his belief is that he should publish the best of the books and help the amateurs gain strength to go ahead with their creative skills.

With this motive, like in most other countries, he holds an annual literary award day sponsored by his firm, titled *Godage Sahitya Utsavaya*. At the moment, he wants to republish some rare books of the past to help the modern reader get acquainted with the bygone day classics.

He has that extra skill, it is said, to discern what is good for publication and what is unfit for publication, and concurrently this discrimination has gone a long way in his business.

He makes an attempt to help those writers in need, and while they ail he would provide finances for medicine and support them continuously.

Virtuous function

Though many a local publisher finds it difficult to sell certain rare books, he believes that the very effort to make them available is a virtuous function on the part of a good publisher of his calibre.

This book, in certain ways, is also historic from several points of view. It has the records of rare book events required by a researcher of library sciences and communication, such as the literary views held by celebrities such as Ediriwira Sarachchandra, G. B. Senanayaka, and a few others.

In the course of the discussion, the types of books to be published are indicated, and they include glossaries, encyclopedias, supplementary readers and biographies.

Though not recorded in an intensified manner, de Silva traces several publication trends in the course of his interlocution with the publisher, indicating the future of the local book industry and the controversial issues ensued therein.

These are inclusive of the price-marking of the publications, foreign book importing, text book concepts, the best seller concepts, the book translations, English medium local publications, juvenile literature, the challenges from the other countries, and other issues pertaining to the reader-oriented publication industry in the country.

[email protected]

..................................

<< Artscope Main Page