Readble magazine stories
LITERATURE: M. T. L. Ebell is a quiet woman writer in English in this
country. I had not read her stories before nor have I seen her until I
met her as one of the many women writers at the Wadiya Writers Groups
reading and evaluating sessions of the writing of those present there,
only recently. She doesn’t speak much but listens.
I didn’t realize that she is a talented writer until I read her 82
page book Short and Verse published by Vijitha Yapa Publications.
This book has five verses and 14 stories. The stories attracted me
most than her attempt in versifying some thoughts and impressions. I
didn’t find any poetic qualities in them except she had used a few
expressions like “Flaunted beauty over Empire, State”, “Like a print
gone wrong”, “Your lips move from line to curl”.
But her stories are excellent readable magazine stories clearly
delineating from the literary stuff.
Magazine stories are popular because they are simple most of the time
and it is light and easy reading unlike complex fiction which interpret
life in depth and depict complexities.
Ebell has an O’Henry twist at the end of most of her stories. Her
first story titled First Love describes the calf love experiences of a
growing teenager with a surprise ending.
Peeping Tom again is a story of surprise ending. A grown up girl is
subjected to an attempted voyeurism as she bathes in nude. And the
culprit is somebody very much older than her.
A turn of events. A surprise ending as in a Guy de Maupasssant’s
story. Not so convincing and yet exciting. The writer has a fancy for
turning out such fascinating stories. This story is titled Dreams.
The Special Child is a story about a single mother and her two
children and focusing on the youngest. The concert in which the child
participated and the reparation for the special event are narrated. One
may say a commonplace story. Attention could have been paid to
correcting typographical errors.
A somewhat phantasmagoric story is “The Last Day”. One may say it is
not realistic, but then this kind of stories is true to their genre are
implausible. But magazine stories readers do not mind reading them.
“The Sword ends like this: “Christine took back the photograph and
prepared to depart. At the door she looked back. “You know, Nanna”, she
said,” they say kaduwa danawa whenever we speak in English. They say we
use it like a weapon to dominate over them.” She left.
Gracie pondered on the two words ‘they’ and ‘we’”
The first part of the story deals about a girl sent to a boarding
school to study in English a generation or two ago. It’s upper middle
class setting. I liked the opening of the story which sets the
atmosphere and fads of that time:
“Gracie surveyed the scene in her bedroom. Her mother surveyed
Gracie. She saw an ungainly child, dressed in the height of fashion. A
puff-sleeved dress with a flared skirt below the knee, ribbons vainly
trying to hold unruly black hair in place and a rose-trimmed hat now
taken off and flung onto the bed.”
Gracie’s mother is Mrs.Ratnayake. She belongs to a different
generation. The second part of the story is in regard to Gracie’s
grandchild Christine. The latter has to study in Sinhala, but she is
familiar with English and better than her classmates in speaking good
English. Christine is called a snob by her classmates.
The irony in the story is when the writer says, “After all, had not
Gracie’s mother spoken of British Education as a sword of liberation?”
Independence is nostalgia and fantasy twined together.
Even the other stories are interesting and the hidden talents of the
author is exhibited in her technique as well. I enjoyed reading this
little book of fiction.
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