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32 death anniversary on July 23:
Literal and authentic Martin Wickramasinghe
Miran PERERA
Nobody disputes the fact that Martin Wickramasinghe's 'Viragaya' was
the first phycological novel which set in motion a series of such work
shaping the Sinhala novel in to a serious form of art, such as 'Gamperaliya'
too.
July 23rd is commemorated as the 32nd death anniversary of famous
Sinhala writer Martin Wickramasinghe. In 1944 less than a year before
the second world war ended, a novel was published that was to change the
scope of Sinhala fiction forever.
This was perhaps the first time that the Sri Lankan landscape entered
in all its authenticity into Sinhala writing either in prose or verse.
In the entire range of classical Sinhala poetry and prose, there is not
a single memorable work which captures with the same sincerity and
immediacy the splendour of the Sri Lankan land scape nor the rich
texture of its life.
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Martin Wickramasinghe |
As a Sinhala author some critics say that Martin Wickramasinghe has
almost attempted to follow authors of the West such as Charles Dickens
and Thomas Hardy who are famous novelists. This is something alien to
the Sinhala literature and culture.
However attempting to do something of that kind by our local writers
has to be appreciated. It is true that the work of this writer differ
from ancient temple literature of the Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa era.
Martin Wickramasinghe's novels have a remarkable acceptance by the
society to which they were introduced.
In his search for roots and pursuit of literary and intellectual
activity Martin Wickamasinghe found an almost ideal wife who was happy
to live and walk in his shadow and assist him in many simple and
endearing ways.
Prema was an ideal mother who was a simple loving woman who was
content to be in his background and help the author and his children in
innumerable ways. For over many decades up to his death on July 23, 1976
as one of the most actively involved intellectuals Martin Wickramasinghe
has been a literal and authentic figure in the Sri Lankan literary
scene, of the 20th century.
Born in Koggala Martin Wickramasinghe being the son of late Bastian
Wickramasinghe his ascertainable literary career realy begins in 1914
the year Leela' his first novel sub titled as 'Rasawath Katantarayak'
appeared in print. As it was the case with many men of letters
Wickremasinghe too started his writing career as a journalist.
The journalist in Martin Wickramasinghe was an erudite personality
disciplined in a variety of subjects ranging from Sinhala culture to
Indian Vedanta philosophy and Western rationalism. His valuable and
perennial contributions to various journalise and newspapers at that
time was exemplary.
The most famous novel by Martin Wickramasinghe 'Gamperaliya' remained
as the apex piece of Art for nearly half a century in this country. It
touches the hearts and minds of the Sinhalese people and its unbroken
tradition resulted the text to be produced as a film. When it comes to
language the critics centre their argument that Martin Wickramasinghe's
novels lack the skills of refined language.
Language remains the medium of communication in drama play or script
as the case may be. On many occasions Martins wife Prema diligently made
hand written copies of the many chapters of his novels and short
stories.
The much scribbled and scratched out pages from his prolific pen came
to life as novels, essays and short stories written out neatly by Prama.
He then read out some of these pages to his wife and children. In the
days when there were no type writers let alone computers, printers and
other aids, Prema's help was immeasurable.
During a period of 62 years from 1914 to 1976 Martin Wickramasinghe
produced nearly 2000 pieces of writing both in Sinhala and English.
These writings inclosure of nearly 90 books can broadly be categorised
in to three main groupings namely creative, academic and journalistic.
In all these three forms of writings his subject field encompasses a
wide range in the humanities and the sciences. His main concern however
was with subjects such as language, oriental and occidental literature,
religion philosophy, culture and social anthropology.
Nobody disputes the fact that Martin Wickramasinghe's 'Viragaya' was
the first phycological novel which set in motion a series of such work
shaping the Sinhala novel in to a serious form of art, such as
'Gamperaliya' too.
Our short story writers too owe much to Martin Wickramasinghe for the
successfully fashioned delicate and sensitive mode of fiction immensely
inspired by the Checkovian tradition of the Russian short story.
The numerous translations of his novels and short stories in to
English, French, Chinese and the East European Slovak languages
including Russian and Bulgarian are filting testimonials to the creative
genius of the Sri Lankan celebrity, fondly described as the 'Rishi of
Koggala' by a grateful nation.
Martin Wickramasinghe's sensibility and life view were fashioned and
refined almost exclusively by rural maritime landscape both geographical
and socio cultural in which he lived in the formative years of his life.
In a beautifully written autobiography completed in the evening of
his life an evening that fortunately endured for 15 fruitful years
Wickramasinghe lovingly recaptures the life and landscape of his beloved
Koggala.
Wickramasinghe's literary world lay between the paddy fields and the
sea, between the river and the vegetable grows a rich hybrid diversity
more dynamic and lively than what prevailed in the closed highlands of
Sri Lanka.
Martin Wickramasinghe's time was British Colonial Ceylon when we were
at the threshold of independence waiting to brush aside the alien
culture and tradition and metaphors.
It was even before the birth of Wickramasinghe's novels, we hear of
nationalism, anti imperialism across the sub continent of India under
the patronage of Gandhi and Nehru. It is necessary to be fair by the
critics since they are concerned only with the language of novels.
One cannot separate the language and other ingredients such as the
characters plot and the theme from each other because the mechanism is
inter wooven with each other in case of the novels. The critics should
be mindful to give examples where the language is flawed or incorrect
and come with better usage where needed for the information of the
readers.
They have to equally defend many aspects of the modern usage of
language. Wickramasinghe's description of how at more than 50 years old
he returned to the village where as a little boy he had roamed so freely
is a moving piece of writing where nostalgia is always tempered with
reason and sentiment never allowed to become sentimentality.
All is observed by Martin Wickramasinghe with no trace of bitterness,
instead there is an under tone of wry humour reminiscent of the best of
the most at once subtle and immensely entertaining. |
