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Random Musings:
Creativity
Sachitra Mahendra
"Thank goodness I was never sent to school; it would have rubbed off
some of the originality." - Beatrix Potter
I think this explains creativity best. Creativity, in other words, is
originality - when you create something, it is original. Creativity and
education are poles apart. Helen Beatrix Potter is known as an English
children's writer, who was taught at home. Her quote, however, does not
mean she is uneducated; only that she did not get a proper school
education.
Then why is education a barrier for creativity? This is something
hard to go into details. It's always easier to start with language and
literature.
Think of two categories: first category thinks creatively but doesn't
have a good command of written language (so to say, written language is
what you inherit by education), and the second category is excelled in
the written language but not creative enough. Who attracts more
audience? First category, in my opinion.
William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe belong to these two
categories respectively. The history of literature maintains that
Marlowe is much more learned than Shakespeare.
Shakespeare was just an actor who later turned out to be a writer
almost by chance.
Still, who got the plum audience? Marlowe is not even in the A/Ls
English Literature syllabus, though every Tom, Dick and Harry knows who
Shakespeare is - at least heard of him.
Way back in the 1960s, Jacque Derrida, a French philosopher,
popularised a particular term - Deconstruction. It's so hard to locate a
simple definition of this term. However 'deconstruction' is rewriting a
source - that can be history or some other contemporary incident -
creatively. Shakespeare used to take a source, which is raw in material,
and rewrite it creatively. He was largely criticised for anachronism,
but it was also a part of his creativity. He cut and chopped wherever
necessary, and made it 'creative'.
If you say creativity is inborn, Shakespeare needs no further
explanation.
Take Jackson Anthony's Aba for example. If you read King
Pandukabhaya's chapter in Mahawamsa, you will realise the power of
Anthony's creativity.
The two Yakshas are killed by the prince's father with the hope of
protecting them, in Mahawamsa. Quite absurd in modern sense. So Anthony
makes the royal command responsible for their death. You need creativity
to deconstruct the actual event.
I don't think this change has damaged the Mahawamsa account. After
all, 'Aba' is a movie, which demands creativity in the first place. Late
Prof. Ediriweera Sarachchandra is an exception when you say creativity
and education are poles apart.
But still, I believe Sarachchandra had the inborn creativity, and
education only honed it. G B Senanayake did not have the standard
paper-education, but his creativity put him in a covetous place in
Sinhalese literature. He pioneered free verse - or vers libre, as
academically known - because of his inborn creativity.
Martin Wickramasinghe tops the list too. He did not have a proper
education, but ushered in a path for a new tradition of creativity. He
has been admired and overused in Sinhalese literary studies over the
decades. Ironically so, I heard not so long ago somebody being honest
about his admiring the writing style of a particular tele-scripter over
Wickramasinghe. He is not to be blamed for comparing the legend with a
tele-scripter.
You just can't help it when creativity is subject to change over
time.
Need I write more on creativity; if only space permits!
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