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Prof. Kulathilaka Kumarasinghe:
A synthesis of Noh and local short story
Sachitra Mahendra
He was just another unmarked assistant lecturer when he authored his
first book in 1976, and now Kulathilaka Kumarasinghe is the professor of
Sinhala and the dean of Humanities Faculty in Kelaniya University, with
78 books to his credit. Short stories and Japanese Noh drama have always
fascinated and have been his expertise over the years. The workaholic
Professor works throughout the night even today.
"As university lecturers, we are supposed to work 16 hours a week. I
take advantage of every moment. Sometimes I work till 12 midnight."
Professor Kumarasinghe's first exposure to Japanese culture was when
he obtained a scholarship from Education Department for University of
Foreign Studies in Japan.
He was captivated by the influence of certain Japanese cultural
trends on Sinhala culture, hence he followed Japanese tradition and
Sinhala drama, with Noh drama style as the main subject area.
Speaking of Noh, Prof. Kumarasinghe states that the traditional
Japanese drama style has immense influence in Sinhala arts scene too. He
cites the late Professor Ediriweera Sarachchandra's Malagiya Ettho and
Malavunge Avurududa as the literary examples, while taking Maname as the
example from the stage plays.
"Japan has a Buddhist background, though is different compared with
ours. But they share one theme, that is, impermanence. Every Noh work
portrays the theme of impermanence in a somewhat deep way. This
impermanence can be interpreted in many ways."
The Noh drama has two audiences: old and young, who will see the
theme banking on their own experience.
His latest publication talks about the aspects of neo modern Sinhala
poetry, while two of his books are still in print: Collection of Modern
Sinhala essays and Classical Japanese drama history.
Although Prof. Kumarasinghe is so immersed in critical studies of
short stories, his love is poetry. His Asanipatha contains both Sinhala
and English poetry.
"My subject is short story evaluation, but I love poetry as a mode of
expression. Any incident is a muse for me to write a poem."
Lately Prof. Kumarasinghe is working on a felicitation volume for
Prof. Wimal Dissanayaka, one of the pioneers of Mass Communication
department in Kelaniya University. Wimal Disanayaka now works as the
professor of Asian Cinematography in Hong Kong University.
Wimal Disanayaka was attached to Sinhala department before the
introduction of Mass Communication as a subject.
"Talking about Prof. Disanayaka, way back in early 1970s, there was
only one faculty for arts stream. However gradually new subjects were
introduced, like Mass Communication for example, and we needed two
separate faculties to accommodate this expansion of subjects.
That is how Kelaniya University has two faculties called Humanities
and Social Sciences for arts stream alone.
Humanities faculty offers subjects like language and classical
studies, while social sciences faculty offers subjects like mass
communication and political science."
With all these keeping him busy, Prof Kumarasinghe still has time to
read young authors. He stands against his own generation in criticising
the younger generation.
"Our generation is too snobbish sometimes. They do not care to take
sometime off their schedules and read young authors' books. But they
lose no time in criticising young authors. We hardly come across a
senior scholar, who doesn't mind constructively evaluating young
authors."
His wife Nalini Kumarasinghe is a director of a state institute, and
his son and daughter are engaged in fields poles apart; Ranga, his son,
is a consular assistant and Kalika, his daughter, is a lecturer in
Chemistry studies in Peradeniya University.
Pictures by Ruwan de Silva
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