A knowledge of books and humankind
Book: Looking back and beyond
Author: Padma Edirisinghe
Published by: The Department of Cultural Affairs
“This book is an authobiography yet... it does not limit the
background time phase to the 20th and 21st centuries... but cuts across
a long slice of time in which the roots of the present have sprung”. -
Author’s note.
 Frank, unvarnished, refreshingly liberated from the urge to project a
glossy image, Looking Back and Beyond, Padma Edirisinghe’s so much more
than an autobiography makes for a rich relaxing read recalling happy
hours revealing in Kenneth Graham’s Dream Days or the Unquiet Grave by
Cyril Connolly and other recollections of minds well-stocked with
history and human experience, minds “at once adventurous and
contemplative” to quote Byron.
Like the rugged stone steps of Sigiriya displayed so aptly on the
cover, which lead “back and beyon” to hidden green places and ancient
mysteries at unexpected turns, the book leads to unusual glimpses,
natural or societal and speculations that stimulate anyone interested in
the island and its curious multicultural manifestations.
Edirisinghe’s experiences in bridging a Sinhala to English education
and a Buddhist childhood suddenly enveloped in a Convent school-girlhood
is presented with vivid immediacy and some gloriously funny episodes
such as the raging debate on Buddha, Jesus and devil-drums.
Perhaps I prize the book partly for its recording of the 1940s an
evocative portrayal caught otherwise only in Sepia-tinted “photos”
locked away from the comprehension of later generations.
As it is we have too many who rerly on alien researchers conditioned
by their own cultures to the point of imperviousness rather than the
novels of Martin Wickremasinghe or K. Jayatilleke for an understanding
of the immediate past.
The writer’s historical bent and journalistic alertness helps her to
unearth and highlight interesting nuggets of information, such as the
relationship between rumour and the genesis of the 1915 riots. She makes
entertaining and striking use of quotations from early newspapers, and
provides some local attitudes to colonial intrusions, whether a Royal
visit or a latrine tax.
Her telling delineation of stances ranging from the servile imitative
to the robustly derogatory regarding the British will contribute to an
understanding of the colonial period.
With a direct and vigorous style the book has something of the appeal
of Herodotus’ clear rapid narration and approaches, its width and
variety: Dickens, the joys and tensions of motherhood, education and
bureaucrat, the supernatural visitations of a Sanyasi and a famous
warrior monarch are some of the piquant ingredients in an unpredictable
combination. Her portrayal of village morals, manners and manias is a
treat in itself though rose tinted spectacles are not her choice.
The autobiographical element is appealing in its stark honesty,
jauntiness, self-deprecatory humour and cheerful cynicism. A record of
the triumph of intelligence and high spirits, it simultaneously
entertains and enlists our sympathy.
There is bleak terrain too - disappointment and desolation endured
when a rigid university system denied her the chance to study what she
most loved. Shut out of the Department of English she found outlets for
her limitless energy as an educationist and for her imagination and
restless intellectual curiosity as a journalist, popular historiographer
and became as D.C.R.A. Goonetilleke writes “an instinctive writer” and
“In the curse (1998) independently hits upon a technique close to
post-modernists such as Salaman Rushdie and Gunter Gras and produces a
vigorous novel connecting Sri Lanka’s terrorist problem... and focusing
on gender issues too”.
“Her novel is remarkable for its boldness and width of conception and
for its innovative technique...”
Bilingual, in touch with Sri Lankan history, tradition and life,
blessed with “a knowledge of books and humankind” Edirisinghe’s book can
enlighten as well as entertain.
- Lakshmi de Silva |
