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Galle Literary Festival 2009 begins today:
Transition from elitism to universalism
Indeewara THILAKARATHNE and Ranga CHANDRARATHNE
"The darkness engulfing the city deepens. The clouds rising from the
western horizon spreads over the sky like a great black canopy.
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Martin Wickramasinghe |
Lightening strikes, piercing the darkness like the forked tongue of a
monstrous serpent, only to vanish in a flash. Young women gathered in
the Ajantha night club tremble on hearing the bursts of thunder that
follow.
The ceiling throbs with the vibration, causing the light from the
electric bulbs to quiver. The clatter of the driving rain sounds like
pebbles falling on the roof.
The sudden down-pour stops after fifteen minutes, and the gloom
outside begins to disperse.
The clang and bustle from motor vehicles plying up and down the road
becomes audible again, together with the swishing sound made by the
wheels of the vehicles as they cross puddles of water." -(Translation of
passage from Martin Wickramasinghe's novel 'Yuganthaya', (End of an
Era), Chapter XXI, page 192).
* * *
It was six years ago to this day that Nanda, 'the younger of the
Muhandriam's two daughters, then in her early teens, had washed and
cleaned a handful of rice and some vegetables, and cooked a meal in toy
earthen pots.
She had served little portions of the meal she had cooked, all by
herself to her family members, as well as the paternal uncle, and his
wife and daughters who were visiting them with gifts for the new year.
Nanda's playful efforts to cook had led to this annual gathering ,
held three or four days before the beginning of each Sinhala New Year.
Although they continued to call the event 'cooking in little clay
pots', it has now become a family banquet cooked in very large pots for
nearly twenty people.
Just as the word 'hunga' which in the past meant a little, is now
used by the villagers to signify a lot, Nanda's cooking in little pots
came to signify cooking in large pots...
The expanse of white cloth that had been spread over reed mats on the
floor of the Mahagedera hall bore two large flat oval dishes heaped with
rice, surrounded by an array of dishes with curries. All the young
people seated themselves cross -legged on mats arranged at the edge of
the white cloth, to partake of the food. Following tradition for the
occasion they partook of food served onto squares of banana leaves,
instead of the customary porcelain plates. The elders did not join the
young people. They knew that their presence would dampen the spirited
exchanges and jibes, and flow of jokes and laughter of the young folks.
Young village folk feel that it is improper to engage in repartee and
tease each other in the presence of the elders.
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Ancestral home where the legendary writer was born which is also
the venue for the inauguration of GLF 2009 |
It was the older of the Muhandiram's two daughters Anula ,who bustled
around the guests, serving food with the assistance of servants, whilst
the younger Nanda sat and ate with the others. Anula circled round the
seated guests, a dish and spoon in her hand, bending and at times even
kneeling in her eagerness to ply them with fish and
vegetables.-(Translation of a passage from Martin Wickramasinghe's novel
'Gamperaiya'
Pages 5 and 6)
'(These memorable extracts from two monumental works of 'Martin
Wickramasinghe'' have been translated from Sinhala to give a taste of
the remarkable creativity of the author to the English reader)
The focus of the 3rd International Galle Literary Festival will be on
legendary Sri Lankan literary giant Martin Wickramasinghe, the sage of
Koggala. Martin Wickramasinghe (1871-1976) was the foremost prolific
Sinhala fiction writer of the twentieth century and whose works have had
a profound influence on shaping the contours of the socio-cultural
landscape of the milieu he lived in.
Sage of Koggala
His trilogy 'Gam Peraliya', 'Kaliyugaya 'and 'Yuganthaya' re-defined
the literary landscape of the day, critics hailing them as masterpieces
in Sinhala literature. Apart from being an epoch -making literatus, he
was also an insightful critic, one time editor of 'Silumina' (Sinhala
weekly) and a man of letter who had well versed not only in Western
classics but also in wide array of subjects like anthropology,
evolution, art,
Buddhist philosophy and folk lore
Perhaps, the most enduring trait of Martin Wickramasinghe was his
ability to intermingle his third eye-penetration through the social
fabric with fictions in a poetic diction that is still unsurpassed. It
was Wickramasinghe who foresaw the changes that were to be unfolded in
the socio-cultural life of Sri Lanka at the tail-end of the ninth
century. The village in transition he portrayed in 'Gam' 'Peraliya' is
not only about the uneasy transition from feudalism to capitalism but
also the rise of socio-political forces hitherto relegated to the
periphery of mainstream society to the centre of power. Gam Peraliya is
translated into English by Dr.Lakshmi de Silva and Dr.Ranga
Wickramasinghe.
 Wickramasinghe
represented the homespun intelligentsia that laid the foundation for the
inevitable social transition. Besides his rich literary legacy much of
which was made against the back drop of pastoral coastal village of
Koggala, he was credited with introducing subjects like anthropology and
evolution to Sinhala readers, inventing an appropriate vocabulary in
Sinhala in the process.
He tried to form a yardstick for literary criticism based on Buddhist
philosophy against the Western criteria of literary criticism adapted
liberally by Peradeniya School founded by university academics such as
Prof. Ediriweera Sarachchandra.
The sky really changed?
Following the second Galle Literary Festival, in an article titled
"Some thoughts for the Galle Literary Festival; Change of Skies and
change of direction", we made suggestions as to how the organizers may
include the Sri Lankan Sinhala and Tamil literature in the festival and
also to ensure the participation of Sinhala writers in the festival. We
wish to thank Prof. Yasmin Goonaratne for her prompt response and some
of our suggestions have been taken into consideration.
The crust of our suggestions was that a literary event of this
magnitude will be of no relevance to a large number of Sri Lankans if
Sinhala and Tamil literature have not been adequately represented
although there are practical difficulties such as non availability of
most of the work in Sinhala and Tamil literature in English translation.
It has also been pointed out that works of Sri Lankan writers in English
should be featured so as to assess their works with reputed and
well-established international authors. The literary festival would be
more meaningful and relevant to local population if more space is given
to Sri Lankan writers in English, Tamil and Sinhala literature and
translations.
"The elitism was evident in many ways at the festival. The local (Sri
Lankan) journalist were treated as second class-citizen when they went
to meet, talk and learn from the elite group of writers representing
Gore Vidal, Alexander McCall Smith, Vikram Seth and up and coming
Canadian writer, the Colombo-born Shyam Selvadurai who in a recorded
interview revealed: "We are not living in an ideal world irrespective of
whether you live in Sri Lanka or abroad".
Selvadurai's words are a good lead to look at the waves and currents
left behind by the GLF. First is the exclusion. The exclusion issue
relates to many talented Sri Lankan writers who write primarily in their
native language were not invited, hence did not become a part of the
Festival.
Let me provide one example of an exclusion of a widely acclaimed
Sinhala writer who is domiciled in Galle Fort for years which was the
venue of 2007 & 2008 Galle Literary Festivals.
The protagonist is Rathna Sri Wijesinghe. He is a poet and lyricist
and living in the Galle Fort. In a response to a question, he said he
was neither invited nor was he aware of both 2007 and 2008 Galle
Literary Festival held in his home town! The other was the treatment
meted out to the local journalists. The elite and prestigious writers
who attended the GLF refused to meet or give interviews to "unprepared"
local journalists. Festival Director, Australian Libby Southwell advised
that the local journalists have not done our homework. "thus we pointed
out some of the shortcomings of the second Galle Literary Festival.
This year's festival
The 3rd Galle Literary Festival will feature galaxy of
internationally reputed Sri Lankan authors like Yasmine Gooneratne, Anne
Ranasinghe, Romesh Gunesekera and established icons like Germaine Greer
and Edna O'Brien, alongside talented debut novelists like Tahmima Anam
and V.V. Ganeshananthan. Also joining will be celebrated travel writers
Colin Thubron and Pico Iyer and leading journalists M.J. Akbar and Tarun
Tejpal and Thomas Keneally, author of the Booker Prize winning
Schindler's Ark.
The festival also offers the opportunity for Sri Lankan writers to
interact with established international authors in and around the
refreshing environment of Galle.
Stories at Sunset at Closenberg
 Every
year one of the traditions of the annual Galle Literary Festival is the
Sri Lankan night when Sri Lankan authors in English get a chance of
reading from their own works.
"This year's event is called Stories at Sunset, and we have an
absolutely staggering line -up,'' says Ashok Ferry, the organizer of the
event. "We have over twenty poets, playwrights and authors. The galaxy
of authors include Lal Medawattegedara, Vivimarie Vanderpoorten, Senaka
Abeyratne, Anne Ranasinghe, Ameena Hussain, Asitha Ameresekere, Yasmine
Gooneratne, Neluka Silva, Delon Weerasinghe, Ramaya Jirasinghe, Jehan
Aloysius, Premala de Mel and more. The event will beautify with Kandyan
dancers who will perform two items (traditional and fusion items) and an
English opera singer will sing 'Danno Budunge'.
The event will commence at 5.30 p.m. on Saturday 31, 2009 at
Closenberg hotel Galle. (RC)
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