Kaleidoscope of Sri Lankan English literature
Title: Kaleidoscope: An
Anthology of Sri Lankan English Literature, Volume 2
Editor: D.C.R.A.
Goonetilleke
Publisher: Vijitha Yapa
Publications, April 2010.
Price: Rs. 450
Just as Sri Lanka, an island with an area of 65,610 sq km offers
infinite variety from hailstones and conifers in Nuwara Eliya to palms
and blazing beaches in
Negombo and Bentota, this anthology offers as wide a range of genres,
styles, materials and moods to stimulate and entertain the reader.
There is stark contrast between the restrained yet poignant 'Sisters
in Dignity' and the bizarre hilarious satire of 'Maleeshya'. We have the
touching fantasy of a lonely child and the harsh tragedy of a man who is
an amalgam of two warring races.
'The Visitor' has something of the chill of Henry James' 'The Turn of
the Screw' where the focus is on the narrator of a supernatural tale.
We see multiple aspects of the war - the terror, tension, hope and
endurance of the relationships between places and people.
The section devoted to poetry has the virtue of accessibility and
offers wit as well as profundity and sensuous pleasure, while the drama
of 'A Somewhat Mad and Grotesque Comedy' with its black humour based on
fratricide and socio-economic aspirations is perhaps a precognition of
the later conflict.
The anthology offers the reader many-sided enjoyment as well as
imparts a fresh awareness of Sri Lanka and its Literature in English.
D.C.R.A. Goonetilleke who is Emeritus Professor of English,
University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, was International Chairperson of the
Association for Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies (1993-97). |
