Martin Wickremasinghe enters Lankan Tamil literature
 This
week's column will first give a report and then a review of one of the
books of the late Martin Wickremasinghe.
It was gratifying to note some members (even if they were few in
number) of the Sinhala literati were present at the Kolumbu Thamil
Sangam Hall last Saturday at a function where Lankan Tamil writers and
people with literary taste, even though the number present were a
handful. Among those present in the audience were sons and family
members of the late Martin Wickramasinghe and the Sinhala intellectual
Dr Gunadasa Amarasekera.
The occasion was the launching of Tamil translations of three of the
works of the Doyen of Sinhala writing by the late martin Wickremasinghe
(who was also a journalist, thinker and creative writer).
The three books were Gamperaliya (Kirama Piralvu) by the late Prof M.
M. Uvais, Selected Short Stories (Sirukathaikal) by Prof Saba Jeyarasa
and Madol Doova (Madol Theevu) by S Saumiyam.
The critics scheduled to review the book in Tamil were Thambu Siva
Subramaniam, Murugeh Ravindran, S Muralidaran and M Mayooran. The first
two speakers were not to be seen.
While Prof. Sandrasegeram was the chief guest, the guest of honour
was S. K. Wickremasinghe who is the President of the Martin
Wickramasinghe Trust. The meeting was presided by one of the foremost
Lankan Tamil writer Theliwatte Joseph. The Trust's Administrative
Secretary Dayapala Jayaneththi made a welcome speech in Sinhala. This
was translated by attorney and Lankan Tamil writer R Sadagopan. He later
made the initial welcome speech in Tamil. Associated with this function
were R. Sadagopan, V. Shivajyothi and B. A. Hemapala.
Earlier in the afternoon program was an exhibition of Martin
Wickremasinghe's books numbering over 50. A documentary on the profile
of the great Sinhala and English writer was shown. B. A. Hemapala was
good enough to hand over two booklets in English and a book in Tamil, a
translation of Wickremasinghe's Madol Doova. Here are some impressions
of the printed material given to us.
Let me give any impressions on this translation, Madol Thievu. The
translator is Sundaram Chaumiyan (or is it Saumiyan?) Most readers and
writers do not know much about the translator. So we learn something of
him from Y. E. Rangan's foreword. What he says is true.
"A translator should be exceptionally proficient in both languages
(here YER means Sinhala and Tamil languages). He must be also
extraordinarily knowledgeable of the language to which he wants to
translate. Knowing the purpose of the original text as well as the
background of the writer of the original, he should give the text of the
original as it is.
"The translator has done his job f translating the original from word
to word. He has attempted to follow the sentence structure of the
original. Sundaram Chaumiyan is a bold translator. He has translated
Viragaya into Tamil and obtained a literary award in 1992. He is a
Sinhala language trained teacher. By his own effort he has learnt Tamil
and used it for translation. For the past quarter of a century he has
translated some of the better known Sinhala novels into Tamil. He has
built a bridge between the Sinhala people and the Tamil people. He must
also translate works in Tamil into Sinhala and thereby assist in the
unity among the people."
That done, let's see how his translation works in this 10-chapter
book of 162 pages. Belonging to the genre of children's literature,
Madol Doova was enjoyable when I read the English translation of it by
Prof Ashley Halpe.
What we felt was that the translator avoiding pedantic words and
expressions has rendered this work in an easy and understandable
language. For instance, he uses the word Konjam instead of Chirithu.
While both words mean the same in a particular context (meaning 'few' or
'short') his usage is better than Chirithu which is more literary than
the other.
On page 36, he uses the term Chappu Koddathae which is appreciable in
the context to sound natural. Apart from the narrative, the dialogues in
the novel read easily. One sees from this translation that there is more
commonality in the grammatical structure in both Sinhala and Tamil. That
itself could be also that the two communities speaking these languages
could still find common ground than alienating themselves.
The book is published by the Martin Wickremasinghe Trust whose
chairman is S. K. Wickramasinghe, a son of the great icon in Sinhala
literature and culture.
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