Sri Lankan English novel
The award for the best Sinhala
novel has been discussed at many forums, those who sat in the panels
have given their reasons for the selection. Our critics too, both in
the Sinhala and English media, are criticizing the new Sinhala novel
looking only at its language and grammar or how it could affect our
traditional cultural values
The
Sri Lankan English novel has to be declared an endangered species. We
have become so bankrupt that in the year 2009 the Literary Panel of the
Cultural Affairs Department could not find an English novel which
deserved the State Award. In 2010, there was an award for the Best
English Novel. But we have not heard much about this book from the
members of the Panel or the media. This makes us wonder if our English
newspapers are also discussing and promoting only the Sinhala novel,
because they too have accepted that there is no hope for the English
novel.
We have to make a humble request from those who judged the best
English novel to enlighten us on the reasons for selecting this book
with less than 25,000 words, tell us if it is a novel or a novella, or a
storybook, and also if they could explain why it is the best novel of
the year.
Then we, semi-literate readers, could also be able to appreciate and
enjoy the novel and be able to congratulate the writer for this
masterpiece.
Today
the Sinhala novel is showing a vast improvement. We had Simon
Nawagaththegama and Sugathapala de Silva with their new writings, and
now we have Sinhala writers like Manjula Wediwardena, Upali Ubayasekara,
Sunanda Mahendra, Karunadasa Suuriarachchi who have broken the shackles
and are coming out with creative works which are a match to the modern
western novel. I have to add the name of Ven Batuwangala Rahula Thera
with his latest novel Ranpata Chitrayak Athingath Mahalla.
The organizers of the annual awards for the Sinhala novel are taking
credit for this rapid progress, but it could be said that the
development of the Sinhala novel is in spite of the annual awards.
Many of our writers and readers believe that the professors, doctors
and the literati who are on the literary panels are still living in the
mid-20th Century that they still believe in the traditional novel,
dealing in traditional themes presented in a traditional way.
The award for the best Sinhala novel has been discussed at many
forums, those who sat in the panels have given their reasons for the
selection.
Our critics too, both in the Sinhala and English media, are
criticizing the new Sinhala novel looking only at its language and
grammar or how it could affect our traditional cultural values.
The way the awards are criticized in the media, the award winning
novel could be the worst possible book ever written. No one says
anything good about it. This leads to factions among the writers,
critics and the publishers. The attacks become more personal.
The advantage for the Sinhala writer is that there is a market for
Sinhala novels and our publishers encourage them, and some of our
publishers have no hesitation in publishing experimental novels.
That is why we have over 150 new Sinhala novels coming out every
year. Some of them cannot be considered as novels, some are influenced
by the mega teledramas. Yet the writers keep on writing.
New writers emerge every day. Publishers keep on publishing. The
Sinhala readers keep on reading. Ever year the best novel also receives
one or more awards. We also find some writers begin to write with the
next year's award in mind.
Some writers expect to win the award every year, when they have won
it once, they begin to believe that they are the best writers on earth.
Our publishers hesitate to accept a new English novel, from a new
writer, or one who does not have the money to pay for the publication or
does not have the right contacts in the right places to get a novel
published or to be picked for an award. An English novel published in
Sri Lanka does not have any opportunity for a market outside this
country.
Even in neighbouring India, where there is a big demand for English
novels, the Indian distributors are not interested in novels published
here. To make matters worse, our readers are getting addicted to more
and more of Sinhala translations of English novels.
It is not surprising that the National Book Development Board is also
offering financial assistance for Sinhala writers only.
The only other opportunity for an emerging writer in English was the
manuscript competition held by the Department of Cultural Affairs till
recently. This door too has been shut.
All this is happening at a time when there are a few people among us
who believe that a person can write well only in his mother tongue. They
ask why we should write in English.
If we listen to then we would be going back a half century to a time
when many people believed that English was not necessary either for
education, for business or for literature. Today our children are still
paying the price for it.
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