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Books
Lankan detective fiction in English
Whether young or old almost everybody enjoys a detective novel for
stimulating past time .In my school days I used to be crazy in choosing
this genre of fiction only for my reading pleasure. Of course one never
expects literary merits from this short fiction, but some of the
practitioners wrote exceptionally well. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha
Christie, Earle Stanley Gardner, Edgar Wallace were some of the popular
writers a century ago.
Based in Colonial Ceylon an interesting story has been knittedby Prof
Mahsara Gunaratne called Between Two Wars - an Uncle Arthur Mystery.
This 82 page book includes 19 short chapters Epilogue, a note Salzburg
in 1950 and an author’s note. It’s published by Bay Owl an imprint of
the Perera Hussein Publishing House.
The book is prefaced by a note dated Colombo: November 03, 1903 which
gives the Historical Setting of the novel. According to the fiction a
German Club was situated in front of the Colombo Museum. The detective
Arthur is a Civil Servant. A new recruit to the Service named Frank is
missing. So Arthur takes up the task of solving the mystery. That’s the
story in one line. The story takes place in 1939. The narrator is Arthur
himself. From the First Chapter we have a fairly good description of
Frank and we notice the characterization of the character by the writer
precise and apt. The economy of words and the use of Standard English
are appreciable.
 I like the second half of the chapter .Look: “My eyebrows rose a
fraction, for Frank’s place was empty. His companion was just beginning
to sort files for the day ahead. No Frank and chair empty. The time:
9.20 a.m. The peon must be telepathic .Could something has happened
after all?”
The writer is realistic in his story telling adds a little humour:
“... I was offered a chair, but decline and took my place on a long hard
bench. I never sit on rattan chairs in public places, carrying painful
memories of big bites, scratching all night long...” (Chapter 2)
Chapter 3 gives an account of the lodge room that Frank occupied.
Details are again selective and up to the point. Chapter 4: Cricket.
Nothing is special for me about this chapter. However a white man
named Percy is introduced. In the following chapter the colonial
mentality is suggested by the writer through Frank: “by force of habit
Percy Wright turned towards his favourite retreat, the Colombo Swimming
Club, then apologized profusely with the stark realization that he
wasn’t entitled to take in visitors. I realized what he meant by
‘visitors’ in this colonial regime with Whites Only policy.”
In Chapter 6 Makeen, Malay is introduced thus: A fat red - faced man
with snub nose...He wore a crumpled pair of khaki shorts extending well
below his knees and an over sized short sleeved shirt. Here was a
policeman, off duty and in civil.”
Moving on to the next chapter, we find that a description of a remote
village beyond Maharagama more than eight decades ago plausible writing.
The reader now must follow the text from the book to know what happens
next. It’s very interesting and most of all appropriate craft and
technique and without any flourishes that entertains me.
It’s truly a Lankan fiction without being pretentious to attract
foreign readers.
In the second half of the narration in Chapter 13 there is a change.
The author comes in. Another narrator takes over.
I shall leave it at that. Please read the book for relaxation in
solving the mystery of missing Frank through the eyes of the author- Dr
Mashasara Gunaratne. You may like to know something about the writer.
From the blurb: Mahasara Gunaratne is a Medical Professor, Senior
Commonwealth Fellow and Academic Historian. Born in 1934 he experienced
life during the latter part of what is called Colonial Ceylon and World
War II.
[email protected]
Book discussion on Friday
Kathleen Jayawardane’s latest novel Dhara will be discussed at Sri
Lanka Press Council (close to Mel Medura and Lanka Sumithrayo at Horton
Place) on April 22 at 4 pm.
Professor Sunanda Mahendra, Dr Praneeth Abhayasundara and Daya
Dissanayake will be in the discussion panel. The discussion will be on
highlights of various trends in Sinhala literary culture.
The session is organized by Press Council Media course students.
The previous readings were on Edmund Jayasooriya’s Sinhala
translation of Rabindranath Tagore’s Geethanjali and Sunanda
Karunaratne’s poetry collection Doovili Minisa, Somaratne Balasuriya’s
Lokaya Miyayai, Suwanda Sugunasiri’s Untouchable Woman’s Odyssey, Daya
Dissanayake’s The Clone, Seetha Mahendra’s Samugath Suhadiniya, Nuvan
Nayanajith’s Pathana, Vichara ha Alochana, Ven Batuwangala Rahula
Thera’s Ranpata Chitrayak Athin Gath Mahalla, Sumudu Chathurani
Jayawardene’s Sanlapa and Malaka Devapriya’s Nihongo Suva Athveva.
Suneetha Wickramage’s fifth children’s story
A children’s story written by former SLBC media personality and lyric
writer Suneetha Wickramage is now available. The cover and illustrations
are by Amritha Wickramage, lecturer at the Science Faculty of the
University of Sri Jayewardenepura. Suneetha’s Children’s book is an
attempt to give an understanding of the natural disaster which occurred
six years back in Sri Lanka. The book is a publication of Bhadraji
Enterprises.
Book launch
 Pradeep Kavinda Kotuwegedara’s latest book on web designing Web Adavi
Sekasima was launched at Dayawansa Jayakody Bookshop, Colombo 10 on
April 12 at 10 am.
Web Adavi Sekasima is a Dayawansa Jayakody publication. |
