Carl Muller.  Picture by Shan Rambukwella.

Wordsmith for all seasons

Ruwini Jayawardana

Writing on a range of diverse literature styles: from creative and historic novels to poetry, anthologies of short stories, children’s fiction, essays and monographs, Carl Muller is one of the country’s most prolific scribes. He embodies a writing style which only he can claim as his own.

Travelogues

* Indian Journeys

As well as seven monographs, four edited works, views and reviews and environmental studies.

His smile is as infectious as his writing. Living in the outskirts of Kandy, amid a miniature library comprising his own work as well as some others, Muller spends time penning and reading whichever subject that catches his interest. Indeed it is a wide range to choose from for he has written works on a variety of topics.

With 76 years under his belt Muller is at his happiest putting his thoughts into words. He is already working on several books like Rhymes Without Nurseries, Conversations in the Clouds, Happenings, Carl Muller’s Private Paths and a book on medicinal herbs.

“Rhymes Without Nurseries is based on the nursery rhymes written for children but it embodies adult philosophies. These poetic lines are politicised and children blindly recite them without knowing the meaning behind the rhymes. I have gathered these rhymes and transferred them to a more realistic point. Carl Muller’s Private Paths discloses stories of the Burgher community. It is based on some of my family episodes,” he explained.

The eldest of 13 children, Muller had not enjoyed a happy childhood. He had felt more of an outsider at home, an attitude which influenced him in his writing. He served at the Navy for a period and moved onto to journalism. Even then he was an ardent reader, absorbing everything and anything in writing that came his way. He made his mark as a reporter, cartoonist and sub editor in various local as well as international newspapers in Bahrain, Dubai, Oman and Qatar.

His first attempt at publishing his work as a book was in the form of a manuscript about animals. This was rejected by Penguin which demanded him to write something along the lines of Michael Ondaatje. With Running in the Family there was a growing interest towards the minorities of the country and this was the topic which Muller portrayed so colourfully in his most successful writing. At first his work caused outrage among his family and community but he stubbornly stood his ground in relating that he his work celebrates a particular middle class Burgher family and the unique aspects of their lifestyle.

“The language depends on their educational level. There is no Burgher language. It is a mixture of the English taught by the British and the Portuguese, Sinhala and Tamil dialect,” he mused on his writing style.

Asked which writing styles he considers his forte, Muller said that it is difficult to come to a conclusion. Fortunately he had an aptitude to switch styles: from a serious research project like Colombo to the comical scenes found in his short story collection A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Cemetery.

He elaborated the need for an International Literary Association to link the Sri Lankan.

“In Kandy it is Ashley Halpe while in Colombo it is D C R A Goonetilleke. Then you get people from Sabaraganuwa, Ruhuna and upcountry who are unheard of. The Colombo crowd think that they are cut above the rest. They are a close circle of people and keep adoring each other’s work even if the work deserves criticism. They keep them up in the clouds. Why can’t people get together? I have reviewed books from all parts of the country and presented my frank opinion of the work,” he said.

Speaking on the issues faced by writers on getting their books on print Muller noted that he had now taken to publishing his work.

“I do the whole typecasting and design the covers,” he said as he handed over one of his latest works, a short story collection titled Good Heavens, a creative Printers and Designers publication.

“Only the distribution is done by another. It is easy that way because publishers get a huge profit out of the author’s hard work. They do not cater the books properly into the market.

“Readers have problems locating the books. Then they ask you to buy your own work from them claiming that the book had not sold.” The most famous of his works is probably the Burgher trilogy: The Jam Fruit Tree, Yakada Yaka and Once Upon A Tender Time on which he had written about the von Bloss family.

More than a decade back he published another novel linked with the series titled Spit and Polish. Maudiegirl and the von Bloss Kitchen, a fourth story about the rollicking, frolicking burgher family followed.

Queried if there will be more von Bloss family chronicles Muller noted that one more will follow before he decides to close the chapter.

“Maudiegirl and the von Bloss Kitchen featured many of Maudiegirl’s famous recipes. I have always brought out a different aspect of the tale,” he concluded.

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