9/29/08

Sri Lankan Márquez !


Gabriel García Márquez is considered to be the most significant novelist who went his journey on a different path. On other hand, his novels were typical examples that challenge the traditional framework of writing through "Magic Realism"

Actually alternative pathways come in to the scene, when current frameworks are no more enough to express their ideas. History proves it well. After the world wars, development in communication & transportation made the western world changed a lot which resulted complexity & frustration. Money & Power dominated the societies. People struggled to express the realities they felt.. People, politics & society were no more explained with just realism. With those changes, we can see the evolution in art media, that became quite complex. Realism is no more enough.. New structures were being introduced like Surrealism. A novelist like Marcas is a typical result from a society (deformed?) that doesn't know where it heads! He was one of the most significant writers in the 20th century and Nobel Prize was awarded to him in 1982.

Is Martin Wickramasinghe's Gamperaliya enough to explain the realities we feel today?
As I could remember Madawala (Mohan Raj Madawala) had done a great effort to go beyond the traditional expressionism through his short story book.(i.e Bodilima) It was released in mid nineties. It contained a very different model that I haven't read in any Sinhala book. He was brave enough to do that research. Even though, I don't know, whether it was successful in Sinhala reading crowd, a lot of intellectuals were keeping hopes on this new model in Sinhala literature. He could have been the Marques in Sri Lankan context!

Please read below extract from the book.

I was among the people, who expected more books from Madawala. I became a self appointed campaigner for his book. Most of the people around me (Including my Mum) became very harsh Criticizers!

Please refer Another example;

I didn't hear anything more about this writer for another few years. I thought, may be he would have gone out of the country for his higher studies or something.. But then I heard his name in a third class radio channel as a presenter! I couldn't believe that he was doing this kind of thing to make his living. Who could believe this one was a radical writer that gave a lot of hopes to Sinhala readers.

This creative writer had been killed by this commoditized society!

For me.. Sri Lankan Márquez had died in his early ages!

Related post : Contravention of Victorianism: Magam Soliya (මාගම් සෝලිය)

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Sumedha,
According to your question i'm failed to find any reasonable explanation about realism in Gamperaliya. But we can find a real situation about Realism in Martin Wickckramasinghe's Short Story called "Handa Sakki Keema."
The Short story titled with the same name of book express a real example for realism. Could you accept the behaviour of the women who appear in the story?
I here cite few word about the personal life of Gabriel García Márquez. "Since García Márquez had met Mercedes Barcha, they had been waiting to finish school in order to get married. When he was sent to Europe as a foreign correspondent, Mercedes waited for him to return to Barranquilla.They were finally wed in 1958". Forunatelly Marquez faced to the positive side of his marriage. Could you think, if he had to faced to shocking side of his life,what had been to happend?

sumedha Obeysekera said...

Yep, of course, I don’t say expressionism in realism has stopped in the margines of Gamperaliya, but most contemporary writers has come further steps. Anyway, Gamperaliya is a specific milestone that took Sri lankan novel to a direction of realism with respect to early work such as Piyadasa Sirisena’s writings.. So I took it as a symbolic means.

If Márque happen to face the shocking side of the life, he should have written tragedies! Still in the magic realism style once..This is just an imaginary answer. Anyway, I haven’t considered much about the contexts of his books with respect to his life experiences, but what make him write in a very radical style.

හෂිත said...

Let me suggest that you read
1. Ajith Thillakasena
2. Berty B Kudahetty(smanallu sha Machine thuwakku)
3. Simon N (Sagara Jalaya)

sumedha Obeysekera said...

Hi Hashitha.

Thax for suggestions..

Will go through them..