Passive literature

People sell their art or their talent to earn a living, it is no secret. Selling literature has a long history. In fact, Guththila in the Guththila Musila story competes with morality to get the right value for his talent. Fortunately, God Shakra was there to save art. It seems that god has also started to care less about art that it requires artistes to pray god to protect good literature. Similarly, the concept that contemporary society lacks good taste for art, music, drama or any other form of art is not new.

According to Professor Chandrasena Palliyaguru, even an acclaimed writer is discouraged if the reader’s taste doesn’t tally with his level. What WA Silva said about his novel Hingana Kolla exemplifies this. Palliyaguru explained how WA Silva’s Lakshmi, which Silva considered his best work, did not receive much attention or appreciation from the public. Dissatisfied, he wrote his next novel Hingana Kolla. But to his surprise it became one of the best selling novels, which also brought him fame. “Readers don’t want good food; they want pol kudu (coconut refuse). I will give them pol kudu this time (Upanda Sita, 1962),” WA Silva has said to Martin Wikramasinghe. “In fact, Hingana Kolla sold off as soon as it came out from the printers,” Palliyaguru said addressing the gathering at the State Literary festival lectures held at the Foundation Institute, last Wednesday.

“If we consider Meena by A Saiman De Silva as the first Sinhala novel ever written, the Sinhala novel is over 108 years old. Though no one can say the exact number of novels written since then, it should exceed 3,000,” he added.
According to him, there are two theories about how novels were introduced to Sinhala literature. According to Martin Wickramasinghe, it was influenced by western literature. Prof Wimal Dissanayaka held the concept that the novel was introduced to Sinhala literature by the Western countries. “There are flaws in both the theories, but yet we can’t completely dispose of them. We can’t agree 100 percent with them either,” Prof Palliyaguru said.

“However, the Sinhala novel is not compatible with the definitions of Eastern classics. Scholars attempt to give Western definitions to Sinhala novels. Indian scholars believe that the novel originated in India itself,” he iterated.
French critic Hippolyte Taine (1828-93) argued that literature was largely the product of the author’s environment, and that an analysis of that environment could yield a perfect understanding of the work of literature. “According to him, we can assume that the Sinhala novel as well as the Sinhala literature is a product of our environment and the authors’ creative thinking,” said Palliyaguru. He further explained that, in a historical perspective, the country’s politics, economics and social life have also had a vital impact on the final product. “See, for example, the difference in the literature of Anuradhapura, Polonnaru eras and Dambadeni and Kurunagala eras,” Palliyaguruge explained.

At the dawn of the 20th Centaury, the main intention of writers was to educate the society with ethics and moral values. “When the heat of the religious evocation faded, mundane stories and translations started to get published in newspapers and then in the form of books. Jayatissa saha Rosalin hewath wasanawantha wiwahaya by Piyadasa Sirisena can be considered as an example. Through his fiction Piyadasa Sirisena aimed to implant good values like patriotism,” he pointed out.

Realistic novels were also welcomed by the readers in the 1940s and this shows that there is a clear influence of literature to the growth of the society. The Gamperelia, Kaliyugaya and Yuganthaya trilogy by Martin Wickramasinghe established this trend of realistic novels. Wickramasingha’s Viragaya created another trend for autobiographies. “Aravinda of Viragaya was a passive and pessimistic character. This also triggered a trend of passive characters. Top novels like Parajithayo by K Jayathillake, Akkara Paha by Madawala S Ratnayake, Siri Gunasingha’s Hewanallea and Gunadasa Amarasekara’s Delowata Nathi Aya all followed this pattern and made a negative impact on the juvenile readership. In other words, the readers adopt this passiveness and spread among the young crowd like a disease,” he clarified. He also said that it is too early to comment on the impact of the first two decades of literature in the 21st centaury.

There are arguments among the literati that some of the novels which were recently nominated for literature awards shamelessly included private behavior of people. It is not clear whether the writers are eager to include sexual behavior, which is still a taboo in open discussion, as means of making money and be on the best selling lists or because they are all corrupted with the influence of Western literature which is incompatible with our culture.

According to Palliyaguru, the novel cannot be rated under the tag ‘strictly for adults’. “The standards of the television and theaters are maintained because they undergo a censoring process. Therefore, there are limits of what they can show. But the novels are not censored like that. Writers don’t like their work to be censored because the quality of their creative work can be affected by screening,” Palliyaguru emphasized.

“When you go to a theater, you have to buy a ticket for what you are going to see. But once a novel is bought, anyone, who can read, will read what is in it. I hope you can remember that some novels and fictions were banned due to direct information given about the private lives of the people,” he added.

Some say that this downfall of Sinhala literature is because there is no censoring process. Some say it is because of the publishers who are more concerned about the monetary aspect of it. “We have doubts about the future of literature in our country. Whatever is said and done, there is no doubt that the current novel has become just a business deal,” he reiterated.

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