A poem by Lakshani

Hi all, here's a poem from Lakshani, which she's kindly sent us. she says : "Here is a poem i wrote sometime back. Just thought to post in on the blog. Hope you all enjoy."

The Artist

I am going to the neighbour's castle

To paint each great wall with colours of heaven

As the mighty heart

Gave me the big heart

And my neighbour the big brain.

Update on Sri Lankan writing

Did you know that Arathi, Nihal de Silva's unfinished novel, which he was writing during the time of his tragic death, has been published by Vijitha Yapa? I wonder if anyone has read it yet. It's almost complete, except for the ending, and the family of the writer with the publisher has decided to ask people to write a conclusion as a competition.

Ending or no ending, it's a wonderful thriller. It's set in contemporary urban Sri Lanka with war and corruption as the backdrop, and as always, the story hinges on a romance! I'm sure you'll all enjoy it.

Another very different book that's in the news these days is Prashani Rambukwelle's Mythil's Secret, which is probably the first children's book to be shortlisted for the Gratiaen Prize. It falls into the genre of children's fanstasy fiction like the Harry Potters etc, but the novelty is that it has a totally Sri Lankan setting. It's about a boy who encounters the supernatural -- ie yakas -- during his school holidays when he visits his grandmother. This story is also set in contemporary times, and what's really interesting about the book is that it's actually quite satirical as it addresses several 'grown up' issues through the young boy's story, through a lot of humour. Okay, that's all I'm going to tell you about the book or I'll spoil it for you.

If you'd like to borrow my copy of either book, please let me know and I'll leave it for you at the department. If you have already read them, do share your thoughts on them by posting a comment here!

ESA Activities when term starts

A new Sri Lankan writer, Vihanga Perera, has contacted Erandi about a session on his book, Unplugged Quarter. I think we can certainly go ahead with a reading and a discussion, but it will be best if at least some of you read the book before that. I myself haven't read it yet!:( If you read it you could also decide whether you're interested enough to talk about the book too....!

Also, Elmo Jayawardene will be back in the country end of June for a month, and he's kindly agreed to come and talk about his writing. Either Erandi, or the group that interviewed him -- Ameen, Lochana, Madhusha and Amani (if I remember right)-- could email him after uni reopens and fix a date, because he is bound to be busy. It will be nice if you read his books before he comes, once again -- Sam's Story, which won the Gratiaen award, and his more recent collection of short stories, Rainbows in Braille.

Do let us know. You can use this blog as a forum to discuss activities of the ESA as well.

See you next week when Semester 2 starts!! Hope you all had a nice holiday.

A poem by Yichaelle Devendra

Hi all, I'm posting a poem by Yichaelle Devendra, who used to be a lecturer in the Dept of English, and a student of English at Kelaniya. Ms Devendra now lives in Waterloo, Ontario, in Canada. This poem recently won an award at a poetry contest for the National Poetry Month 2010 by the Cambridge Libraries in Cambridge, Ontario.

The Phone Call

The past does find its way back through telephone wires,
across lands and sea into jet streams
When you hear a dog bark in between her sad tales
of solitary supper and arthritis,
spaced with pleas—"Come back"
The past springs surprisingly-Like the crow of a rooster
At high Noon—in another land where it is already tomorrow,
And here, I am still yesterday, getting ready for bed
Head full of winter planning in rumpled pyjamas
Was it real?
The old dog's bark, the sound of breakfast and the smell
of old laments
The bell at the gate.
"HANG ON" she says "THERE'S SOMEONE OUTSIDE"
Is she still waiting for his return? Or mine?
The dark truths, not dealt with, slither back as silently as a
viper in the fool moon
Its pouch full of venom startling the unsuspecting foot
The world we make is never memory proof,
Even the deleted parts
Like believing we are loved
Squeeze themselves through the wires
Disguised as long distance telephony
Just clotting memories of blood and tears and her solitary sadness,
As fragile as mist on a goose wing—as
Luminous as longing.

Exam yesterday

Thanks Lakshani and everyone else for the note. I hope the exam went okay yesterday. I was not put down for exam duty for your paper yesterday, which is why I wasn't there, but I was thinking of you all in the morning:)

By the way, I met Ashok Ferrey last evening and he wanted to pass on his best wishes to you for the exam. He also thanked you for the card that you had sent him.

Now that your Sri Lankan Writing course is more or less finished, I'm wondering what to do with this blog. Any ideas....?

Ashok Ferrey's comments on "Maleeshya"

Hi all,

Here are some of the interesting comments that Ashok Ferrey made about his writing when he met us on February 20th. They will be useful for those who are interested in answering the question on "Maleeshya"

(Thanks Erandi for the photograph!)


“Satire is very powerful….. in the story I shoot from the hip.”

“I am a total coward. I use humour as a disguise. The funniest stories are the blackest. This is my way of writing in the Sri Lankan reality – we’re all connected to each other…..”

“Writing a story is like an onion. I have an idea in a kernel, then add a layer on, and another layer on….”

“As a mathematician, I love codes, patterns, little secrets…. I don’t give clues. You either get it or you don’t. [This is articularly so] in The Good Little Ceylonese Girl. It’s more indirect than Colpetty People.”

“ “Maleeshya” is the most complicated story in the collection… I wanted to write about the press, the power of the written word. Also, by then I had also come to some sort of prominence [in society, following the first collection of stories], and there was a public persona and the private person. I see the two things as entirely separate. [For example] when I say “The Wife”, in caps, in my stories, she is a persona, not my real wife….

“So “Maleeshya” is about the persona of the public writer vs the private person, how the press creates the public persona. This is a 21st century phenomenon, especially for writers. We Photoshop, we create a ‘persona’ out of ourselves. This has an insidious effect on the person. You become obsessed by creating an image of yourself. This is the Hollywoodisation of life – a case of life imitating art. The media –- magazines and TV -- manipulate the image.”

“ “Maleeshya” is about a fight going on between the real author and the persona created by the magazine. [At the same time,] the real author is not perfect – he is vain.”

“Maleeshya is indeed too black. She is an anti-hero, but she does have redeeming qualities.”

“I was advised to take “Maleeshya” out of the collection – some people thought it was too wicked, too savage. But why not? Life is savage!”

“The character of Maleeshya is based on the editor of the Hi magazine. When I showed her the story, her only criticism was that it was “not wicked enough”!”

Tips for the exam this week

Hi All

Your paper is in three days time, on the 25th, and I know you're all getting ready for it. So I thought I'll post some exam advice.

1. Make sure you read the question carefully, and think about how to address it. Your introduction should be your interpretation of the question -- it should describe to the examiner how you have interpreted it and what you will discuss in your answer.

2. Don't give a general introduction to the writer or the text in your exam answer, particularly if it's not relevant to the question.

3. Give yourself about 5 minutes to read the question and make a quick plan for answering the question. Don't start writing as soon as you get the paper.

4. Attach your plan to your answer script. This will be useful just in case you run out of time and cannot complete answering. (Don't worry if your handwriting is not perfect in your plan :) )

5. Remember, concentrate on quality not quantity. Don't discuss ALL the relevant points to answer a question, choose the most relevant ones, and discuss them in some depth. So don't write loooong answers that are full of general comments. Its more than enough if you write two sides of a page, especially those of you who have fairly small handwriting.

6. Keep a few minutes to check what you've written, for language errors. Then you'll be able to correct the slips you've made.

7. Make sure, in particular, that you spell the NAMES of the writers and their works correctly.

Good luck everyone, I hope the paper goes smoothly. In the meantime, all the best with the studies, and do post questions if you have any.

take care,

ms dinali

Hi all,

Here's the structure of your exam paper, in case it isn't clear to you yet.

The paper will have THREE parts. So the instructions will read as follows:

"Answer three (03) questions choosing at least one from each part."

This obviously means that you can only answer ONE question from each part.

Part A is on the Novel: In this section, you will get a choice of two questions on Funny Boy. But you can only answer one. Please note you will NOT be getting a question on The Jam Fruit Tree at the exam.

Part B - Poetry: Here you will get a question each on the four poets we did in this course, ie Patrick Fernando, Yasmine Gooneratne, Lakdasa Wikkramasinha and Jean Arasanayagam.

Part C - Short story and Drama: In this section you will get a question each on each of the short stories we did in class and the drama, ie Chitra Fernando's "Action and Reaction", Jeanne Thwaites' "Nihal's War", Ashok Ferrey's "Maleeshya" and Regi Siriwardene's Almsgiving. I have given you a choice of two questions on The Almsgiving, presented as X OR Y.
Once again, like in A and B, you need to choose only ONE question from this entire part.

I hope this is clear to everyone. If it isn't, please post questions.

Take care and good luck with the studying!

Sri Lankan Writing -- hello

Hello students

Now that study leave has just begun, I decided to start this blog so that you could ask any questions about the texts as you study for your exams.
We can continue our class discussion here, so do post questions or comments. I will reply as soon as possible.
I will also post additional material that you can use for your studies.
Good luck! I hope to see you all online!
regards
Ms Dinali