Sri Lankan Women Writers

PAPER-2 MODULE-26 Sri Lankan Women Writers. I. (A) Personal Details Role Name Affiliation Principal Investigator Prof. Sumita Parmar Allahabad University Paper Coordinator Prof. Sumita Parmar Allahabad University Content Writer/Author (CW) Dr. Shamenaz Bano Asst. Prof. Ewing Christian College Allahabad, UP Content Reviewer (CR) Prof. Sumita Parmar Allahabad University Language Editor (LE) Prof. Sumita Parmar Allahabad University (B) Description of Module Items Description of Module Subject Name Women’s Studies Paper Name Women & Literature Module Name/ Title Sri Lankan Women Writers. Module ID PAPER-2 MODULE-26 Pre-requisites The learner is expected to be aware of the socio- political conditions of the country Objectives The objective of the module is to throw light on the women writers of the country. Keywords Sri Lankan Women writers, Political upheavals, civil war, personal narratives Sri Lankan Women Writers. Introduction Sri Lankan Women Writers :Finding Space within political turmoil. Punyakante Wijenaike, Kumari Jayawardena, Nira Konjit Wickramsinghe, Rosemary Rogers & Thisuri Wanniarchchi. Sri Lanka or Ceylon, as it was known earlier, was the first country to have given the world a woman Prime Minister, Srinivaso Bhandarnaike indicating that the women of the country had social and political status. However, Sri Lanka has witnessed tremendous political upheaval, bitter conflict and violence over an extended period. Civil strife has torn the country and cost it dearly in terms of human as well as other resources. Although peace has now been restored to the land, still there are many issues which have to be sorted out. The present module provides a brief overview of contemporary women’s writing in Sri Lanka focusing on a few select writers. A comprehensive survey is outside the purview of this lesson, but the endeavour is to introduce the student to an area of literature where significant work is being produced. History of the women’s writing in English in Sri Lanka The history of the women’s writing in English in Sri Lanka began as early as 1928, when Rosalind Mendis published her first novel, The Mystery of a Tragedy published by Arthur Stockwell of London. The novel was not so successful and it did not pave the way to inspire other women to take up writing as a career. Women’s writing did not flourish in Sri Lanka due to many reasons, but over the last three decades, despite the turbulent context, there has been a resurgence of writers and a new wave of authors have made themselves visible trying to carve their niche in the world of English writing, many of whom have been very successful. Vijeta Fernando writes, ‘a half a century long drought followed, before creative writing, especially by women, could take root and flourish in the island country.’ Commenting on the contemporary scene, Sri Lankan writer Carl Muller says, “Women have become the standard bearers of Sri Lankan writing in English in the past 50 years.” 1 Different people have different views regarding the growth of women writers in Sri Lanka. S. Sivakumaran, the famous critic and the columnist of Tamil literature believes that the increased scopes and possibilities of a University education have created a positive and favourable atmosphere for better creative writing by women. He opines: It could be that their discipline in university education makes them more attentive to the craft, characterisation and language in their writing than men. Women are also naturally observant and better at description than men. 2 He further adds to his remark: Look at the number of women expatriate writers’ today, who are making a mark in the international arena. We have Michelle de Krester, Yasmine Goonaratne, Chandani Lokuge and several others. I don’t seem to be able to bring 1 http://southasia.oneworld.net/peoplespeak/womenwritersinsrilankacomeofage 2 Ibid any men’s names into this list. 3 Vijitha Yapa, a famous journalist turned book publisher, ascribes this change to the changing economic condition of the country, the liberation of economy, and the influx of investors resulting in women’s emancipation in almost all fields. This has led to the raising of the status of women writers by expanding their horizons and experiences. Yapa is herself a very famous publisher of English language books in her country. She sees a, “a new generation of women writers exploring social issues through the novel, the short story, drama and verse. Publishers now have a wide array of choices instead of a few limited manuscripts. Quite a few of our publications of women’s work have won state literary and other awards.”4 Earlier, women had focused on different subjects in writing. Critics felt “that women wrote only about ‘womanly’ subjects, limiting themselves to domesticity or particular womanly experiences.” But now there is a tremendous change in terms of themes and content.5 New Generation of Writers Whatever be the reasons, the outcome is that the women’s writing in Sri Lanka is flourishing and Sri Lankan women writers are gaining international attention. They are giving voice to the experiences of the common women of their country and encouraging them to move forward, oppose and fight against the injustices inflicted on them, to raise their living standards and to become emancipated. However, in spite of their achievements, they continue to face hostility and the double standards of a patriarchal society. Sunita Rajakarunanayake, a prolific, award winning writer and translator had raised this issue in her writing. She boldly exposes the double dealings and double standards regarding the status of men and women of her society, both politically and socially in her novels and poetry. She has addressed such controversial subjects as extra marital affairs, sexual scandals and exploitation of gay men. Though she has been criticised for her choice of subjects, she boldly says that, “I expose reality through creativity.”6 People have criticised Rajakarunanayake not only for her writing but also for neglecting her home and family and giving more time to writing. But she 3 Ibid 4 Ibid 5 Ibid 6 Ibid challenges her critics and counters these allegations by proclaiming that, on the contrary, her writing has shaped the personalities of her son and daughter and made them into strong and independent individuals. These are charges falsely framed against her and based on jealousy. “Anyway this problem was never mine, as my husband and family are always behind me in whatever I write”, 7 She states. There are other similar examples of writers who have been accused of writing at the cost of neglecting their families. One such writer is Sicila Cooray, who writes poetry and believes that she is able to do so because of the support of her husband and her grown-up son who allow her space for her creativity. She says: I am a ‘moody writer, in that I write only when something moves me and that can be every day or once in a while.... whenever it is I always find the space and their support. That I suppose, is what makes me tick!8 Another bilingual writer, Eva Ranaweera, who is the editor of the famous quarterly magazine in English on women’s issues, ‘Voice of Women’ states that, “Looking at women’s writing as a whole, it is quite clear that the charge that women’s writing are limited in experience, non- scientific, ‘womanly’ and semi autobiographical does not hold water anymore.”9 Yasmine Goonaratne, who is Professor Emeritus of Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia says, “Women no longer feel pangs of guilt over devoting time to writing.” 10 Goonaratne is herself a writer and credit goes to her for putting Sri Lankan women’s writing on the international map through her teaching years at Macquarie University. She is credited with editing and publishing many collections of Sri Lankan fiction without any help. The unstable political condition of Sri Lanka, resulting in civil wars and its consequences constitutes the theme of the work of these writers. Issues like displacement, killings of family and people one is close to, the suffering of parents who have lost their children in the struggle, finds place in their writings. Women are the worst sufferings of any war and their experiences also form the basis of the work. There are many other social problems specific to women like female migration, drugs abuse, use of women in the insidious business of storing 7 Ibid 8 Ibid 9 Ibid 10 Ibid and distributing narcotics, molestation, sexual abuse of women and children, failed marriages and domestic violence which are addressed by these writers. Punyakante Wijenaike Sri Lankan women writers have been honoured by various awards and prizes from around the globe. Punyakante Wijenaike wrote, ‘Anoma’ which addresses the subject of incest and won the Commonwealth Award for short fiction in 1996 for it. Not only this, she has also won the prestigious Annual Gratiaen Award for creative writing The Gratiaen Award is a famous literary award named after the grandfather of well known Booker prize winner and Sri Lankan Canadian author Michael Ondaatjee. It is the most prestigious literary award of Sri Lanka, given annually to the best piece of work in English writing by a Sri Lankan living in the country. Wijenaike has also been honoured by several state literary awards for her fiction. Considered one of the most famous and foremost contemporary novelists and short story writers of her country, her other novels are, ‘Dark’, ‘Yukthi’, ‘Missing in Action’ and ‘The Rebel’. These novels deal with the current problems existing in her country such as the theme of ethnic conflict, the insurgency of 1980 and 1988 and the youth rebellion of 1971. Yasmin Goonaratne aptly remarks : It is often said that women write more or better because because they have more time than the men the men do.

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