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Step Down Shakespeare, the Stone Angel Is Here #StepDownCover 4/22/08 7:24 PM Page 1 Step Prof. Suwanda H J Sugunasiri is the pioneering researcher on South Asian Canadian Literature. Down Commissioned by the Multiculturalism Directorate of the Government of Canada, he traveled across Canada to dig out the vast literary Shakespeare, treasure, unknown not only to the Canadian literary establishment but to South Asians themselves. His Report, The Search for Meaning The Stone Angel Is Here (1983), opened the doors for a many a contemporary writer, critic and academic. Essays on Literature: Canadian and Sri Lankan Poet, fiction writer and soon to be novelist, Sugunasiri was, before leaving Sri Lanka on a Fulbright Scholarship, active in the Sinhalese cultural and literary scene as a writer, dancer, actor, radio artiste, critic and newspaper coumnist. Founder of {Discussed or referred to} Nalanda College of Buddhist Studies (Canada), and Adjunct Professor, Trinity Gunadasa Amarasekara College, University of Toronto, he has been a spokesperson for Buddhism for over Margaret Atwood quarter of a century. Himani Bannerji Krisantha Sri Bhaggiyadatta Neil Bissoondath Rienzi Cruz Cyil Dabydeen Reshard Gool Siri Gunasighe Surjeet Kalsey Margaret Laurence Michael Ondaatji Uma Parameswaran Mordecai Richler Ajmer Rode The seven critical pieces that make up Step Down Ediriweera Saracchandra Shakespeare, the Stone Angel is Here, provides a G B Senanayake historical window to two little known literary and M G Vassanji geographic landscapes - the emerging Asoka Weerasinghe multicultural literature in Canada beginning with Step Down Shakespeare,Step Down H J Sugunasiri, Suwanda Angel Is Here The Stone PhD Martin Wickremasinghe the eighties and the Sinhalese literature of Sri Lanka with a history of over a thousand years. Suwanda H J Sugunasiri, PhD Pioneering researcher on South Asian Canadian Literature StepDownShakespeare 4/22/08 7:26 PM Page I STEP DOWN SHAKESPEARE, THE STONE ANGEL IS HERE Essays on Literature: Canadian and Sri Lankan StepDownShakespeare 4/22/08 7:26 PM Page II By the same author LITERATURE Critical Studies Sinhala ketikataway sambhavaya ha vyaptiya - 1960 ganan dakva vu mul siyavasa (in Sinhala); ‘The Origin and Development of the Sinhalese Short Story - the first hundred years up to the 1960’s’, Godage, 2001 “Smarten Up, Indians, and Go Western: A Content Analysis of Ontario’s Secondary School Social Studies Texts in Relation to India”. In McLeod, Keith (ed.), Intercultural Education and Community Development, University of Toronto, 1980 Edited Works The Search for Meaning: the Literature of Canadians of South Asian Origins, Secy. of State, Multiculturalism Directorate, 1983 (Rev. Batts, 1988) The Literature of Canadians of South Asian Origins: An Overview and Preliminary Bibliography. Toronto: U of Toronto, The Centre for South Asian Studies and the Multicultural History Society of Ontario, 1987 Poetry Celestial Conversations, Toronto: Nalanda , 2006 The Faces of Galle Face Green, Toronto: TSAR, 1995; 2nd ed., Nugegoda: Sarasavi, 2001 Short Fiction “Fellow Travellers”, Toronto South Asian Review 1 (1): 1982: 63–70. “The Ingrate” in Mahfil, 1965 Meeharak (in Sinhala) ‘Idiots’, Colombo: Gunasena, 1963 Yamayudde (in Sinhala) ‘Life Struggle’; Gampaha: Sarasavi, 1961 Translations Samskruta kavya sahityaya (Sinhala trans. of A B Keith, Classical Sanskrit Literature); Colombo: Official Languages Department, 1964 Vyavahara nanaya ha nyastika samgrama (Sinhala trans. of Bertrand Russell, Commonsense and Nuclear Warfare); Colombo: Gunasena, 1960 Anthologies Whistling Thorn: an Anthology of South Asian Canadian Short Fiction, Mosaic, 1994 Contemporary Sri Lankan Literature, (with A V Suraweera) Special Issue, Toronto South Asian Review, Toronto, Canada: TSAR Publishing, 1984: 3 (2) BUDDHISM Embryo as Person: Buddhism, Bioethics and Society, Toronto: Nalanda College of Buddhist Studies, 2005, You’re What You Sense: A Buddhian-Scientific Dialogue on Mindbody , Dehiwala, Sri Lanka: Buddhist Cultural Centre, 2001 MULTICULTURALISM Multiculturalism, Peace and Development (Ed.), an Informal Publication of Nalanda Publishing Canada, 2007 Towards Multicultural Growth: Classical Racism to Neomulticulturalism, Toronto: Village Publishing House, 2001 StepDownShakespeare 4/22/08 7:26 PM Page III STEP DOWN SHAKESPEARE, THE STONE ANGEL IS HERE Essays on Literature: Canadian and Sri Lankan Suwanda H J Sugunasiri, PhD (Pioneering researcher on South Asian Canadian Literature) Nalanda College of Buddhist Studies (Canada); Trinity College, University of Toronto StepDownShakespeare 4/22/08 7:26 PM Page IV CIP Data © Suwanda H J Sugunasiri, 2007 Any part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in whatever form, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording information storage and retrieval systems, with due acknowledgement. Published by Nalanda Publishing Canada, a Division of Nalanda College of Buddhist Studies (Canada), 47 Queen’s Park Crescent E. Toronto, ON M5S 2C3 ISBN 978-0-9738089-2-6 Acknowledgements 1. “Step Down, Shakespeare, The Stone Angel is Here”. Multicultural Education Journal, 5 (2): 24–39 (1987). 2. “The Literature of Canadians of South Asian Origins: An Overview.” Canadian Ethnic Studies, 17 (1): 1–21 (1985). 3. ““Sri Lankan” Canadian Poets: The Bourgeoisie That Fled the Revolution.” Canadian Literature, no. 132: 60–79 (1992). 4. “Reality and Symbolism in the South Asian Canadian Short Story.” A Meeting of Streams: South Asian Canadian Literature, ed. M G Vassanji (1985); republished in World Literature Written in English, 26 (1): 98–107 (1986). 5. “Suwanda Sugunasiri and Siri Gunasinghe: A Conversation.” The Toronto South Asian Review, 7 (2): 38–43 (1989). 6. “Forces that Shaped Sri Lankan Literature.” The Toronto South Asian Review, Special issue on Sri Lankan Literature (ed: Sugunasiri, Suwanda & A V Suraweera), 3 (2): 2–10 (1984). 7. “Sexism in Ediriweera Sarachchandra’s Sinhalese Operatic-play, Maname.” Journal of South Asian Literature, 29 (2): 123–146 (1994). ii StepDownShakespeare 4/22/08 7:26 PM Page V Contents Preface v Essays 1. Step Down, Shakespeare, the Stone Angel is here! 3 2. The Literature of Canadians of South Asian Origins: An Overview 25 3. “Sri Lankan” Canadian Poets: the Bourgeoisie that fled the Revolution 53 4. Reality and Symbolism in the South Asian Canadian Short Story 77 5. Siri Gunasinghe: poet, novelist and filmmaker, and Canadian Professor 91 6. Forces that Shaped Sri Lankan Literature 101 7. Sexism in Ediriweera Sarachchandra’s Sinhalese Operatic Play, Maname 113 Bibliography 137 Index 147 iii StepDownShakespeare 4/22/08 7:26 PM Page VI Bows It is with pleasure and humility that we take this opportunity to make here the writer’s bows to those pioneers who worked with me to make my contribution to the field of Canadian litreature – Moyez and Nurjehan Vassanji, Frank Birbalsingh, Arun Prabha Mukherjee and Uma Parameswaran (U of Winnipeg) in particular, and Judy Young, of the Secretary of State for Multiculturalism, for inviting me to do the initial survey. Alok Mukherjee I pay salute to for his quiet contributions, but in particular for bringing me to the politics of multiculturalism by hiring me to do a survey of the Texts recommended to be used in schools under Circular 14 of the Ontario Government, "relating to India and Indians" Thanks are due to Carol Piccini, student at Nalanda, who cheerily undertook the laborious task of transferring the articles from text to computer, using up some of her summer vacation. It was a sheer labour of love, and I appreciate her contribution. It is to Jim Vuylsteke, Research Assistant, and later volunteer, that my appreciation goes for getting the manuscript r eady for print, carefully text-editing the articles, hunting down each and every reference, and developing an index. And thanks to Glen Choi for his meticulous care in updating the Index. To Johnny Osorio I thank for the innovative cover and the many hours at the computer. To my wife, Swarna, I thank for all her comments, as well as helping with a happy home that allowed me to engage in all the research and writing. Suwanda H. J. Sugunasiri Nalanda College of Buddhist Studies; Trintiy College, University of Toronto March 2007 iv StepDownShakespeare 4/22/08 7:26 PM Page VII PREFACE The binding theme of these seven articles is literature, within the context of multiculturalism, and with a sub-text of politics. Written on Canadian soil over a decade (1984-1994), in the hey days of my literary involvement – my current academic interest is Buddhism, the first four relate to Canada directly, and the other three indirectly, within a Sri Lankan, primarily Sinhalese, literary and cultural context. In Step Down Shakespeare, the Stone Angel is Here, 1987, the first piece, we invite you to take a look at the mainstream Canadian classroom, as it was at least at the time, and make the case for ‘multiculturalizing the English curriculum’. Following upon an examination of the theoretical bases that demand it, we offer a model, a ‘literary matrix’, for developing such a curriculum, based on the premise that “in the school context, the take-off phase in multiculturalism and eventual multicultural maturity will not materialize until the English curriculum becomes multicultural” (25). If ‘Canadian Literature’ had been traditionally understood as “the creative works written about Anglo-Canadian experiences, in the medium of English, for an English (Canadian) audience, and reflect an Anglo-Saxon (or a wider Judeo-Christian) sensibility” (27), it is now
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