Road Taken and Not Taken in Sinhala Literary Studies: Reflections on Key Moments in an Intellectual History

Abstract

This paper focuses on key moments in Sinhala literary studies within the university system in Sri Lanka teasing out the thematic significance of those historical landmarks. Sinhala literary studies in a modern higher educational setting began in a colonial context, and that education was later shaped by colonialism, colonial nationalism, and postcolonial nationalism. Thus, one can easily recognize how those ideologies, whose dominance was necessitated or made to look necessary by socio-political context, have defined the salient characteristics of each historical period. For example, at the early stage of modern Sinhala fiction, anti-colonial nationalism determined the nature of the fiction written during that period. By the middle of the twentieth century, Sinhala cultural nationalism and Sinhala Buddhist revivalism shaped much of literary studies. A few years later, literary modernism arrives in the Sinhala literary scene through the Peradeniya School. 1970s was the era of social and socialist realism, while in 1990s the influence various post-realisms, such as magic realism, defined the nature of literary studies and criticism. While these dominant concepts of each period have attracted enough attention, what have often been ignored are the multiple literary connections Sinhala literary studies continued to maintain throughout history. For example, Ediriveera Sarachchandra's Maname, a classic modern play, is often presented as a symbol of Sinhala cultural revival in the middle of the twentieth century, but a closer examination shows that it is a work of a cosmopolitan literary mind that was ready to borrow creatively from many traditions. This paper argues for a scholarly approach that does not lose sight of multiple influences and borrowings in a period under the pressure of the dominant ideologies of the time.