![]() ![]() His debut novel, “Funny Boy”, is story about coming fo age in war-torn Sri Lanka. Canadian-Sri Lankan writer Shyam Selvadurai has also won some acclaim. His second novel, “The Reef”, and his third novel “Sandglass” (1998), were also well received. Romesh Gunesekera's short story collection “Monkifish” was shortlisted for the 1994 Booker Prize. He received the 1992 Booker Prize for his novel “The English Patient”, which was made in an Oscar-winning movie. Author and poet Michael Ondaatje was born in Sri Lanka in 1942 but now is a Canadian citizen. Wells and Jules Verne of our time, Clarke became a citizen of Sri Lanka and initially fell in love with scuba diving. Clarke (1917 -2008), author of “2001: A Space Odyseey” was born in England but famously lived in Sri Lanka. Senanayake made names for themselves in the 20th century when Sinhala literature was based primarily on the Western model. Martin Wickramasinghe (1891-1976) and his protégé G. Silva appear as secular Sinhala literature and the novel take hold. It the beginning of the late 19th century, works by writers such as Albert Silva, Adara Hasuna, and W. *\ Famous Writers with Links to Sri Lanka Works of the late 20th century in Sinhala tended to return to Sinhalese religious roots though many assumed a political flavor in light of the Sinhalese-Tamil conflict in Sri Lanka. The situation changed in 1956, when Sinhala was adopted as the language in which education was carried out. Twentieth century Sinhala literature was based primarily on the Western model. ![]() ![]() It is not until the beginning of the late 19th century that we notice a surge in secular Sinhala literature - the novel appears during this period. ![]() Sinhalese scholarship has traditionally been the domain of the clerical establishment, which accounts for the scarcity of good secular works in the language. However, the golden age of Sinhala literature is widely considered to be the 13th century, with many stories and tales from this time dealing with the life of the Buddha. It is evident that many of the early Sinhala prose works, the earliest of which dates to the 9th century, were intended as accessories for Pali works. There is literary evidence to show that the Mahavansa, the great chronicle of Sinhalese royalty composed in Pali in the 5th century., has drawn heavily from the ancient commentaries in the Sinhalese languages known as the Sihalatthakatha. Lodric wrote in the “Worldmark Encyclopedia of Cultures and Daily Life”:“Sinhala literature dates back well over 2000 years and is heir to the great Aryan literary tradition as embodied in the hymns of the Rig Veda, the collection of Sanskrit verses composed by the ancient Indo Aryans around 1500 B.C. However, Sri Lanka's university and public libraries, once reputed to be the best in South Asia, are underfunded and poorly maintained as a result of increased budgetary constraints since 1977. This tradition continues today as fiction writers, poets, playwrights, and journalists write in all three of the nation's languages some of their works have been translated into other languages as well. As early as the fifth century c.e., both Sinhala and Tamil writers were recording histories and religious stories, as well as writing on more secular topics. Sri Lanka has a long and prolific history of written as well as oral literature. According to Countries and Their Cultures”: “Literature. ![]()
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