Exploring new styles, genres and themes

By Alfreda de Silva

The Gratiaen was established in 1993 by Michael Ondaatje with the money he received as joint-winner of the Booker Prize. It commemorates and honours his mother, Doris Ondaatje, nee Gratiaen and is intended to motivate and encourage high quality literary and creative writing by Sri Lankans resident in this country. 

The judges can make their selection from any work of fiction, poetry, drama, memoirs or non-fiction either published during the previous year or in manuscript. It is mandatory that the prize money be utilized to publish the latter as early as possible. The winner receives Rs. 100,000. 

As an extension to this project Michael Ondaatje will, in the near future, fund translations of works in Sinhala and Tamil into English. 

This year's judges were Jill MacDonald, S.M.L. Marikar and Walter Perera. 

Chairman Godfrey Gunatilleke's introductory speech on behalf of the Gratiaen Trustees was followed by an address by Film Corporation Chairman Tissa Abeysekera, celebrated film-maker, writer and himself a recipient of the Gratiaen Prize in 1996.

His winning book was "Bringing Tony Home", a lyrical work rich in imagery. 

He pointed out that this was his first book in English; all his earlier acclaimed work had been in Sinhala. He had drawn on the influences of his English classroom and his extensive reading of the work of eminent novelists and poets in English. He asserted that now he finds it easier and more pleasurable to write in English. 

Two writers shared the Gratiaen Award this year - Visakesa Chandrasekeram for his play Forbidden Area and Neil Fernandopulle for Shrapnel - a collection of short stories. 

On the shortlist were Damayanthi Fernando with Saturns Children and Other Stories, Ameene Hussein's 'Fifteen', Flower Munasinghe's Divided Loyalty and Other Stories and Maithri White's Skins. 

Michael's generosity has spurred writers, both young and old, to participate in this event and share in the adventure of exploring new styles, genres and themes. 

Michael, who now lives and works in Canada, was born in Ceylon and lived here for sometime before he emigrated. 

Sri Lankans will remember him for his extraordinary and delightful ' Running in the Family' set in this country, in which the saga of his family is both fact and fiction. He uses photographs, memories, events and pure imagination to create a rhythmic flowing, hilarious and poignant tale that is a work of magic. 

His novels include 'Coming Through Slaughter' based on the life of cornet player Buddy Bolden, a jazz pioneer and legend of his time. It takes the reader through the seamy side of streets flooded with music and their accompanying fantastic night life in New Orleans 

'The English Patient' which came into the limelight with the Booker Award , was turned into a multi-award winning film. 

'In the Skin of a Lion' preceded this work and was followed by his latest work 'Anil's Ghost'. 

Among his books of poetry are the award- winning 'Billy the Kid', 'The Cinnamon Peeler', 'Secular Lover' and 'There's a Trick with a Knife'. The poems on Ceylon speak of the sights, sounds and smells of the country he obviously loves. 

The family situations he laughed about and grieved over are as powerfully and evocatively expressed in poetry as in prose. 

The underlying tumult of conflicting emotions of a boy's growing up are brought vividly to the reader. 

In the poem 'Letters and Other Worlds' he writes: 
 

My father's body was a town of fear 
He was the only witness to its fear dance 
He hid where he had been that we might lose him 
His letters were a room his body scared. 

In 'Dates' he gives us this startling cameo of his mother while he was in her womb. 
 

" I console myself with my mother's eighth month 
While she sweated out her pregnancy in Ceylon...... 
a few friends visiting her to placate her shape 
and I drinking the life lines, 
Wallace Stevens sat down in Connecticut 
a glass of orange juice at his table 
........ and on the back of a letter 
began to write 'The Well Dressed Man with a Beard'. 
That night while my mother slept 
her significant belly cooled 
by the bedroom fan 
Stevens put words together 
that grew to sentences 
..... the page suddenly 
becoming thought where nothing had been 
... and he saw his hand was saying 
the mind is never finished, no never 
and I in my mother's stomach was growing 
as were the flowers outside the Connecticut windows. 

Mixed sounds from Pradeep

Pradeep was supported by Lakshman Joshep de Saram on violin, Piyasara Shilpadhipathi on percussion, Chandralal Amarakoon on tabla and Madhubhashini Ratnayake on tampura. The first half of the concert was devoted to classical music giving expression to themes such as 'devotion and spirituality,' 'joy' and 'east meets west.' 'Devotion' was based on raga Bhupali - a raga carrying rasa bhakti. After the slow improvisation of Alap, Pradeep went into the second movement with strong rhythm inherent in the melody. The tabla joined at the third movment while joy was based on raga Maad. The next item was a re-creation of the famous sitar-violin duet of Ravi Shankar and Yehudi Menuhin based on raga Peelu and received thunderous applause from the audience. 

The latter part of Pradeep's concert saw his own creations such as 'Roots', 'Spring', the 'Flight of the Falcon' and 'Wind'. 'Roots' was woven into a melody by bringing Sinhala folk tunes with a touch of the flavours of Arabia with Shilpadhipathi giving a fine rendition of Sri Lankan drums such as udekki, geta bere and tammattama. 'Spring' based on raga Bahar brought out the exuberance of the season with the trio, the sitar, violin and tabla coming together. 

Pradeep played his own rendition of the music in the film 'Pathar Panchali' directed by Sathyajit Ray, bringing out the haunting and melancholy quality. 

The item, on Ukusa Vannama (Flight of the Falcon) struck a familiar chord with the audience as this hunting bird plays an important role in the life of nomadic Arabs. The finale was Pradeep's rendition of the 'Wind' which had elements of jazz woven into it, when he used the sitar as a vehicle to demonstrate the speed and power of the wind with a dialogue between the sitar and the percussion. The climax was symbolic of the wind gathering power and momentum and sweeping away everything in its path. 

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