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Kala
Korner by Dee Cee Within four or five years, the journal became a much sought-after publication among researchers and teachers. It came out on time as a quarterly with contributions from academics who wrote with responsibility and authority. It earned the reputation of being the only serious literary journal of the time. And this was the era when there was much more interest and concerted effort in literary activity. The in-depth studies done by the team on a number of topics have not been matched to date. These included special issues on Martin Wickremasinghe, Anton Chekhov, Ananda Coomaraswamy, Senerat Paranavitane, Ayurveda, and University Education. Having pioneered the project, both S. G. and Amaradasa continued the good work without a break for two decades until both of them left for post-graduate studies. Their involvement with other activities once they returned resulted in the discontinuance of the journal. Commenting on the decision to revive the journal, both of them feel that the need for a journal of this academic standing and critical approach is ten-fold more than three decades ago. With the assistance of some of their colleagues and co-opting the voluntary services of younger writers and critics, 'Samskriti' is back on the shelves. The first issue is titled 'Vol 18 No 1'. Looking at the cover, nothing has changed. To veterans (at least in age!) like us, the look is the same. The articles maintain the same high standards that readers were used to. Exposing
false values The editor updates the position as it prevails today and convinces the reader that though we are in the 21st century, it's only in outward appearance. Within, we still belong to the 18th or 19th century. The use of the Sinhala language leaves much to be desired. Giving an example of how we are going backwards, reference is made to how the dying concept of the 'walauwes' is being brought back through teledramas. So is the use of certain forms of addresses like 'walauwe hamuduruwo' . We have too many 'adhipatis' creating a whole new hierarchy totally unsuited for the 21st century. Many well known writers have contributed to the current issue and the reading matter indicates that the editorial committee is determined to maintain the same high standards as before. Thus 'Samskriti' will once again fill the void created by the lack of a serious literary journal. Socio-cultural
seminars These seminars are designated 'Sarasvati Mandapa'. Two sessions have already been held - one on 'A Cultural Policy for Sri Lanka' and the other on 'The Future of the Sinhala language'. At the time 'Samskrti' was active there were many affiliated organizations. A determined effort is being made to revive these and the support of young and enthusiastic lovers of literature is sought by the organizers . Poetry
and music as Regi turns 80 A delighted hall of invitees, colleagues and fellow travellers heard him read his compositions: A verse prologue, Birthday Apology and Apologia, and selections from his favourite poets W.B. Yeats and W.H. Auden, with Nirmali Hettiarachchi. Soundarie David provided interludes of music. In the course of the evening Lester James Pieris filled me in on Regi's significant contribution to the Sinhala cinema in the sixties. He referred to Regi's faithful evocation of Martin Wickremasinghe's Gamperaliya with his screenplay for the film and the inventive way in which he handled some of the village scenes. Regi's writings in local journals of that time had alerted large and new audiences to this film and several others like Lester's productions of Rekawa and Golu Hadawatha. Regi had also drawn wide attention to Sarachchandra's Maname which heralded an innovative Sinhala theatrical tradition. My mind went back to the mid-fifties when the gracious home of Sugar and Girtie Sugathapala provided an exciting forum for those interested in the arts. Many were the evenings when people like Regi, Charlie Abeysekera, A.J. Gunawardana, the lawyer Nadarasa, M.J. Perera, Herbert Keuneman, Lyn Ludowyke and many others and their spouses, gathered there for questions, answers, arguments, news, laughter and entertainment. Many were the plays, films, art exhibits and recitals of dance and song that were discussed and analyzed. These were stimulating sessions. In a recent conversation, I learned that his interest in poetry began very early with the books he was given in childhood and nursery rhymes like 'The Owl and the Pussy Cat'. When he was
five he wrote some lines that went like this: Why like a clown? Because in a book given to him by his father, there was a picture of the sun with a smiling face, and on another page a smiling clown. In his mind the two came together. Regi claims that he began with metrical rhymed verse. It is clear that he has been faithful to that mode all his life. He remembers three teachers who influenced him positively in his formative years: W.T. Keble of S. Thomas' who introduced him to the Shakespeare sonnet "When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes'. It made a great impact on him. He felt like Keats's 'Watcher of the Skies' in the poem 'On first looking into Chapman's Homer'. A.J.. Fernando
of Ananda College, with his passionate interest in literature, who
gave him the free run of the library was another, and at the university
Lyn Ludowyke - "To hear him read poetry - let alone discuss
it was itself an education," he affirms. In middle life he did lots of translations of poetry, mainly from Russian and Spanish languages he had learnt to read by himself. His first book was a collection of 50 of these translations - Many Voices. Regi claims that he is immune to post modernism and free verse. In his sixties he says with the confidence built up by his translations, he turned to the craft of verse. The violent crisis of the 1980s stimulated him to create "as a means of inner survival." Regi, the journalist and poet, playwright, actor and fiction writer worked in a number of jobs as diverse as you can imagine. For the past two decades he has been with the International Centre for Ethnic Studies, a fulfilling experience. He has two deep convictions about poetry. One is that it should be actively performed - read aloud to an audience, chanted, sung or spoken, to flourish in any culture. He points to the fact that poetry read silently from the printed page loses everything it is intended to be. It dies. He draws attention to the fact that "good poetry is hard work and has to be learnt and practised like any other skill". "No one expects to be a musician by just sitting in front of a piano and banging on the key," he stresses. I agree. This I think, is the great thing those old school poetry teachers did for us, when they taught us the ambits, dactyls to spondees, trochees and anapests in the craft of writing poetry. In the "Birthday Apology" and "Apologia -80, iambic pentameters for my 80 years", Regi gives us these lines for perfect scanning in their unstressed and stressed syllables. To have existed
while the planet made For what is poetry devoid of craft? An untrained
scraping on an untuned fiddle. |
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