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A timeless African classic at last in Sinhala

It's not often that Sinhala readers get a chance of enjoying a good novel written by renowned foreign writers. Nigerian writer, Chinua Achebe's 'Things Fall Apart' was released in 1958 and within a few years had gained recognition in many countries. It has been translated into 45 languages.

The backdrop of the novel is the Ibo tribe, an African ethnic group of south-east Nigeria, at the time the whites arrived in Western Africa. It's a vivid description of the trials and tribulations of this tribe in the face of white domination. (Incidentally, the Ibo tribe came to dominate the civil service and also commerce after independence in 1963, and hostilities between Ibo and other tribal groups led to the secession of Biafra, the Ibo homeland, in 1967. In the civil war which followed at least two million Ibos died in battle or from starvation).

In 1986, Ariyadasa Somatilaka translated 'Things Fall Apart' into Sinhala under the title ' Muhuda Goda Gala'. It was acclaimed the best translation that year and won a State Literary Award. The second edition has just been released as a Visidunu Publication.

Professor Miniwan P Tillekeratne confesses that he enjoyed reading 'Muhuda Goda Gala' which also gave him an insight into a foreign society. An absorbing story, his style of writing makes it very readable.

Publisher Gevindu Cumaratunga sees many things in common between the Ibos as described in the novel and ourselves in the battle for freedom during British domination. Thus he sees a relevance of the novel to Sinhala readers. Inspired by the Sinhala work, he had gone deeply into writer Achebe's literary achievements and decided to share his experience with the readers. Thus the second edition of 'Muhuda Goda Gala' carries several articles including Achibe's detailed life sketch and a Sinhala version of a lecture delivered by Achibe at Harvard University in 1972 on 'Africa and her Writers'.

A short sketch of writer Ariyadasa Somatilaka (1929-1987) is also included. Starting as a writer in his student days, his first literary work was 'Havulkari', an anthology of short stories. It showed the influence of Guy de Maupassant. It was followed by another collection of short stories titled 'Ikuth Vatha'. He has several books on psychology to his credit and is a pioneer Sinhala writer on the subject. He introduced Krishnamurti to the Sinhala reader and later wrote three original works - 'Jeevitaya Dekkemi' (1965), 'Eliyata Nuhuru Es' (1969) & 'Anurathiyen Adarayata' (1970). He also showed an interest in drama and poetry.

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