Book review

History with fury of battle and restrained romance

The genre of historical novels with relationship to Sri Lanka is quite sparse. It's indeed a pleasant experience to find an attempt in this field. Pleasanter still to find it cast in elegant language - as one would expect from an author nurtured in the mould of a Western Classical education, not in the least diluted by many years of labour commissioned by the Department of Inland Revenue. The writer of this note, being more concerned with the living present than the dead past, is not competent to assess the value of the historicity of this novel. What has impelled him to write is the refined language of the author in which he took great delight and which he wishes to commend to connoisseurs of the 'word'. He found many a chosen coin of fancy flashing out in a golden phrase. Set in the Portuguese period, 'The Rebel' has been well researched as is also evidenced by the impressive bibliography. The past has not been allowed to bury its dead!

The battles at the siege of Colombo, galloping fast and furious, are reminiseene of the heroic achievements on the windy plains of ancient Troy.

The delineation of character as could be expected in the context of olden times is broad brushed and the author has scrupulously avoided anything sleazy in the bowered meetings of Konappu and Sampala as he might well have done to create a box-office draw. Indeed , the hero's romantic episodes with the Uda-Rata Menike set amidst the curvatures of the Balana Pass have been treated with delicate restraint.

Restraint also there is in the handling of the dictates of the foreign religions and their adherents.Gaston's next quasi-historical essay may well be tied up with the Hollandaise karaya. We wait with great expectations.

Xenelphon

More Plus

Return to Plus Contents