Creative Writing # Novels

2011 Untouchable Woman's Odyssey
Initially featured at the Festival of South Asian Literature, Sept 20-Oct 02, 2011; Also posted later , on MyBindi http://www.mybindi.com/, on January 8, 2013 in Books
Appraisals
1. An extraordinary first novel "... An extraordinary first novel by an accomplished poet, Untouchable Woman's Odyssey offers a deeply insightful narrative of postcolonial Sri Lanka. Beneath the placid surface lies a tale of the challenges of modernity, the deep divisions of class and caste, and the traces of the past in shaping the present. With remarkable skill, the author moves back and forth in time, linking the present to the past, demonstrating the multiple ways in which Buddhism has shaped the contours of Sri Lankan culture. An inclusive text in the best sense of the term, the novel draws together multiple traditions to explore the pathos, paradoxes and richness of modern Sri Lanka. Suwanda Sugunasiri's Untouchable Woman's Odyssey is a major contribution to both Canadian and Sri Lankan literature. Prof. Chelva Kanaganayakam (Prof. of English, University of Toronto, Canada)
2. a brilliant evocation of the ancient "... a brilliant evocation of the ancient, mythic and religious past of a country in South Asia... The story comes alive within a wholly convincing fictional landscape that serves as the stage for a witty and informative dramatization of the country's modern, post-colonial struggle for freedom and independence." (On the back cover when first published) Prof. Frank Birbalsingh (Professor Emeritus of English, York University, Toronto, Canada)
3.Slice of life: complex or complicated? "... What is genius? It can be defined in variegated ways but the utmost genius in the field of writing could surface when an author manages to packet into 366 pages a 2500 saga of his country's history via a story, melodramatic yet extremely touching." Padma Edirisinghe (Book Critic, Sunday Observer, Sri Lanka)
4.Real and Imaginary Homelands "... The story is about about young men and women who try to uplift the lot of these people, with genuing concern and how politically motivated , power-hunfgry people exploit such situations..." Daya Dissanayaka (Book Critic, Ceylon Daily News)
5. ... link of 'Terroritis' with 'Englishitis' and 'Colonialitis' .... "..a complex novel because it is a story within a story within another story-his story, her story and the narrator's story. ...The novel's remarkable ability to portray authentic village life in rural Sri Lanka in the mid-20th century..." Prof. Shelton Gunaratna (Prof. Emer., Mass Communication, Minnesota State Univ., Moorhead, USA)
6.A Buddhist Pilgrim's Progress "It covers an eventful period in the island nation's recent history from the halcyon days of early post-colonial years to the tumultuous present as viewed through the author's mythopoetic imagination.... All three characters undergo a process of internal transformation, at different levels though;" Untouchable Woman's Odyssey can also be considered as an allegorical representation of the cultural-intellectual schizophrenia of the average English educated Sri Lankan scholar of the pre-1956 era hailing from a traditional Buddhist background. Conceived as religious fiction, Untouchable Woman's Odyssey will remind global readers from multicultural backgrounds of its kinship with classical English fiction of the same genre just as much as of its relation to the corresponding oriental literary traditions to which such classics as the Pancatantra and the Buddhist Jataka Stories belong. Thus John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress (1678) comes to mind in this context. Probably a more interesting comparison can be made between Untouchable Woman’s Odyssey and Joseph Conrad's novella Heart of Darkness (1899) in terms of their common inner-search-related themes and narrative points of view. Rohana Ranaweera Wasala (Independent researcher, Sri Lanka, BA, Univ. of Peradeniya. Sri Lanka)
7.An Unusual View of Life in a Universal and Timeless Narrative The story seems to have more relevance and meaning in the new, modern globalized technocratic world, where conflicts of different kinds have their origin in a lack of understanding the other point of view. ....The author combines the mythical, historical and spiritual elements to tell an essentially human story of passion and emotion. He uses the story within a story technique of narrating his story which is reminiscent of Pancatantra and the Buddhist Jataka Tales, entailing not just this life but other rebirths as well. He also uses the cinematic technique of flash back while going back in time and place. Thus it can be said that his technique of narration is both universal and timeless. The novel shows that the writer is a scholar, steeped in the tradition of both eastern and western literary culture. C K Seshadri (Professor Emeritus of English, Baroda University, India)

2011 Untouchable Woman's Odyssey

Initially featured at the Festival of South Asian Literature, Sept 20-Oct 02, 2011; Also posted later , on MyBindi http://www.mybindi.com/, on January 8, 2013 in Books

Appraisals

1. An extraordinary first novel

"... An extraordinary first novel by an accomplished poet, Untouchable Woman's Odyssey offers a deeply insightful narrative of postcolonial Sri Lanka. Beneath the placid surface lies a tale of the challenges of modernity, the deep divisions of class and caste, and the traces of the past in shaping the present. With remarkable skill, the author moves back and forth in time, linking the present to the past, demonstrating the multiple ways in which Buddhism has shaped the contours of Sri Lankan culture. An inclusive text in the best sense of the term, the novel draws together multiple traditions to explore the pathos, paradoxes and richness of modern Sri Lanka. Suwanda Sugunasiri's Untouchable Woman's Odyssey is a major contribution to both Canadian and Sri Lankan literature.

Prof. Chelva Kanaganayakam

(Prof. of English, University of Toronto, Canada)

2. a brilliant evocation of the ancient

"... a brilliant evocation of the ancient, mythic and religious past of a country in South Asia... The story comes alive within a wholly convincing fictional landscape that serves as the stage for a witty and informative dramatization of the country's modern, post-colonial struggle for freedom and independence." (On the back cover when first published)

Prof. Frank Birbalsingh

(Professor Emeritus of English, York University, Toronto, Canada)

3.Slice of life: complex or complicated?

"... What is genius? It can be defined in variegated ways but the utmost genius in the field of writing could surface when an author manages to packet into 366 pages a 2500 saga of his country's history via a story, melodramatic yet extremely touching."

Padma Edirisinghe

(Book Critic, Sunday Observer, Sri Lanka)

4.Real and Imaginary Homelands

"... The story is about about young men and women who try to uplift the lot of these people, with genuing concern and how politically motivated , power-hunfgry people exploit such situations..."

Daya Dissanayaka

(Book Critic, Ceylon Daily News)

5. ... link of 'Terroritis' with 'Englishitis' and 'Colonialitis' ....

"..a complex novel because it is a story within a story within another story-his story, her story and the narrator's story. ...The novel's remarkable ability to portray authentic village life in rural Sri Lanka in the mid-20th century..."

Prof. Shelton Gunaratna

(Prof. Emer., Mass Communication, Minnesota State Univ., Moorhead, USA)

6.A Buddhist Pilgrim's Progress

"It covers an eventful period in the island nation's recent history from the halcyon days of early post-colonial years to the tumultuous present as viewed through the author's mythopoetic imagination.... All three characters undergo a process of internal transformation, at different levels though;" Untouchable Woman's Odyssey can also be considered as an allegorical representation of the cultural-intellectual schizophrenia of the average English educated Sri Lankan scholar of the pre-1956 era hailing from a traditional Buddhist background. Conceived as religious fiction, Untouchable Woman's Odyssey will remind global readers from multicultural backgrounds of its kinship with classical English fiction of the same genre just as much as of its relation to the corresponding oriental literary traditions to which such classics as the Pancatantra and the Buddhist Jataka Stories belong. Thus John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress (1678) comes to mind in this context. Probably a more interesting comparison can be made between Untouchable Woman’s Odyssey and Joseph Conrad's novella Heart of Darkness (1899) in terms of their common inner-search-related themes and narrative points of view.

Rohana Ranaweera Wasala

(Independent researcher, Sri Lanka, BA, Univ. of Peradeniya. Sri Lanka)

7.An Unusual View of Life in a Universal and Timeless Narrative

The story seems to have more relevance and meaning in the new, modern globalized technocratic world, where conflicts of different kinds have their origin in a lack of understanding the other point of view. ....The author combines the mythical, historical and spiritual elements to tell an essentially human story of passion and emotion. He uses the story within a story technique of narrating his story which is reminiscent of Pancatantra and the Buddhist Jataka Tales, entailing not just this life but other rebirths as well. He also uses the cinematic technique of flash back while going back in time and place. Thus it can be said that his technique of narration is both universal and timeless. The novel shows that the writer is a scholar, steeped in the tradition of both eastern and western literary culture.

C K Seshadri

(Professor Emeritus of English, Baroda University, India)