Gunadasa Amarasekara

Gunadasa Amarasekara (b. 1929) is a Sri Lankan poet, novelist, critic and short story writer (Dharmadasa, 1987; Gunawardena, 2003). He is considered one of the founding fathers of modern Sinhalese literature.

Life events

Born in 1929, Amarasekara grew up in Yatalamatta village in Galle (Gunawardena, 2003). He had his education at Nalanda College in Colombo and graduated from the Medical School at Peradeniya (Gunawardena, 2003). He did his postgraduate studies in Britain (Gunawardena, 2003).

Amarasekara served as a director, at the Institute of Dentistry from 1971 to 1987 (Gunawardena, 2003). In the 1980s, he entered the arena of political philosophy as a proponent of Jathika Chintanaya [(loosely translated as National Consciousness) Gunawardena, 2003; Kestler, 2014].

Publications

Novels

# Karumakkarayo (The Wretched, 1955: this novel was made into a film by Tissa Abeysekara in 1980)

# Yali Upannemi (I was born again, 1960)

# Gandhabba Apadanaya (1969)

# Asathya Kathawak (1981)

# Premaye Sathya Kathawa (1983)

# Gamanaka Mula (1988)

# Gamdorin Eliyata (1990)

# Vanka Giriyaka (1992)

# Inimaga ihalata (Up the Ladder, 1992)

# Yali Maga Vetha (1993)

# Duru Rataka Dukata Kiriyaka (1999)

"Out of the Darkness", the English version of two of Amarasekara's novels, "Asathya Kathawak" (1981) and "Premaye Sathya Kathawa" (1983), won the Gratiaen Prize (The Gratiaen Prize is an annual literary prize for the best work of literary writing in English by a resident of Sri Lanka) for creative writing in English for 2002 for Vijitha Fernando, the translator and the author (Gunawardena, 2003).

Short stories

# Rathu Rosa Mala (The Red Rose, 1953)

# Jeewana Suwanda (1957)

# Ekama Kathawa (1972)

# Katha Pahak (1975)

# Gal Pilimaya saha Bol Pilimaya (The Stone Statue and the Hollow Statue, 1989)

# Marana Manchakaye Dutu Sihinaya (1993)

Amarasekara's short story Soma was selected to represent Sri Lanka in a world short story competition organized by the New York Herald Tribune.

Poems

# Bhavagita (Songs of Sentiment, 1955)

# Uyanaka Hinda Litu Kavi (1957)

# Amalbiso (1958)

# Gurulu Watha (1972)

# Avarjana (1972)

# Asakda Kava (2003)

# Mathakawatha (2014)

Plays

# Pavuru Padanam (1970)

# Kavandhayaka Kathandaraya (1991)

Literary criticism

# Vinodaya saha Vicharaya (Enjoyment and Criticism, 1955)

# Aliya Saha Andayo (1966)

# Abuddassa Yugayak (A Topsy-Turvy Time, 1976)

# Anagarika Dharmapala Marxvaadida? (Is Anagarika Dharmapala Marxist?, 1980)

# Ganaduru Mediyama Dakinemi Arunalu (1988)

# Arunaluseren Arunodhyata (1991)

# Jathika Chinthanaya saha Jaathika Aarthikaya (National Ideology and National Economy, 1993)

# Sinhala Kawya Sampradaya (1996)

Awards

# Honorary Doctor of Literature degree by the University of Peradeniya (2021)

References

1) Dharmadasa, K.N.O., 1987. Two faces of elitism: The changing critical stances of Gunadasa Amarasekara. Journal of South Asian Literature, 22(1), pp.75-84.

2) Gunawardena, C.A., 2003. Encyclopedia of Sri Lanka. Sterling Publishers Pvt Ltd. ISBN: 81-207-2536-0. pp.12-13.

3) Kestler, R., 2014. Jātika Cintanaya und Sozialcharakter–Zum Einfl uss Erich Fromms auf Guṇadāsa Amarasēkara. pp.1-11.

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This page was last updated on 25 May 2022
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