The foremost Sinhala writer Martin Wickramasinghe's 134th birth anniversary falls today (29). 

We all know about Wickramasinghe as a writer but know nothing about him as a speaker. However, one Sinhala book of his, which was launched in 2019 as a compilation of his speeches delivered in various literary events, shows him as a serious speaker as much as a serious writer. The book is 'Poth Livimen Lada Aswasuma (The consolation gained from writing books)’. It is edited by Dayapala Jayaneththi and published by Sarasa Publishers. Though it was not discussed enough in the mainstream media then, it is a significant book in his literary canon. 

In fact, the speeches in the book give a lot of fascinating insights into literature, culture, language, religion, education, politics and certain artists, writers, dramatists and iconic political figures, most of which are not illuminated in this way in his books. 

Needless to say, every speech is a free expression of oneself, and it includes some profundity that arises from the free thinking while delivering it. Also, the speech not only describes the theme one has chosen to speak about but also relates to the current socio-political situation one lives through. Yet, these speeches of Wickramasinghe are not such as they are a compilation of his own pre-recorded speeches – it was a habit of Wickramasinghe to write the speeches before delivering them. Nevertheless, the talks here have their own profundity emerging from the writer himself writing them.

The library issue

The book begins with a speech presented by Wickramasinghe when he opened the Local Government authority’s public library in Talangama, Battaramulla. The talk starts with these words:

"Building a good library is similar to building a small university. Yet, a library with two-three-hundred books which are chosen without any prudency, never gets good results.

Only by collecting many books chosen with a good sense for a few years could such a library be developed up to a higher level. I don't think that a good library can be created just by piling up books received for free. It is by taking advice from specialists in libraries that a good service for the public can be rendered through libraries."

The insights of these speeches are still important as the issues around libraries are yet to be resolved. We know that during the period of the Colombo International Book Fair at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall in September, the Education Ministry allocates money for schools to buy books for their school libraries, but the thing that we often see is that teachers and principals are in a big hurry to collect books as much as possible until all the allocated money is spent at the Book Fair. Rather than selecting good and important books for children, they try to accumulate a number of books for the libraries, which is unacceptable. So, the issues Wickramasinghe highlights about libraries are still relevant.

He also speaks on how to increase the membership of a library. Towards that end, he suggests to start a tea shop close to the library which is still lacking in most of our libraries. He also proposes to begin a discussion on certain topics which also attracts people and develops friendship among library members.

Focusing on the appearance

Writers who act as publishers while writing are not rare in our literary society. K. Jayathilaka, Gunasena Vithana, Ranjith Dharmakeerthi and Sarath Wijesooriya are some of the recent names in this category. However, when we trace back this path, probably the first name that we come across is Wickramasinghe who started the Mount Press in 1931 in Mount Lavinia. The sole intention of his new venture was to publish good books with proper, attractive and artistic book jackets. He was an author who focused not only on the content, but also the appearance of a book. When we read the second chapter of this book which includes the speech presented by him at the opening of the Saman Book Fair in Peradeniya, we are reminded of his publishing role in the 1930s and 1940s:

"I don't think the selling of certain books will increase just because I opened the book fair. However, it's a pleasure for me to open this fair. The main reason for it is the attractive printing quality of Saman books. Definitely, it's a pleasure for all the book lovers to see and touch a good-looking book." 

His art of writing

Wickramasinghe never received a university education. Not even the school education could he finish. It was because his father's untimely death ended his education when he was in grade five. As it turned out, it was not a lack for him since the writerly life always asks practical indulgence in writing rather than educational certificates. However, thanks to that practical self-education, he could grasp the art of writing very early in his literary life. He, in fact, compares fiction writing, like all the great writers, to the task of the goldsmith. He does this comparison in the above-mentioned speech at the opening of the Saman book fair. According to that speech, the first step that a goldsmith takes is pouring the melted gold into a model of an earring. After the gold is solidified, he starts to smooth the surface of the earring from the rough points. This is identical to editing in fiction writing since the fiction writer is also doing the same by removing unnecessary words when editing the work.

He also reveals his art of fiction in this speech:

"A storyteller needs to think of the story that he is going to write. He imagines a rough sketch of the story after thinking for days if not months. Then, he starts to write. Detailed thoughts come into his mind when he thinks (while writing) according to the rough sketch. However, he has to bother his mind in search of the most suitable words to describe those thoughts. Then, he has to work hard to write those hard-earned words. There, you cannot write words at once, as you have to set the letters in an orderly manner. When you write a few of these words, they form a sentence. A lot of these sentences are needed for a page. Perhaps, hundreds of thousands of words have to be put on paper, closing together letter by letter, for a 300-400-page book. After completing the writing, some writers edit the manuscript while rereading it. Some authors take four or five versions of the manuscript when editing. Some only edit once (only take one manuscript). But, some submit the manuscript for printing as it is without bothering about editing whatsoever." 

This description on his art of fiction was put forward by him when he went on to reveal what kind of hard work is needed for a good book.

A committed speaker

Wickramasinghe is a committed writer, but his pre-prepared copies of speeches suggest that he is a committed speaker as well. Like in his writings, he always tries to give practical knowledge of any subject that he spoke of. Indeed, he had a great desire to reveal the reality of his time which epitomises his writing. Following is such an enthusiastic description on writing and publishing:

"All the writers in Sri Lanka still write books either wishing to attain nirvana or desiring to see his byline on the book. You know, it takes at least seven or eight years to finish the selling of 2,000 copies of a scholarly work. But, what kind of profit can a writer gain from such selling? Now, no writer can earn from books. If one earns, it is from school text books. Hence, all the people who write books write for publicity if not for voluntary service. Apart from 'Ape Gama (Lay Bare the Roots)’ which is a text book for the examination of the Senior School Certificate, I have written about 50 books. From each of these books, I generally earn Rs. 1,400 for a month. Per some people's opinion, all of these books are rubbish, full of grammatical errors. But, I had been tiring myself for 50 years to write this rubbish. I tired for such a long time not because I wanted to get away from samsara, but because I enjoyed writing and reading what I wrote over and over again.

There is some similarity between fiction writing and giving birth to the young by women. A woman gives birth without knowing whatsoever whether the baby would become a cripple, a fool, a thug, a pundit, or a minister when she/he grows old. A writer also never knows what kind of blind persons, cripples, lunatics, fools and pundits are among his books. Except for pundits who write books not to have any grammatical errors, most of the writers write books like the woman who gives birth."

In this book, there are 24 speeches delivered by Wickramasinghe, and each and every speech gives insights into the theme that he speaks about. However, their dates are not mentioned in the book which is a serious lack for the readers. They could have compared the opinions of Wickramasinghe to the time if those dates were given. And, the title for the book should have been the speeches of Wickramsinghe rather than the present irrelevant one. The headlines for each speech would also have been written in colloquial language instead of written language as they are speeches.

(The writer is a freelance journalist)

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect those of this publication