Browsing by Author "Uluwitiya, T.M."

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Place and Displacement: the Theme of Home and Belonging in I Post-Colonial Literature
(University of Kelaniya, 2007) Uluwitiya, T.M.
The preoccupation with the concept of home and belonging is a familiar aspect of literature produced by writers of former colonies. It is considered to be a result of the alienation experienced by the colonized as they are made to appropriate and integrate into the culture of the colonizer. The obvious "gap" in experience and the inadequacy of the language of the colonizer is thought to result in the creation of the "new Englishes" such as Indian English, Sri Lankan English, and Australian English and so on. This study aims to explore the aspects of home and belonging in fiction by writers of two different cultures; that of Sri Lanka and New Zealand. The primary texts concerned are "Turtle Nest" by Chand ani Lokuge, a Sri Lankan migrant writer, and "Hummingbird" by James George, a Maori writer. The paper analyses the concept of home as created by the writers in their texts as a reaction to "dislocation" and "cultural denigration". A close study of the specific imagery used by the writers to evoke their unique cultures and experiences will be considered in order to explore these concepts. Further, the research pays attention to the language of the texts, keeping in mind the use of language by postcolonial writers as a tool of subversion against colonial cultural formations. Furthermore, this research attempts to explore how the writers have used the genre of fiction as a means of exploring the concepts of "dislocation" as a result of migration as in the case of Lokuge and "cultural denigration" in terms of the conscious and unconscious suppression of the indigenous cultural identity by the imposition of the dominant cultural model of the colonizer as in the case of George. In so doing the analysis raises the following questions: Are the writers successful in subverting and questioning the structures of the language of the colonizers and thereby energizing their own "English"? Have they been able to bridge the "gap" between experience and language in a positive and creative way? The research aims to fine answers to the above queries and explore the impact of such texts on the local and international readership.
"Post-Colonial "Ghosts" and the Sri Lankan Writer of Fiction"
(University of Kelaniya, 2006) Uluwitiya, T.M.
The ghost has been a recurrent figure in English literature from the time of Shakespeare to the present. The presence of the ghost in the new literatures in English, for instance that of Affica, India, Sri Lanka and the Caribbean is evident when examining texts in English from these former colonies. However, this study aims to look at a more abstract "haunting" ; that of the "post-colonial ghosts" found in institutions, politics and historiography as revealed in works of fiction by Sri Lankan writers. Using the theories proposed by Bill Ashcroft, Gareth Griffiths and Helen Tiffin (1989) in "The Empire Writes Back" concerning post-colonial literature this study analyses the work of two writers of fiction. The study keeps in mind the importance for new literatures in English to Subvert its coonial past and two find its own "voice". The primary texts concerned are "Anil's Ghost" and "Running in the Family" by Michael Ondaatje and "Cinnamon Gardens" and "Funny Boy" by Shyam Selvadurai. The paper analyses the ways in which Sri Lanka has dealt with the "ghosts" of its past as revealed by the two writers who look at two specific eras of the political history of the country. This research reveals how the writers have used the medium of fiction to deal with realities of the political environment of the country which has been sometimes attributed to the country's colonial heritage. In what ways do these "ghosts" manifest themselves? Can they be exorcised? These are some of the questions that the research aims to find answers to and to assess the possible impact of the texts on the local and the international readership of Sri Lankan fiction.