Western Classical Culture & Christian Culture
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Item An analysis of the ideas expressed by the ancient Greeks on literature(Journal of Humanities, University of Kelaniya, 2000) Jayasekera, K.The paper traces the ideas expressed by the early poets of ancient Greece on the value of literature, the poets and the role they played in the social, political field. The study proves that from a very early period in time creative writings of the poets were different from the ordinary writing for other practical purposes. Hence the various styles adopted the manner in which they treat words and even expression has a special twist that reaches beyond simple communication. When the introduction of literary criticism was made by the comic poet, again as a consequence of the characteristics of his comedies one observes how the actual critical criteria is for evaluation is highlighted. The paper also examines how the criteria in actual evaluation changed with the development of society. Starting with the influence of literature on society as a whole it culminates with theories presented by Aristotle where the individual feelings become the center point, though the society is a collection of individuals. This is the collective impact that literature has the ability to impose.Item Aristophanes, the poet who crossed the boundaries of time(Sambhasha, Ministry of culture and Higher Education, Colombo ,Sri Lanka, 1993) Jayasekera, K.The study focuses on Aristophanes the sole representative of old Greek Comedy. This is an analytical study of his dramas. The poet is considered to have concentrated on the social, political and economic situation of the time he lived in. hence his dramas consisted of a topical value. His aim had been to find remedies to the weaknesses he saw in contemporary situations through providing a dream of a solution through his comedies. Some have even been led to refer to his plays as representative of a comic paper. But on examining in depth one is led to recognize the universal quality of his productions which surpasses the boundaries of time, land and the social context. The paper critically examines the messages provided in his creations which reach across time to appeal to even the twenty first century Sri Lankans.Item Drama and the origin of Greek Literary criticism(Thalalle Sri Dhammananda felicitation volume, Ministry of Buddhist affairs, Colombo, Sri Lanka, 1990) Jayasekera, K.The paper explicitly examines the validity of considering Greek Old Comedy as an agent of introducing Literary Criticism to the ancient West. Had Aristophanes been aware of the revolution he was making in putting on stage two poets? Or was it just the product of his usual characteristics he indulged in producing comedies? He had made prominent Greek tragedians, namely Aeschylus and Euripides indulge in a contest in Hades, where only the essence of man was allowed to exist. The evaluation criteria as well as the reference to the responsibility of a poet in a war torn nation is highlighted. However there also remains the fact that he had criticized existing methods of evaluating literature, Bringing on to stage yard sticks and weighing machines.Item The Dramatics of Trojan Women on Sri Lankan Stage(Centre for Promotion Ideas, 2015) Jayasekera, K.The attraction of Classical Greek drama to the Sri Lankans in the twenty first centaury is an interesting phenomenon. Among the dramas the Trojan Women of Euripides had become most popular during the later period of the ethnic conflict in the country, namely the thirty years of war with the LTTE, which brought many a suffering to all Sri Lankans. In this study investigations have been made on how the production was translated, staged and received during the years of turmoil. Trojan Kanthavo, the adaptation of Trojan Women attracted many and diverse criticisms from the Sinhalese and the Tamil audiences. There was a notable difference in the reactions of the both racial communities. There were threats not only to the director but to artists who participated in the play as well. A series of interviews and critical analysis of available material from journal and newspaper articles were made in carrying out the research. Personal interviews had to be carefully scrutinized as they revealed much of audience reaction. Findings proved that Greek Drama could be staged irrespective of the difference of time and place to address contemporary problems. The flexibility of the tradition enabled modern artists to experiment based on firm foundations of the Classics. More than a decade had passed since the first staging, of Trojan Kanthavo, yet the drama instigated by it seems to still go on.ie the recent court case against those who led the attacks and the consequent forgiving by the injured parties.Item Femininity and the position of Women in Ancient Rome(Aquinas Journal, Aquinas, Colombo, Sri Lanka, 1987) Jayasekera, K.The belief is that no human woman gave birth to the founders of Rome. They were children of she wolf. The characteristics the Romans prided themselves of is quite visible from this. They were proud of their masculinity, war like nature and courage that their nation was built with. But this paper examines the role of women, their relationships and their interactions with men and its results. The interesting findings would prove that it is the very femininity that had empowered them over their male counterparts to such an extent that it was they who initiated many political changes. The examination was made through in-depth analysis of chosen significant occasions. On almost all incidents and their outcomes the males retained their superiority that they so believed in while in actual fact it was the will of women that held the day.Item Ideas on Literary Criticism of the Greeks(S. Godage and Brothers (Pvt) Ltd, 2017) Jayasekera, K.Criteria for evaluating literature has been of controversy throughout the years even since it was first established and became a popular necessity. The numerous ideas pertaining to evaluation has been subject to change before the actual ideas took their form as ‘criteria’. The ‘criteria’ mainly depended on the changing values of the social context they were exercising. On the other hand, literature had been considerably established before its reception and appreciation. Then came to be the relationship between the creative artist and the recipient being guided by a third party. It is then literature ceased to be just ‘good’ or ‘bad’ mostly depending on its appeal. Greek literary theory has served as a foundation on which Western literary criticism had been built. The impact had been such it reverberates in the East of the modern day as well. Often people hark back to the critics of the distant past; quoting them even to the point of miss interpreting them. Refuting also weighs equally to appreciating as well as approving as it signifies its impact on thought. The reason to compile this volume in simple English with quotations to substantiate facts and arguments is to encourage readers to read further on the subject.Item Impact of the political and social situation on New Greek Comedy(2015) Jayasekera, K.The social and political underwent a drastic change when Athens lost its independence when defeated and became a subject state of Macedonia. The paper is an examination of how the above situation affected the creative artists in the field of Drama. On examination it is shown that people like Menander had refused to be denied the right to entertain the public with his dramas. Yet the lack of freedom had made him work mindfully of his limitations. These limitations had come in the form of social and political restraints that were experienced by them at the time. The atmosphere and the minds of the people had undergone a transformation as well. The subject matter, the style of presentation and the impact of the New Comedy on the audience Had paved the way for the poets to introduce a new form of comedy. This unlike the Old Greek Comedy, dealt with the individuals mostly at a domestic level. Each argument is supported by examples from the available texts that have survived the tests of time.Item Language and Literature, Roman Aspect(S. Godage and Brothers (Pvt) Ltd, 675, P. de S. Kularatne Mw., Colombo 10, Sri Lanka, 2015) Jayasekera, K.භාෂාව හා සාහිත්යකරණය - ආදී රෝම අදහස් විමසුමක් බටහිර සම්භාව්ය සාහිත්ය ඇසුරින් මා ඔබ හමුවට පැමිණෙන්නේ සෑහෙන කාලයකට පසුවය. මීට හේතුව වශයෙන් දැක්විය හැක්කේ පසුගිය වකවානුව තුළ ගී්රක නාට්ය පිළිබඳ තරමක ගැඹුරු අධ්යයනයක නිරත ව සිිටීමය. අධ්යයනය පර්යේෂණයක මුහුණුවරකින් අවසානයක් දුටුවේ නූතනයේ වේදිකා ගත කරන්නට යෙදුණ ගී්රක නාට්ය පරිවර්තන සහ අනුවර්තන දක්වා හැදෑරීමේ පරාසය පුළුල් කරමිනි. මෙය මහ`ගු අත්දැකීමක් වූයේය. එහි ප්රතිඵල නොබෝ කලකින් සිංහල පාඨකයා වෙත ග්රන්ථ මුහුණුවරකින් ඉදිරිපත් කිරීමට බලාපොරොත්තු වෙමි. ශාස්තී්රය ලිපි කිහිපයක් මගින් ඉංගී්රසි පාඨකයින් වෙත ඇතැම් හෙළිදරව්වන් දැනට ම ඉදිරිපත් කර ඇත. බටහිර සම්භාව්ය සංස්කෘතිය පිළිබඳ ව සිංහල භාෂාවෙන් රචනාවෙහි යෙදීමට මා ඈත් කර තැබූ තවත් කරුණකි. ඒ නම් ඇතැම් සිද්ධීන් ඇසුරින් මගේ සිත තරමක් සසල වී තිබීමයි. මෙම විෂය පිළිබඳ ව සිංහලෙන් ලියැවී ඇති පොත් ඇත්තේ නම් ඒ ඉතා අල්ප වශයෙනි. ඇතැම් පොත්වලින් සාකච්ඡුාවට නැංවෙන කරුණුවලට අමතර ව පාඨකයාට සංස්කෘතිමය පසුබිමක් ලැබෙන්නේ ද නැත. මේ නිසා සමහර අය සිංහලෙන් ලියැවී ඇති පොත්පත් පමණක් පරිහරණය කර, මනෝමය උපකල්පනයන් ඔස්සේ විෂය පිළිබඳ ව සාකච්ඡුා කිරීමට පෙළඹෙති. එම තර්ක විමසන විට පෙනී යන්නේ පුළුල් ලෙස හෝ ගැඹුරින් ඒ පිළිබඳ ව ඔවුන් හදාරා නැති බවයි. මෙවන් අවස්ථාවල මා සිංහලෙන් විෂය කරුණු ඉදිරිපත් කර තිබීම අනුවණකමක් දැයි සිතී මා මනස සසල විය. මීට ප්රතිවිරුද්ධ ව නැ`ගුණ තර්කය නම් දන්නා දේ තම මව් භාෂාවෙන් පාඨක හමුවෙහි නොතැබීම කුහකකමක් යැයි යන සිතුවිල්ලයි. මේ සියල්ල හේතු කොට ගෙන විරාමයකින් අනතුරුව මම ඔබ අතරට එමි. ඉහත දැක්වූ කාලය තුළ ශාස්තී්රය ග්රන්ථ සම්පාදනය කිරීමකට යොමු නොවුවත් නිර්මාණකරණය වෙත යොමු වූ අවස්ථා ඇත්තේය. මෙම නිර්මාණ ඉංගී්රසි මාධ්යයෙන් කවි හා කෙටිකතා එකතූන් වශයෙන් මුද්රණය කළෙමි. මෙම කෘති මගේ හදවතේ සිහින සැබෑ කළ මගේ ම දරුවන් වශයෙන් සලකමි. සාහිත්ය රසාස්වාදය හා සාහිත්යය ඇගයීමේ මිනුම් ද`ඩු වෙත මාගේ සිත යොමු වීමට ඉහත කරුණු ද පාදක වන්නට ඇතැයි සිතමි. විශ්වවිද්යාලයෙහි බටහිර සම්භාව්ය සාහිත්ය විචාරය විෂයයක් වශයෙන් ඉගැන්වුවත් එම විෂයයෙහි ප්රායෝගික වටිනාකම වැටහෙන්නට වූයේ කලා නිර්මාණකරුවකු වශයෙන් මුහුණ පාන්නට සිදු වූ ඇතැම් කරුණු හේතු කොට ගෙනය. සාහිත්ය විචාරකයන් හා සාහිත්ය විනිශ්චය කිරීමට යෙදෙන්නන් සාහිත්ය ඇගයීම දෙස පුළුල් දෘෂ්ටි කෝණයකින් විමසුමක යෙදීමට පෙළඹෙන්නේ නම් එය කොතරම් යහපත් වන්නේ දැයි සිතුනු වාර අනන්තය. සාහිත්යකරණය භාෂාව අතර තිබෙන සහ තිබිය යුතු සම්බන්ධතාවය වෙත මනස යොමු වූයේ මින් අනතුරුවය. සාහිත්ය කෘතියක් භාෂා, ව්යාකරණ හා සෘජු නීතිරීති ඔස්සේ ගණනය කිරීම කොතරම් සාධාරණ වන්නේ ද? සාහිත්යය මගින් සහෘදයාගේ චිත්ත සන්තානය ආමන්ත්රණය කිරීමේ ප්රයෝග වැරදි ලෙස වටහා ගැනීම සිදුවිය යුත්තක් ද? ආවේගයක් ජනිත කළ හැක්කේ ආවේගයක් ප්රතිනිර්මාණය කිරීමට සහජ හැකියාවක් තිබෙන, එය ප්රවර්ධනය කර තිබෙන දක්ෂයකුටය. එහෙත් ආවේගයක් ප්රතිනිර්මාණය කිරීමේ දී එය ස්වභාවික ලෙස ඉදිරිපත් කිරීමට යෑමේ දී ඇතැම් නීතිරීති උල්ලංඝනය නොවන්නේ ද? මනුෂ්ය ආවේග හා කෘත්රිම සීමා කොතෙක් දුරට සමබරතාවයකින් තබාගත යුතු ද? මෙවැනි ප්රශ්න ආදි රෝමයේ ජීවත් වූ සාහිත්ය විචාරකයින්ගේ අවධානයට යොමු වී ඇති අයුරු මෙම කෘතියෙන් ගෙන හැර පෑමට උත්සාහ කරමි. භාෂාව හා සාහිත්යකරණය පිළිබඳ ව හදාරද්දී කලාකරුවා සතු සමාජ ඥාණය පමණක් නොව ඔහු තුඝ ඇති අන් අයගේ මනෝභාවයන් තේරුම් ගැනීමට ඇති දක්ෂතාවය පවා කොතරම් දුරට බලපාන්නේ දැයි මෙම අධ්යයනයේ දී යමකුට පසක් වන්නේය. කෙනකුගේ තරාතිරම පමණක් නොව අභ්යන්තර චිත්ත සන්තානයන් පවා හෙළිවන ප්රධානතම මාර්ගය වන්නේ ඔහුගේ මුවින් පිටවන වචන හා ඒවායේ පෙළගැස්වීමයි. මේ පිළිබඳ ව මනා අවබෝධයක් තිබෙන්නෙකුට අනුකරණය අපහසු කාර්යයක් නොවන්නේය. දැනීම හා ඤාණය හැදෑරීම ඔස්සේ පමණක් නොව සිහි බුද්ධියෙන් ජීවත් වීම හා සංවේදීකම ඔස්සේ ද ගොනු කරගත හැක. හොරස් මේ පිළිබඳ ව පැහැදිලි අර්ථකථනයක් සපයයි. ලොංජයිනස් උනන්දු වී ඇත්තේ භාෂාව හැසිරවීම හා ආවේග උද්දීපනය පිළිබඳ ව නිර්මාණකරුවකු ලබා ගෙන ඇති දැනීම ප්රායෝගික වශයෙන් කි්රයාවට නැංවිය හැකි ආකාරය පිළිබඳ ව විග්රහ කිරීමටයි. ආවේගයක් අනුකරණය කරන්නෙකු තමා ඉදිරිපත් කරන දෙයට අවංක වන්නේ නම්, ඔහුගේ භාෂාව සාමාන්ය තත්ත්වයේ සිටින්නකු භාවිත කිරීමට යෙදෙන භාෂාව මෙන් මටසිළුටු ක්රමානුකූල ලෙස පෙළ ගස්වන ලද වාග්මාලාවක් විය හැකිද? එවැනි නිවැරදි මාධ්ය ඔස්සේ තමා ප්රතිනිර්මාණය කිරීමට උත්සාහ කරන හැ`ගීම් සාර්ථක ලෙස ඉදිරිපත් කළ හැකිද? ඒ ලොංජයිනස් අසන ප්රශ්නයයි. කලාවත් ස්වභාවික බවත් අතර තිබෙන්නා වූ අන්තර් සම්බන්ධතාවය හේ විමසුමට ලක් කරයි. මෙම කෘතියෙන් ඉදිරිපත් කිරීමට යෙදෙන ප්ලූටාක්ගේ අදහස් සොයා ගැනීමට පවා බෙහෙවින් අපහසු විය. එහෙත් ඔහු විසින් රචිත කලා කෘතියක් කියවිය යුතු ආකාරය පිළිබඳ දක්වා ඇති අදහස් ඔහු සාහිත්යය පිළිබඳ ව දක්වන අදහස් පැහැදිලි කරයි. ඔහුගේ අදහස නම් යමක් කියවීමේ දී සිදුවන්නේ රචකයා හා පාඨකයා අතර ගනුදෙනුවකි. මේ ගනුදෙනුවේ දී රචකයා පමණක් නොව පාඨකයා වෙත ද සෑහෙන වගකීමක් හා කාර්යභාරයක් තිබෙන්නේය. සාහිත්යය නියමාකාරයෙන් වටහා ගැනීමට හා ඇගයීමට ලක් කිරීමට නම් පාඨක මනස ඒ සඳහා පෙර පුහුණුවක් ලබා විවෘත ව තිබීම අනිවාර්ය වන්නේය. භාෂාව හා සාහිත්යකරණය අතර තිබෙන ගණුදෙනුව තේරුම් ගත හැක්කේ ද එවැන්නකුට පමණි. න්යාය ධර්මයන් හා තමා හෝ අනුන් විසින් පනවා ඇති නීතිරීති, වැට කඩොළු හා සීමා බන්ධන ඔස්සේ යමකු සාහිත්ය විචාරයක යෙදෙන්නේ නම් එය සාහිත්යධරයාට කරන බලවත් අසාධාරණයකි. ඔහුගේ ස්වාධීනත්වයට හා නිදහස් චින්තනයට කෙරෙන අභියෝගයකි. කලාකරුගෙන් බලාපොරොත්තු වන්නේ නිර්ව්යාජ ප්රකාශනයයි. එසේ කිරීම සඳහා ඔහුට ස්වාධීනත්වයක් අත්යවශ්යය. ආදි රෝමයෙහි විසූ සාහිත්ය විචාරකයන් තිදෙනකු විසින් ඉදිරිපත් කරන ලද සාහිත්ය නිර්මාණකරණය හා භාෂාව පිළිබඳ ව අදහස් නූතන පාඨකයන් වෙත ඉදිරිපත් කළ යුත්තේ යැයි තීරණය කෙරුණේ එහි කාලීන වැදගත්කම හේතු කොට ගෙනය.Item Philosophy, Literature and Epicureanism(Studies of Philosophy, Homagama Dhammananda thero felicitation volumeStudies of Philosophy, Homagama Dhammananda thero felicitation volume, 2000) Jayasekera, K.The study examines how Lucretius had used poetry in order to promote Epicurianism among Romans. But it also paves the way to critically analyze how poetry has highlighted some of the philosophical theories to the effect of painting a negative picture to the readers. The paper raises the question whether the effort encouraged or discouraged readers to take in the theory that he took efforts to popularize.ie, theory of Flux etc. Had the poet in Lucretius presented a morbid picture instead of encouraging readers tocomprehend the truth that the philosopher in him had tried to promote?Item The Social and Political impact on Old Greek Comedy(Pavara, International Sama Viharaya, Gampaha, 2015) Jayasekera, K.The study is based on the political and social atmosphere in Athens in the 5th century BCE to facilitate a genre such as Old Greek Comedy to come in to existence..The freedom of direct Democracy enhanced by the traditional features that entertained the audience at various levels were looked into. Since the only prevailing examples are the comedies of Aristophanes, the poets personality, his vision and attitude had to be examined as well. Hence the quotations and comments to enhance the arguments. In evaluating the impact a feature that one is unable to overlook is the fact that the system and tradition already had considered dramas were an effective mode of mass media that a clever poet could manipulate. The theatre, the structure and the religious + social seems to have played a considerable role while contributing to the wider political aspects.Item Socrates, Aristophanes and Historical Fact(Sambhava,Colombo, Sri Lanka, 1995) Jayasekera, K.The exercise comprise of an attempt to examine the relationship that Aristophanes had with Socrates, in the backdrop of Classical Greece. Many are of the opinion that TheClouds, staged by Aristophanes was indirectly instrumental in bringing about the death sentence against Socrates. The study is carried out through a n examination of the existent plays, Plato?s The Symposium , The Apology etc.The study is also made with reference to the characteristics of his plays, the innovations he had introduced and the results of other plays which he had used to criticize other prominent personalities. Most of all emphasis is made on the reasons that had made him so critical of the philosopher.ie;Was it personal or political?Item The concept of the One in Greek philosophy(Journal of Humanities, University of Kelaniya, 2005) Jayasekera, K.The study intended to critically examine the birth of the concept of The One in Thales?s philosophical thoughts when he intentionally excluded the Gods from his explanation of the world. The many interpretations and positions the concept held in the different philosophers were examined. The last was the concept of The One in the philosophy of Plato where he explained The Good, The Beautiful and The Truth as The One. Providing a religious interpretation combined with a philosophical.Item The ideas on rebirth in Greek philosophy(Sambsha, Ministry of Education, Colombo, Sri Lanka, 1994) Jayasekera, K.The paper concentrates particularly on the ideas expressed by Greek philosophers on the concept or rebirth. In Greek philosophy many have expressed theories on what happens to the essence of a human being after death. Many have sought to resolve this mystery. The philosophers seem to consider the importance given to the universal and the worldly and the weight given to morality of humans. Some are of the opinion that rebirth was a result of cause and effect ? actions , experience and the quality of one?s essence taking a large part in the results. The intention is to examine the interrelationship, development and the importance allotted to the concept.Item The theory of Empedocles on the Origin of life against the background of Greek Myths(Aquinas Journal, Aquinas, Colombo, Sri Lanka, 1985) Jayasekera, K.The theory of Zoogony as put forth by the Greek philosopher and how he had analyzed its development according to the cosmic cycle he had presented provides many thought provoking theories to the moderns. As for example the concept of adaptation to the environment, struggle for existence and the evolution factor makes one even ponder on the validity and the connection they have with theories expounded by many others much later in time. But a Classist is also led to observe the connection or affinity the theories have with the age old myths of the Greeks. Myths had originated in Greece, may be before writhing had developed. They are, also not without reasons, believed to science of ancient man. Analytical examination proves that either the later thoughts of the philosopher had been affected by the earlier myths or that he his thoughts had developed, though independently on the same lines. For the purpose, the methodology used was to examine the various myths, their points of agreement or disagreement. The outcome was critically compared with the philosophical ideas of Empedocles.Item Women in Politics during the Julio - Claudian period of the Roman Empire(Journal of Humanities, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 1999) Jayasekera, K.The Roman Empire is believed to be a very powerful institution during the period. The Emperors in whose hands the power rested seemed the center of the government. However evidence is examined to evaluate the impact the women in their lives had on the rule through them. Most powerful Emperors came in to power, ruled and even faced death due to the women in their lives, as mothers, mistresses and sisters. Their popularity and their desire for recognition as well as popularity is looked in to through the available literary evidence as well as archeological evidence such as monuments, sculpture and coins.