CONTRIBUTION OF SINHALESE HISTORICAL NOVEL TO NOURISH THE DISCOURSE ON HISTORY

Abstract

Chronicle literature holds a special place in the discourse on history. Often, the popular discourse on history in society is built on the basis of chronicle literature. However, these chronicles are ideological and therefore sometimes contain biased interpretations. These characteristics can also be seen in the Mahavamsa, the foremost chronicle of Sri Lanka. Therefore, the chroniclebased historical discourse can be considered as an incomplete discourse. The intervention of the historical fiction writer is very useful in minimizing this incompleteness to some extent and in transforming its existing one-dimensional nature into multidimensional. The objective of this study is to compare this popular discourse and the imaginative works attempts to broadened it. Content and thematic analysis methods were used to analyse the data. Five Sinhala novels published in the twenty-first century were selected as a sample. They are novels based on rulers and their reigns that have been demonized in official and popular historical discourse. The characters are Queen Anula, Kashyapa 1, Rajasinghe 1, Rajasinghe 11 and Sri Wickrama Rajasinghe. The novels are Rajina and NI Katrol written by Mohan Raj Madawala and Thiwata, Kandureli and Na Gachchathi written by Padmini Seneviratne. Although these novels are imaginative endeavors, they are not mere fiction. They have to maintain the reality of that fiction. To do this, they have used alternative and obscure sources rather than popular sources. This will provide an opportunity to look at the actions of certain rulers, branded by official history as patricide, from a different perspective and the reasons those known as cruel and tyrannical rulers became such are exposed. Although historical fiction is an imaginative endeavor, its potential to expose history to multiple readings is immense. It can be concluded that the historical novel presents an imaginative alternative to the official, dominant, and popular historical discourse. Also, the historical novel cherish the historical discourse by bringing small narratives to the foreground that are overshadowed by the grand narrative. As a result, blending factual history with imaginative history will enable historical discourse to absorb a greater readership.