The Narratological Technique Occupied by the Sinhala Short Story Writer Eric Illayapparachchi

Abstract

Narration, in the simplest terms, is telling a story in a chronological sequence. It can also be identified as the art or the practice of telling a story. Diverse narrative styles or modes can be observed in many literary genrés such as poetry, novels, short stories, and audio-visual art forms. In his classic The Poetics, Aristotle prescribed the plot as the major component among the six aspects of a tragedy. The organic relationship between the narration and the plot is obvious. The plot is the framework which manipulates the incident procession of the story. Hence, the plot cannot be divided and secluded from the narration itself. The post-modern critics believe that the structure of the story solely relies upon the narration. This theoretical approach conditioned by structuralism and post-structuralism offers pivotal importance to the way of storytelling over the story. In diverse socio-cultural and geographical spheres of the globe, one can identify that multiple techniques are applied by writers. In this study, our attention is focused on comparatively more striking narrative methods of world literature, such as Alan Poenian, Chekovian, Mouppassanian and Kafkan art of storytelling. The intention of this study is to explore whether the above-mentioned features are assimilated in Eric Illayapparachchi’s short stories. Wadadiya (1990), Le Vila Saha Dante (2017), and Jatyantara Papochchranaya (2021) are the major books included in this research. Are the narrative techniques employed by the writer merely suggest an imitation? Or do these techniques portray the writer’s unique creative identity? Contrastingly, how does Illayapparachchi maintain the relationship between the story and narration artistically and aesthetically? Logical explanations will be presented as a response to this question.