The Elements of Communication Presented Through the Critisicm of Art and Literature by Regi Siriwardcna

Abstract

The aim of this study is to bring to light the various theoretical elements of communication that the critic and commentator, Regi Siriwardcna has explored through his literary writing carried out in the time period of 1947-2004. The methodology used in this study took into account the Selected Writings ol Regi Siriwardena: Literature und the Arts, Volume 1, edited by A. J. Canagaratna (Colombo: ICES; 2005). In this volume. his 'ATitings have been categorized according to several main theoretical approaches. which arc: Art, media and communication Marx and literature Fiction and the Marxist critic Form, content, art and ideology Ideology and materialism Marxism, literature and time In the Gut of the living When we speak of ideology, we must realize that ideology seeps through all human activity and that it is inseperable from the experience of human existance. In this regard art is richer and more "translucient" than political and economic theory because it is less purely ideological. It is important here to grasp the precise meaning of 'ideology' in the context of Marxism. In Marxism Ideology is not a set of doctrienes; it signifies the way men live out their roles in class-society. the values, ideas and images which bind them to their social functions thus preventing them from gaining a true knowledge of society as a"' bole.